2007 Cape Gloss - Mathilda's Story An opera for solo soprano voice and piano. Music: Mike Westbrook, Libretto: Kate Westbrook with Marie Vasilliou (soprano) and Brendan Ashe (piano) Carolyn Doorbar musical director.
World Premiere Sherwell Centre, Plymouth University, 25th February 2007. More Information
2000 - Jago
An opera with libretto by Kate Westbrook, music by Mike Westbrook. Written for 4 principal soloists, with Wills Morgan in the title role, 12 soloists in supporting roles, children's choir, 60-piece chorus and chamber orchestra. Musical director Carolyn Doorbar, stage director Marilyn Johnstone.
Commissioned by Wedmore Opera. World premiere Wedmore, Somerset July 2000.
1994 - Coming Through Slaughter An opera based on Michael Ondaatje’s novel about the life of the New Orleans cornettist Buddy Bolden. Libretto by Michael Morris. Script consultant Kate Westbrook. Music by Mike Westbrook. Scored for seven classical voices, string quartet and valve trombone.
World premiere of concert version, featuring Wills Morgan as Bolden, conducted by Odaline de La Martinez, Q.E.H., London, Summer 1994. BBC Radio 3 broadcast produced by Derek Drescher 1995.
1993 - Good Friday 1663 TV opera commissioned by Channel 4 TV, with libretto by Helen Simpson, based on her short story. Music by Kate Westbrook and Mike Westbrook.. Scored for the multi-tracked voice of Kate Westbrook, classical bass Simon Grant, synthesisers, saxophones /piccolo / flute, percussion.
Sound track recording produced by Jon Hiseman. Film directed by Frank Cvitanovich. Screened Spring 1995.
1989 - Quichotte An opera, commissioned by the Ensemble Justiniana, premiered at Saonora, Macon in April 1989, and subsequently toured in the Franche-Comte region. Directed by Charlotte Nessi with a libretto by Jean-Luc Lagarce that takes Cervantes’ Don Quixote as a starting point. Music by Mike Westbrook in collaboration with Kate Westbrook. Scored for four opera singers, a jazz vocalist (Kate Westbrook), a rock singer, a choir, four jazz instrumentalists and 80 piece harmonie (amateur brass band of the region).
Music for Classical and Contemporary Music Ensembles
2007 - Blues For A Blue Earth Composition for string orchestra and soloist.
commissioned by Purbeck Strings with funds from South West Arts.
World premiere Swanage, Dorset, March 18 2007, with Billy Thompson violin, Alex Stanford piano, The Stanford Quartet, The Purbeck Festival Strings conducted by Ian Pillow.
2002 - Classical Blues 2002 Composition by Mike Westbrook for symphony orchestra plus solo piano. One of six pieces commissioned by the BBC Concert Orchestra to mark the Orchestra's 50th Anniversary.
Premiered with piano soloist John Alley, conductor Barry Wordsworth, Royal Festival Hall,London,September 26 2002.
Broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Thursday 19 December 2002.
2001 - Classical Blues 2001 A work by Mike Westbrook for classical wind quintet. Commissioned by the Summer Music Society of Dorset and the group Quintessence.
Premiere Dorset, June 2001.
1997 - Cable Street Blues A piece for string septet by Mike Westbrook, commissioned by The Gogmagogs and premiered at the City of London Festival in a performance directed by Lucy Bailey.
1995 - Blues for Terenzi A 25 minute work dedicated to the memory of the trombonist Danilo Terenzi. Written for the Steve Martland Band. World premiere Cheltenham Festival. Summer 1995.
Included on album "THE ORCHESTRA OF SMITH'S ACADEMY"
ENJA RECORDS ENJ-9358 2.
1995 - September Song Arrangement by Mike Westbrook of the Kurt Weill song, for Saxophone and string quartet, commissioned by Barbara Thompson and recorded by her with the Medici Quartet on her album "Barbara Song" (Virgin Classics).
1991 - Bean Rows and Blues Shots Saxophone concerto by Mike Westbrook commissioned by Bournemouth Sinfonietta for John Harle. World premiere July 1991 in UK. Recorded by Decca / Argo and released in July 1992.
Decca Argo 4338472 Distributed in the UK by Polygram. (now deleted)
1996 - Camera Makes Whoopee Score by Mike Westbrook to accompany a short (18 mm) movie by Norman McLaren. Commissioned for the Matrix Ensemble, conductor Robert Ziegler.
1990 - Moulin Rouge Score by Mike Westbrook for full length silent feature film directed by E.A. Dupont (1928). Commissioned by the British Film Institute, the Auditorium du Louvre, Paris and BBC 2 TV for The Matrix Ensemble, conducted by Robert Ziegler.
World premier November 1990, 34th London Film Festival. BBC 2 TV broadcast 1992
1980 - Caught on a Train Score by Mike Westbrook for BBC TV drama by Stephen Poliakoff, starring Peggy Ashcroft and Michael Kitchen, Directed by Peter Duffell and produced by Kenith Trodd.
Musicians involved were: Chris Biscoe/alto clarinet and alto sax, Alan Wakeman/sop and tenor sax, Kate Westbrook/tenor horn & piccolo, Phil Minton/trumpet, Brian Godding/guitar, Georgie Born/cello, Steve Cook/bass guitar, Dave Barry/drums, Mike Westbrook/piano.
1976 - Music in Progress An Arts Council Film, directed by Charles Mapleston for Malachite Films. Focuses on the working life of the Mike Westbrook Brass Band (formed in 1973) - Phil Minton, Kate Westbrook, Dave Chambers, Paul Rutherford Mike Westbrook and Trevor Tomkins, recording and performing in London and on tour in France, playing in concert halls and in the streets. The Band’s repertoire embraced folk song, settings of William Blake, traditional jazz, popular songs, modem jazz, Brecht-Weill songs, Elizabethan music and contemporary improvised music.
Album, For The Record, originally released on Transatlantic, 1976.
Later released on CD and since deleted.
