David Stoll

David Stoll was educated at Oxford University, where he held the Hadow Scholarship in composition at Worcester College, and at the Royal Academy of Music, London. His work includes music for the concert hall, the theatre and the media. He is also active as a Consultant on Music and Creativity in schools, and regularly runs workshops and projects for pupils as well as training sessions for teachers. He lectures and writes on various aspects of music.

David Stoll's concert music - catalogued below - includes works for orchestra, choir and much chamber music. Recent premieres include the fourth String Quartet and The Colchester Suite.

Much of the concert music is available on CD, including The Shakespeare Suite and the first two String Quartets. Fools by Heavenly Compulsion (the third String Quartet) has been recorded by the Bingham String Quartet for release in the near future.

He also writes for school ensembles, choral and instrumental, most recently the Gallions Concerto for clarinet and string orchestra, commissioned by Gallions School for first performance in 2007.

Commissions and Performances
The Shakespeare Suite - 2003
2003: Civic Hall, Stratford-upon-Avon

Falstaff
Sir John Falstaff, the fat Knight, endowed with a charm that cannot be denied, can curse, complain, cajole and cause chaos like no other man, at a speed and with an invention that has no equal. His considerable energies and powers of persuasion are, however, turned only to his own benefit and the service of disorder. And he really can drink.

A fat, fantastical lover, a cowardly soldier and brigand (though brave as a lion in his own boasts), he is the despair of all honest men who come into contact with him - though it must be said that he does meet his match in a couple of the ladies. Even the young Prince Henry is, seemingly, corrupted by him - though Hal must deny Falstaff in order to become King.

Henry V
It is the evening before the battle and the young King is walking through the camp of his army. His soldiers are heavily out-numbered and further dispirited by cold, wet and fear, but they are transformed in his presence and given fresh heart for the next day.

"And so our scene must to the battle fly." The Chorus offers us a small group of players on a tiny stage to present the full pageant of war. For it is now St Crispin's day, October 25th 1415, the day of the bloody battle of Agincourt. Through all the furious fighting the King constantly encourages his men, leading them on to an extraordinary victory.

These two movements have been newly orchestrated for this concert. They are set around a new piece, Sonnet, commissioned by the Orchestra of the Swan for the Shakespeare Birthday Concert, 2003.

Sonnet
This piece, for string orchestra, takes its form from the Shakespearean Sonnet. It also reflects some of the ambiguities, puns and cross-referencing of the Sonnets. This particular Sonnet is a love poem, and was written in the late summer of 2002.
David Stoll