So, the Great British summer has been and gone. I'm a year older as of Saturday, and England are storming away in the Ashes. July, whilst quiet on paper, saw lots of things fall into place. Another Brabant disc is out with more sessions on the horizon, more concert dates in the diary for the autumn with other groups, new Sunday morning places, plans to move house... and - cue very animated Claire as she can't wait to tell you that - I've got an opera role to learn by mid-September!I'm going to be playing Cherubino in Oxford's most marmitey venue (love it or hate it), the Sheldonian, on November 10th and 11th. Watch this space...
As for the rest of this month I'll be working mostly with younger singers: Rodolfus have two projects between now and the start of term, and I'll be going on my first Eton Choral Course, as assistant music staff. Very excited to see how it all works and be a part of the machine, as I've seen how enthused it makes all the singers who go on it.
Coming up...
...recit to learn before rehearsals start for Marriage of Figaro (my first Cherubino! SO excited..)
...a little rep adventure to make up the rest of a recital programme for next term
...the Great North Run! You can sponsor my Dad and me here.
June 2009
Three months later: Spain was overcast until we got up the hill to the monastery, away from civilisation, where the sun came out and we had a fab gig. The Toledo Passion made yet another outing, this time without flies or sunburn, which made a refreshing change, and earned the same thrall from the audience as it did in all our previous performances of it.The rest of the spring months brought a good few hours back in a school practice room, with young singers from Bedford Modern School. It's a fresh and exciting department to work in and I look forward to seeing my new friends from both sides of the staffroom door again later this year.
The past week has been spent in Russia with 11 fabulous singers. Booking a dozen people and no conductor to go to a foreign country with a foreign alphabet with the sole purpose of singing together, in time, and in harmony, sounds a bit bonkers, but by gum it worked. So much fun: I made lots of new friends and learned a lot about the give and take of consort singing in the process. (Other more trivial discoveries, such as cabbage, dill, and just how prodigious my potential with a pool cue is, are at claireeads.livejournal.com)
Coming up...
...talk of a London revival of the Il Suono Russia programme
...lots of solo repertoire to learn
...South American baroque excitement and much more with Ex Cathedra
March 2009
The Brabant Ensemble's latest disc is out shortly on Hyperion Records. Directed by Stephen Rice and recorded last summer in the chapel of Merton College (freezing, even in July!), the recording documents some utterly gorgeous Elizabethan sacred music.
If you like your polyphony like you like your steak - oozing to the point of endangering your health - try TBE's disc of Gombert motets: I had barely heard of Gombert beyond the Tallis Scholars' rendering of the Magnificats (and very nice they are too), but the motets that we recorded back in Queen's a couple of autumns ago are unbelievably alluring. Have a listen to the excerpts that Hyperion have posted on the website and see why the Gombert disc was nominated for the Early Music category at the 2008 Gramophone Awards.
Coming up...
...another trip to the beautiful northern coast of Spain with A Capella Portuguesa (May)
...my first ever visit to Russia, to perform Handel and Purcell Cecilia Odes (June)
...solo/duet recitals - probably in London, and definitely followed by a house party :)
