Arts

20 Feb 09

Composer and Oxford alumnus Howard Goodall will be giving a talk at the Music Faculty

Howard Goodall, composer of the music for hit shows such as The Vicar of Dibley and Mr Bean is visiting the University on Monday (23 February) to give a public lecture on Writing for the screen.

He has also announced he is donating the manuscript of The Vicar of Dibley to the Bodleian Library, where it is currently in an exhibition.

Oxford alumnus Mr Goodall studied music at Christ Church where he met actor Rowan Atkinson and screenwriter Richard Curtis. He went on to work with both of them in a number of high profile projects as well as composing choral music, stage musicals, film and television scores. He is also a television presenter for shows such as Young Musician of the Year and campaigns for music education.

The Music Faculty will be hosting his return to the University, at midday at the Denis Arnold Hall, which will be followed by a session of questions and answers.

Dr Stephen Darlington, Choragus at Oxford University, recently recorded Howard Goodall’s Requiem with Christ Church Choir. He said: ‘Oxford's Faculty of Music is delighted to play host to the BAFTA award-winning composer and broadcaster Howard Goodall.  This is a rare opportunity to gain an insight into the world of film music composition from one of Oxford's most successful musical alumni.’

Howard Goodall said: ‘When composers invite guests to a studio to see the mechanics of composing and recording for the screen at work, they always seem taken aback at how unexpectedly technical, painstaking and complex the process is. Speaking at Oxford University is my chance to bring that technique out of the studio and demonstrate it to an interested audience.

‘Visiting the Bodleian Library's music manuscript collection as a student in the late 1970s was a huge source of inspiration, so I am delighted to be able to offer to the library the original pen manuscript of my setting of Psalm 23 (The Lord is my shepherd), the opening and closing themes of The Vicar of Dibley. What is remarkable is that, as it was composed in 1994 for the very first episode (and recorded by the Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, directed by Stephen Darlington), it was one of the last of my compositions to be created on manuscript paper, with a pen.'

Dr Darlington will also be conducting the Christ Church Cathedral Choir in a landmark double concert premiere of English composition from the 16th and 21st centuries, on Saturday 13 June, for which tickets are now on sale. The first part will celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Coronation of Henry VIII, founder of Christ Church. And the second part will be the Oxford premiere of Eternal Light: A Requiem, written for the Choir by Howard Goodall.