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GHO’s in-house composer, Sutton-based Christopher Wood developed an interest in songwriting while playing in a rock group in the 1960s. Later he wrote and arranged for Guest House, his own ten-piece, jazz-influenced ensemble, and worked as music critic and columnist with the Croydon Advertiser (1980-2003).
Chris has had close working links with the Croydon-based London Mozart Players. He collaborated with writer Martin Mooney to create A Giant on the Line, for performance in junior schools; he composed Conversation Piece for an Oboists’ Masterclass at Whitgift School; and he contributed Scene from a sad, sad story for flute, bassoon and piano for the Whitgift/LMP Prize in the 1998 Croydon Music Festival.
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The LMP commissioned Chris to compose a new work for solo viola and string orchestra, to mark the 10th anniversary of the orchestra’s residency in Croydon. Requiem for the Twentieth Century was premiered at Fairfield, on May 15, 1999. In 2000 conductor Christopher Fifield commissioned Chris to compose a work for the Lambeth Orchestra. Triptych was premiered to critical acclaim in 2001.
Current music projects include revising and orchestrating his rock opera Chains! - and writing a one-man cabaret based on Sutton-born raconteur and gay icon Quentin Crisp.
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