Amanda Roocroft - soprano, Joseph Middleton - piano Beatriz Santos, Elizabeth Reeves, Beatrice Acland, Issy Bridgeman - sopranos Charles Cunliffe - baritone Ella O’Neill, Keval Shah - piano
Welsh Soprano Issy Bridgeman has just completed her second year at the Royal College of Music, under Amanda Roocroft and Andrew Robinson. She has previously studied for a year at the Royal Welsh junior conservatoire in Cardiff, and looks forward to continuing her studies at the Royal College of Music.
Charles Mathieson Cunliffe, 21 years of age, is an English baritone who has recently completed his first year as an undergraduate at the Royal Academy of Music. He studies with Giles Underwood and Joseph Middleton. Previously, he was bass choral-scholar at Peterborough Cathedral under the direction of Steven Grahl.
British soprano Beatrice Acland has just graduated from the Masters in Opera Performance course at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama where she studied with Lorna Anderson and Ingrid Surgenor. In September Beatrice is looking forward to covering the role of Donna Elvira in British Youth Opera’s Don Giovanni.
Portuguese soprano Beatriz Santos, 20 years old, is currently studying English Literature at Clare College, Cambridge. In the academic year 2016-17 she sang in Clare College Choir, touring in the USA and South East Asia, and recently took part in the Pembroke Lieder Scheme, a programme coached by Joseph Middleton.
American soprano Elizabeth Reeves recently graduated with a Master’s in Performance from the Royal College of Music in London, where she studied with Amanda Roocroft, David Rendall, and Simon Lepper. In the autumn, she looks forward to continuing her studies at the Welsh International Academy of Voice under the tutelage of Dennis O’Neill.
Ella O’Neill has just graduated from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama with first class honours, and will continue her studies in September at the Royal College of Music. There she will be doing her Masters in piano accompaniment with Simon Lepper and Kathryn Sturrock. Upcoming highlights for the summer include an opera gala at St-Martin-in-the-Field’s, a concert of Butterworth songs to remember veterans of the Battle of the Somme in collaboration with the Halle orchestra, and a production of La Boheme with Barefoot Opera.
Keval Shah has just graduated from the Royal Academy of Musyic, where he studied with Michael Dussek, Malcolm Martineau, and Audrey Hyland, and he will begin a Fellowship there in September. He is an Oxford Lieder Young Artist, a Britten Pears Young Artist, and a member of the Academy’s Song Circle, with whom he will make his debut at the Wigmore Hall next season.
Concert Saturday 15 July 2017
Issy Bridgeman - soprano, Ella O’Neill - piano
Mozart: Als Luise die Briefe, K. 520
Wolf: Lebe wohl, No.36 from Mörike Lieder
Wolf: O wär’ dein Haus, No.40 from Italienisches Liederbuch
Quilter: Dream Valley, Op.20, No.2 from 3 Songs of William Blake
Charles Mathieson Cunliffe - baritone, Keval Shah - piano
Quilter: Go Lovely Rose from 5 English Love Lyrics
Butterworth: Loveliest of Trees from Shropshire Lad
Somervell: Into My Heart from Shropshire Lad
Vaughan-Williams: Silent Noon from House of Life
Finzi: Who is Silvia? from Let Us Garlands Bring
Beatriz Santos - soprano, Ella O’Neill - piano
Granados: La Maja Dolorosa I, II, III
Dring: Song of a Nightclub Proprietess
Elizabeth Reeves - soprano, Keval Shah - piano
Debussy: C’est l’extase from Ariettes oubliées
Hahn: L’heure exquise
Rimsky-Korsakov: Vostochnïy romans (The Nightingale and the Rose)
Grieg: Jeg elsker dig!
Sibelius: Var det en dröm
Grieg: Ein Traum
Beatrice Acland - soprano, Ella O’Neill - piano
Strauss: Ständchen
Strauss: Allerseelen
Rachmaninoff: Harvest of Sorrow
Rachmaninoff: Before my window
Bridge: Love went a riding
Academy of French Song and Opera
Course Leaders: Florence Daguerre de Hureaux, Caroline Dowdle, Jean-Paul Pruna Pianist: Jâms Coleman
AFSO held their fourth summer course at Brel in August and gave a concert on Friday 25 August 2017.
