Claire Eadington

Change of address

2011-03-30T08:52:00.000+01:00

As of 1 April 2011, my online home will be claireeadington.co.uk.

I've designed it myself and am really excited about the site and all the things that can be found on its pages, including some recent audio clips.

All of my latest news - diary dates, photos, new audio etc - will be available there, so please do go and explore.

See you there!
Claire x

Durufle Requiem, St James' Piccadilly | Saturday 13 November 2010

2010-09-06T15:20:00.007+01:00

The Oxford Spezzati Soloists & Orchestra

Nick Mumby - conductor

Saturday 13 November, 7.30pm

St James' Church, Piccadilly

Vaughan Williams Oboe Concerto (Marissa Pueschel - oboe)

Elgar Introduction & Allegro

Jonathan Bridcut Batter My Heart

Durufle Requiem (Claire Eadington - mezzo soprano)

Alongside the Durufle, the Oxford Spezzati's programme includes orchestral works by Vaughan Williams and Elgar, and the premiere of Jonathan Bridcut's newest work for choir, Batter My Heart, which sets words by John Donne.

Batter my heart, three person'd God; for, you

As yet but knocke, breathe, shine, and seeke to mend;

That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow mee, and bend

Your force, to breake, blowe, burn and make me new.

I, like an usurpt towne, to another due,

Labour to admit you, but Oh, to no end,

Reason your viceroy in mee, mee should defend,

But is captiv'd, and proves weake or untrue.

Yet dearely I love you, and would be loved faine,

But am betroth'd unto your enemie:

Divorce mee, untie, or breake that knot againe;

Take mee to you, imprison mee, for I

Except you enthrall mee, never shall be free,

Nor ever chast, except you ravish mee.

Practising my cackle...

2010-08-04T12:32:00.001+01:00

Dido and Aeneas | St Paul's, Covent Garden | 2-4 Sep 2010

I'm going to be singing the parts of Sorceress and Spirit in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas this September.

The production is a collaboration between Iris Theatre, the Syred Consort and OSP, directed by Dan Winder.

Other cast members include Rosemary Galton (Dido) and Philippa Murray (Belinda).

The four performances will take place in the famous Actors' Church, St Paul's Covent Garden, with the venue's resident ensemble, the Orchestra of St Paul's, and their Musical Director, Ben Palmer.

Tickets are available at OSP's website - follow this link to go there now!

A portrait less ordinary...

2010-08-04T09:39:00.000+01:00

I've just had a brilliant birthday present and had to share it on here: a school friend of mine is a fantastic manga artist and does portraits to order. Here's mine! (and well done Mum and Dad on an inspired pressie choice..!). If you want to see more of Kate's work, visit her website or facebook fan page.

Just checking in

2010-07-01T20:59:00.000+01:00

Feels like everything's really busy at the moment so here's an update!

Highlights from the last few weeks:

Live Ligeti at the Festival Hall as part of the Philharmonia's 2001: A Space Odyssey with live soundtrack which brought the house down. Kubrick was a genius - even if I got a bit scared in the rehearsal by the sudden (loud) chimp noises and crazy eye pictures. WhatagirlIam. More than a bit embarrassing, but well worth it as it's an awesome film. The Danube moments are utterly brilliant.
Finished my first year at Bedford Modern School - I'm privileged to teach some fab young people and am looking forward to next year. Fingers crossed for this term's ABRSM results... I continue to teach privately in Islington too: singing and music theory, as well as academic tutoring.
Assisting at some inspirational cross-arts workshops for the Barbican's Creative Learning department.

Summer is a-coming in...

2010-05-18T10:55:00.004+01:00

Saturday's concert was a really enjoyable occasion: Natasha and Hannah are both fantastic young singers with very bright futures. Watch out for them in a few years' time! We recorded some of the concert, and I'll try to get some samples up here soon. The other good news is that we raised over £100 for the church's renovation fund. Singing the end of Ganymed whilst seeing the skies through a broken stained glass window in such a beautiful building was a stirring moment for me; I hope the church finds the money it desperately needs to restore the space.

So, on to the summer! What's lined up?

Performance of sacred and secular music by Monteverdi with at the Lichfield Festival in July with Ex Cathedra Consort and Jeffrey Skidmore
A week's residential course at Hazelwood House in Devon with coaching from Ashley Stafford and Marco Ozbic
My birthday (VERY important!)
Tour of Northern Italy with Sonore, directed by Tom Primrose
Concert at the Edinburgh Festival with Ex Cathedra Consort

Concert this Saturday

2010-05-13T10:49:00.000+01:00

Huge apologies for the late notice of this: I realise the site's due a news injection...

