John Woolrich is a British composer, born in 1954 in Gloucestershire, England. He has a wide breath of output, including an opera, concertos (most prolifically the Viola Concerto (1993) and his Oboe Concert (1996), orchestral and choral music. He has received commissions from such prestigious organizations as the BBC Proms, Salzburg Mozart Days, Philharmonia Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. He also wrote a Cello Concerto for the famous cellist Steven Isserlis. John started Piano lessons at the age of 10 or 11, getting interested particularly in composition and contemporary classical music in his teens. Even though his interest started relevantly early he went on to the University of Manchester to study English at undergraduate level. He puts this down to a lack of confidence in his musical abilities at this age, but later studied for a Masters in Music. John in recent years has committed himself more to educating other musicians, and is currently the Director for Dartington Summer School. He also is Professor of Music at Brunel University. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.