Therese Ahlbeck is a soprano currently studying at the University College of Opera in Stockholm. She first trained as a pianist but decided to switch to opera and classical singing at the age of 19. She has sung Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro at Vadstenas old theater, Emmie in Albert Herring at the University College of Opera. Therese loves opera but her heart belongs to lieder and mélodies, especially the Swedish ones.
Alejandra Gomez, mezzo,studied at Sociedad Internacional de Valores de Arte Mexicano, 2013 where she earned the "Placido Domingo Scholarship" for three years. She recently sang the roles Carmen by Bizet and Charlotte from Werther by Massenet with Artescenica Opera at Saltillo, Mexico. She is now a resident artist at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia.
Betty Makharinsky, a British-Russian soprano, is currently studying for an Artist Masters at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London. She trained as a violinist before becoming a singer. She has recently sung 2nd Lady and 2nd Spirit in the Magic Flute as well as Belinda in Purcell's Dido & Aeneas. Betty is a keen recitalist and consort singer.
Elspeth Marrow (mezzo) recently graduated from the Royal College of Music in London. Operatic roles include Dorinda, Acis and Galatea (RCM Aldeburgh Residency), Mrs Grose The Turn of the Screw (Euphonia Opera), Getrud Hansel and Gretel(RCMIOS), Polinesso Ariodante (LHF & RCMIOS), Florence Pike Albert Herring (RCMIOS), Hansel Hansel and Gretel, Madame de la Haltière Cendrillon, and Kate Pinkerton Madama Butterfly. Elspeth will be singing the role of Prudentia in Haydn’s Applausus with Classical Opera in 2018.
Alexandra Nowakowski, a Polish-American soprano, is a resident artist at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia where she has performed the roles of Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, and Musetta in La bohème. Alexandra won 1st Prizes in the Gerda Lissner Vocal Foundation Competition in New York city, the Violetta DuPont Opera Florham Competition and the American Council for PolishCulture's Marcella Sembrich Competition.
Alys Roberts is a Welsh soprano who recently graduated from the Royal Academy of Music Opera school. Alys started singing in the Welsh folk tradition. At RAO, Alys has performed the roles of Eurydice in Offenbach’s Orphée aux Enfers, Barbarina in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, Pannochka in Rimsky-Korsakov’s May Night, and Amore and Damigella in Monteverdi’s Poppea. She has also sung with WNO in their Welsh Language opera Gair ar Gnawd by Pwyll ap Sion.
Born in North Wales, Jâms Coleman (pianist) is an Oxford Lieder Young Artist and a Samling Artist. He has performed at the Wigmore Hall, the Oxford and Leeds Lieder Festivals, and Three Choirs Festival with artists including Sir John Tomlinson, James Gilchrist, Andrew Kennedy and Nicholas Mulroy. He has performed concertos by Mozart, Chopin, Brahms and Beethoven. He was a Choral Scholar and read Music at Girton College Cambridge and studies at the Royal Academy of Music, London.
Concert Friday 25 August 2017
Noble Seigneurs, salut! (Les Huguenots, Meyerbeer) - Alejandra Gomez
Le sommeil; Ba, Be, Bi, Bo, Bu; Les anges musiciens (La Courte Paille, Poulenc) - Alys Roberts
Sa main depuis hier (Hamlet, Thomas) - Therese Ahlbeck
Mandoline; Green (Fauré) - Betty Makharinsky
Villanelle (Dell’Acqua) - Alexandra Nowakowski
Letter Scene (Werther, Massenet) - Elspeth Marrow
Romance (Rachmaninov) - Jean-Paul Pruna, Caroline Dowdle, Jâms Coleman
Jungfru Blond och Jungfru Brunett (Stenhammar) - Therese Ahlbeck
Gweddi Pechadur (Morfydd Llwyn Owen) - Alys Roberts
Bell Song (Lakmé, Delibes) - Alexandra Nowakowski
Flower Duet (Lakmé, Delibes) - Alys Roberts, Elspeth Marrow
Johnny (Cabaret Songs, Britten) - Elspeth Marrow
Country Gardens (arr. Grainger) - Jâms Coleman, Jean-Paul Pruna, Caroline Dowdle
Granada (Lara) - Alejandra Gomez
Zelkova String Quartet and friends