Recent performances . . .
I had a great time in the studio this March with David Bates and La Nuova Musica recording a CD of Vivaldi and Handel 'Dixit Dominus' for Harmonia Mundi. The CD (I feature as a soloist and as part of the small ensemble) is out in February 2013. It was then almost time to travel out to Norway to sing in the brand new Kilden Theatre, Kristiansand in Norway (Bach 'St.John Passion' with the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Nicholas Kraemer). The day before I flew out I sang with the 'Musical and Amicable Players' joined by the 'Quintessential Sackbutt and Cornett Ensemble' in Monteverdi 'Vespers, 1610' - perfect in the lovely acoustic and setting of Olton Friary. Other concerts around this time included two concerts with La Nuova Musica, in the Harrow Speech Rooms, London, and in the Cambridge Early Music Festival. Just before a nice break for Easter I had the great pleasure of performing once more for the Rudolph Kempe Music Society with the Bergonzi Quartet (Cordula Kempe) in Stratford-upon-Avon at the Kempe Studios in a programme of Bach and Pergolesi entitled 'Lent Unrelenting'. The music was woven with readings and extracts performed by distinguished members of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Two fun, and slightly different, vocal outings were the recording with Metro Voices of the sound-track to Tim Burton/Danny Elfman's new film 'Dark Shadows' and performing as soloist at the Royal Festival Hall as part of the 'Women of the World' Festival at the Southbank Centre in Lili Boulanger's hauntingly beautiful piece 'Les Sirenes' with 'Voice-Lab' led by Mary King and with host Sandi Toksvig and an all-female orchestra conducted by Sue Perkins.
On Good Friday there was an online broadcast of the Vocal Futures and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment's staged production of Bach 'St. Matthew Passion' on www.telegraph.co.uk/culture. It may still be possible to view it but if not there is a short clip below. . .
Upcoming . . .
Ongoing: the Bach Choir Schools Outreach- which culminates in a huge concert at the Royal Albert Hall with London primary schools, the BBC Singers and Bach Choir conducted by David Hill in August (see the Proms programme for full details). Following on the Bach Choir link, I will perform later this year as soloist with the Bach Choir, conducted by David Hill, in Bach 'B Minor Mass' at Winchester Cathedral. I first sang for David Hill and the Bach Choir last year when I stepped in for an indisposed Carolyn Sampson in the annual Bach 'St. Matthew Passion' at the Royal Festival Hall (with Florilegium) and am delighted to be invited back to sing with them and to work with their educational outreach project this year.
The year then continues with concerts with The Academy of Ancient Music in a European tour of Handel conducted by Richard Egarr and also as soloist later in the year in Handel 'Messiah' with the Nederlands Kammerchor and the AAM (Richard Egarr); soloist in Purcell 'The Fairy Queen' for the Gabrieli Consort conducted by Paul McCreesh in the Spitalfields Festival, London and also the Beaune Festival. In concert: Brahms 'Requiem', Mozart 'C Minor Mass' and 'Exsultate Jubilate', Bruckner Mass and Strauss 'Four Last Songs'. Further ahead are concerts in Wroclaw (as soloist with the Gabrieli Consort); recording a CD for NMC of works by Joseph Phibbs and the long-awaited opera by John Metcalfe 'Under Milk Wood' with Taliesin Arts and Companion Star, New York.
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Messiah by Candlelight at the Royal Festival Hall, Dec 2012
