Danish conductor Mikkel Rønnow commissioned Scottish composer Derek Williams to rework arrangements for American jazz singer Stella Cole's Copenhagen concerts
The scores began life in 2005, written for Australian actress Caroline O'Connor's Sydney Opera House recording of a Judy Garland tribute
Two performances took place on Sunday 19 April 2026 at the Glassalen theatre inside Copenhagen's historic Tivoli Gardens, marking Williams' first visit to Denmark
The concerts played to capacity audiences, who gave spontaneous standing ovations, and drew favourable reviews
Williams has since been rehired as Cole's arranger for her concert at London's Adelphi Theatre on Sunday 28 March 2027, where four of his arrangements will feature
Williams' career spans 27 IMDb credits and 37 Discogs credits, plus roles with the Richard Wagner Verband International and the Music Arrangers Guild of Australia
Scottish composer Derek Williams was commissioned by Danish conductor Mikkel Rønnow to rework a set of orchestral arrangements, originally written two decades earlier, for American jazz singer Stella Cole. The new versions debuted in two concerts on Sunday 19 April 2026 at the Glassalen theatre inside Copenhagen's Tivoli Gardens, with Rønnow conducting his orchestra and Williams attending both performances.
Derek Williams, Stella Cole and Mikkel Rønnow at the Glassalen theatre, Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen.
A Score Travels From Sydney to Scandinavia
The arrangements at the centre of the Tivoli programme were not written for Cole originally. Williams scored them in 2005 for Australian actress Caroline O'Connor's recording "A Tribute to Garland," made at the Sydney Opera House. Rønnow approached Williams directly, asking him to refashion that material so it could carry Cole's voice instead of O'Connor's, two decades and two continents removed from the original sessions.
The commission meant returning to arrangements that had been dormant for roughly twenty years and adapting them for a different singer, a different orchestra and a different hall altogether. The two newly commissioned arrangements were of the Judy Garland classics "The Man That Got Away" and "Almost Like Being in Love." For Williams, based in Edinburgh and running Derek Williams Music, the commission also marked a personal milestone: the concerts were his first visit to Denmark.
Williams framed the project as a point of connection between two eras of his orchestration work, separated by continents as well as years. The Glassalen performances gave him a direct view of how a score written for one voice and venue could be reshaped for another, nearly a generation later, without starting the orchestration from a blank page.
Ahead of the concerts, Williams said:
"We are very much looking forward to hearing Stella's reinterpretation of these songs in my new arrangements on Sunday. This will be my first visit to Denmark, at a time of intense geopolitical pressure coming from the US over Greenland, and I can only hope common sense will prevail, and Denmark's sovereignty will be respected."
— Derek Williams, Composer and Arranger, Derek Williams Music
Williams' comment extended beyond the concert programme itself, linking his first trip to Denmark to the wider diplomatic tension between Washington and Copenhagen over Greenland. The remark was notable because it appeared in a music industry announcement rather than a political statement, reflecting what the release describes as his long-standing record as a political activist alongside his composing career.
Capacity Houses and Standing Ovations
The concerts played to capacity audiences, who gave Cole and Rønnow spontaneous standing ovations; Williams says the final concert drew two in a row. The programme also featured arrangements by Alan Broadbent and Jesper Riis alongside Williams' two new scores. Reviews were favourable: GAFFA magazine described Cole as "an absolutely worthy heir to names like Doris Day and Judy Garland," and Danish critic Michael Søby praised the orchestra as extraordinarily well played, singling out "The Man That Got Away" as one of the highlights.
Derek Williams bows to the Glassalen audience for his arrangements.
Next Stop: London's Adelphi Theatre
The Copenhagen concerts have led to a further booking. Williams has been rehired as Stella Cole's arranger for her concert at the Adelphi Theatre on the Strand, London, on Sunday 28 March 2027. LW Theatres bills the event as a concert of timeless musical hits and jazz standards, part of Cole's orchestral tour celebrating the Great American Songbook.
Two more Judy Garland classics from Caroline O'Connor's showreel, "Get Happy" and "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart," will be arranged by Williams for the London concert. Together with "The Man That Got Away" and "Almost Like Being in Love," that means four of his arrangements will feature in Cole's Adelphi Theatre concert.
A Career Built Across Continents
Williams was born in New Zealand and holds 27 IMDb credits and 37 Discogs recording credits, with orchestration work spanning New Zealand, Australia, the European Union, the United States and the United Kingdom. His film credits include orchestrations for "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert," a movie that won an Academy Award, alongside work connected to figures including skating duo Torvill and Dean, Royal Ballet dancer Sir Robert Helpmann, and film projects featuring Phil Collins, Russell Crowe and Hugo Weaving.
His earlier collaboration with Caroline O'Connor extended beyond the Sydney Opera House recording. Williams also orchestrated the music for her "Night of 1000 Voices" debut at London's Royal Albert Hall in 2007, a credit that places the Tivoli reworking inside a longer professional relationship rather than a one-off commission built around a single recording.
Williams holds a doctorate from the University of Edinburgh, where he has taught composition and orchestration since 2007. That academic post sits alongside a touring and recording career that has kept him moving between opera houses, concert halls and film scoring stages across four continents. Few arrangers can point to a resume covering opera houses, ballet companies, film scores and, as of April 2026, a jazz vocalist's European concert dates inside a single career.
Guild Honours and Advocacy Work
Beyond composing, Williams holds several institutional and advocacy roles. He was elected to the board of the Richard Wagner Verband International at Deutsche Oper Berlin in 2024, and he chairs the Wagner Society of Scotland. He is also a Fellow of Trinity College London and an honorary member of the Music Arrangers Guild of Australia, recognition that reflects his decades of orchestration work for Australian productions and performers.
Williams is also known in music-technology circles for his Save Sibelius campaign, launched in 2012 after Avid Technology dismissed the London-based development team behind the Sibelius scorewriter software. That team was subsequently hired by Steinberg to build a rival notation program, Dorico, which Williams now uses himself to prepare his arrangements, including the scores performed in Copenhagen in April.
Why a Twenty-Year-Old Score Still Travels
The Tivoli booking fit a pattern visible across the touring jazz and cabaret circuit, where orchestras and promoters commission fresh orchestrations of existing songbooks, pairing touring vocalists with local conductors and house orchestras for one-off events. Tivoli Gardens is one of the older entertainment venues in Europe, and the Glassalen theatre inside it has hosted performers for generations, giving a newly commissioned arrangement for an American singer a setting with its own long performance history.
For an arranger such as Williams, whose original scores were written for a different voice, a different orchestra and a different country, that kind of commission depends on arrangements remaining adaptable long after their first performance. It is also a reminder that orchestration credits, once recorded on an album or filed with a guild, can stay commercially active for decades after the original performance has ended.
The two performances at Glassalen marked the public debut of Williams' reworked arrangements, with Stella Cole singing material first written for Caroline O'Connor two decades earlier. For Derek Williams Music, the Copenhagen concerts extended a catalogue of orchestration work that already spans film, ballet and opera into a new Scandinavian setting, with Williams present in the hall for both shows.
"We are very much looking forward to hearing Stella's reinterpretation of these songs in my new arrangements on Sunday."