Just to let you all know about a concert I'm involved in a bit closer to home this weekend:

Claire Eadington (mezzo soprano) and Kirsty Ligertwood (piano)
with Natasha Agarwal, Hannah Wainwright (sopranos),
Freddie Ligertwood (French Horn)

Saturday 15 May 2010 | 7.30pm
St Nicholas Church, Blundellsands

Myself and pianist Kirsty Ligertwood will be performing around half the programme, with two of Kirsty's singing pupils and her brother joining us to make a lovely evening of songs and horn music.

I will be singing some songs about spring by Schubert (Fruhlingsglaube, Heidenroslein, and Ganymed), excepts from Schumann's ever-loved cycle Frauenliebe und -leben, some of Barber's broodingly beautiful Hermit Songs, and a couple of evergreen favourites by Vaughan Williams and Quilter.

If you have friends and family in the Liverpool area do tell them about the concert. It will be a fantastic evening showcasing some of the area's top Classical music talent, and a chance to support the church as we raise money for their funds.

Happy year!

2010-01-26T10:05:00.006Z

The year isn't exactly new any more, so... Happy Year!

Casting half a mind back to last year, here are a couple of links to reviews of Figaro:
Cherwell (Oxford Uni student newspaper) - preview
Oxford's Daily Info - reviews

Playing Cherubino made for a brilliant couple of months, and besides giving the Oxford Tube and X90 a welcome recessiontide boost, I came away with lots of happy memories to look back on, namely: burritoes; 'beena; lots of skirt action (ooh err..); a fantastic and massively fun coaching with Roddy Williams and Penelope Martin-Smith featuring my imaginary crotch; and the privilege of being allowed, in the presence of 400 people, to act like a teenage boy two nights in a row.

December means Christmas, which means carols - lots of them - both in Charity Carol events across London, Ex Cathedra's concerts by candlelight (a revelation to me: inspired programming and flawless execution), and in church for Christmas itself, which for me this year was at St Gabriel's Pimlico.

Here's a taster of what my post-Christmas break looked like...

Coniston Water, 28th December
Walk and trip on the Launch followed by Dad's birthday lunch in The Black Bull, the village's brewery pub and home of mine and Dad's favourite local brew, Bluebird Bitter.

So. Here we are in January, and here's a quick news roundup to kickstart 2010:

A series of auditions for various groups have gone well, the quickest tangible result is that I'm going to be singing with the Philharmonia Chorus in a couple of projects in the next few months as part of their new Professional Singers Scheme
Easter is looking busy as the choral hotspot of the liturgical year with church and concert work - more on that story later
I'm now teaching from home as well as one day a week in Bedford - more info on singing, musicianship, or theory lessons in N1 here
I have discovered a great recipe for carroty low-fat breakfast brownies. By accident (or fate..)

And now, back to the studio...

Figaro in Oxford | THIS WEEK! | Nov 10/11th

2009-11-09T14:51:00.003Z

Just a really quick one to say that Marriage of Figaro is on this week - 6 weeks of living aboard the Oxford Tube and sleeping under the arches of Paddington Station later, I'm singing Cherubino in a fully staged production at the Sheldonian Theatre. Cast includes Robyn Parton (Susanna), Chris Borrett (Figaro), George Coltart (Count) and Aileen Thomson (Countess). Tickets here. Pictures (and hopefully some audio) soon!

News archive...

2009-01-31T19:35:00.016Z

August 2009

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 :)

Solo: Oratorio

2009-01-30T00:04:00.001Z

Bach | St John Passion; St Matthew Passion; Mass in B minor; Cantata No.170, Vergnügte Ruh
Buxtehude | Membra Jesu Nostri
Handel | Messiah; Israel in Egypt; Dixit Dominus
Monteverdi | Vespers; Psalm Motets
Mozart | Requiem
Pärt | Passio (evangelist quartet)
Schubert | Mass in A flat; Mass in E flat;
Vaughan Williams | Serenade to Music; Mass in G
Vivaldi | Gloria (alto / sop 2)

Performances include:
2008
Schubert Mass in E flat
London Pro Arte Choir, dir. Robin Kimber | Mill Hill, London
Bach Mass in B minor
Oxford Spezzati, dir. Nicholas Mumby | Lausanne, Switzerland
2007
Bach Cantata 170 (Vergnügte Ruh)
Oxford Spezzati, dir. Nicholas Mumby | Merton College Chapel, Oxford
Monteverdi Vespers
Jubilate! (Oxford), dir. Stephen Clarke | University Church, Oxford
2006
Handel Israel in Egypt
Schola Cantorum of Oxford, dir. James Burton | Sheldonian Theatre & St James’, Piccadilly
Pärt Passio (evangelist quartet) | Szczepek Ensemble, dir. Matthew O’Donovan | York Minster
(soloists: John Potter / Stephen Varcoe)
2005
Bach St John Passion
Oxford Baroque Soloists, dir. David Crown | Christ Church & The Queen’s College, Oxford
(included coaching with Christopher Purves)

Solo: Opera

2009-01-29T00:03:00.000Z

2009
Purcell | Dido and Aeneas (Second Witch; Spirit; Chorus) | Holy Trinity Sunningdale, cond. Peter Gunstone

2007
Monteverdi | Orfeo (Shepherd) | The Queen's College, Oxford, cond. Owen Rees

2002-3
Performances with Encore! opera group at home in South Cumbria.
Venues including Theatre by the Lake, Keswick; Coronation Hall, Ulverston; Holy Trinity Church, Casterton; Heron Theatre, Beetham. Repertoire including Susanna/Cherubino (Nozze di Figaro, Mozart); Third Lady (Magic Flute, Mozart). Chorus work including (Cavalleria Rusticana, Mascagni; Die Fledermaus, Strauss; Sweeney Todd; Sondheim)

Ensemble: Recordings/Concerts/Touring

2009-01-28T00:02:00.001Z

Brabant Ensemble (dir. Stephen Rice)
Gombert: Four and Five Voice Motets (Hyperion)
Gramophone Editor’s Choice
nominated for Gramophone Early Music Award 2008
Music from the Chirk Castle Partbooks (due for release April 2009; recorded summer 2008)
Dominique Phinot: Motets (release forthcoming; recorded autumn 2008)

A Capella Portuguesa (dir. Owen Rees)
16th and early 17th century polyphony from Spain Portugal
Tours to San Sebastien/Hondarribia/Jaca (August 2008); Ordizia (November 2008); and Northern Spain (May 2009)
Concerts in Oxford (August 2008/December 2008)

Sospiri (dir. Christopher Watson)
A Medieval Christmas (Gift of Music) – 3-6 voice carols, chanson and chant; 1 singer per part
The Light of Unexpected Angels

Schola Cantorum of Oxford (dir. James Burton)
Tours to Mexico (2); Argentina; China; Israel
Concerts across the UK including Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, and St James Piccadilly

Il Suono
Tour to St Petersburg, Russia, June 2009

Ensemble: Church Music

2009-01-27T00:01:00.000Z

Various London Churches (Sunday deputising/special services)
St James Paddington; All Saints Margaret Street; St Bartholomew the Great; Grosvenor Chapel (since 2007)

Previous regular jobs
Choir of St Mary Magdalen Choir, Oxford (Stephen Rice) | October 2006-July 2007
Choir of the Queen’s College, Oxford (Owen Rees) | Lay Clerk, October 2006-June 2007; Choral Exhibitioner, April 2005-June 2006
Exeter College Chapel Choir, Oxford (Timothy Burke/Stephen Wood) | Choral Exhibitioner, October 2003-March 2005

Ensemble: Jazz a capella

2009-01-26T00:00:00.001Z

Szczepek Ensemble
alto | 2005-2007
8 voice mixed voice ensemble
Finalists, BBC Radio 3 Choir of the Year, 2006 (performance in the final of the Adult competition at the Millennium Centre (Cardiff) broadcast on national radio)

Oxford Gargoyles
mezzo soprano | 2005
Toured Ivy League universities on the East coast of the United States
Oxford University's leading mixed voice jazz ensemble

PHOTOS

2009-01-24T21:49:00.001Z

1

2009-01-24T00:03:00.000Z

"...if you can think and not make thoughts your aim"

Hazelwood House course with Berty and Ashley, April 09

2

2009-01-24T00:02:00.000Z

"Share in the fame of a mischief shall make all Carthage flame..."

Wicked witchery abounds in Dido and Aeneas in Sunningdale, February 2009

3

2009-01-24T00:01:00.001Z

"Music, hark! It is your music of the house..."

Vaughan Williams' Serenade to Music in Lausanne, August 2008

Links

2009-01-20T19:22:00.008Z

A Capella Portuguesa - burgeoning consort directed by
Owen Rees. ACP performs renaissance polyphony
from all lands Iberian, so tours often involve yummy tapas,
cerveza, and calamari...

The Brabant Ensemble - see News for latest releases - are
going places in the eyes of pretty much every record critic around
at the moment, and bringing to light many neglected choral
gems of the sixteenth century in the process.

Sospiri - medieval carols, twenty-first century premieres
hot off the presses of East Oxford's finest composer
John Duggan, and everything inbetween: Sospiri and director
Chris Watson regularly perform and record together all sorts
of fabulousnesses, including two discs that I got to be on: The
Light of Unexpected Angels, which is officially my Mum's
favourite CD to listen to in the bath - high praise indeed -
and A Medieval Christmas on the Gift of Music label - which
isn't, but I'm sure would feature in her top 1 choice for medieval
Christmas music...

Il Suono - I'll be travelling to Russia for the
first time later this year with members of this group.
They do some really exciting programming and
have performed up and down the UK,
so am very excited about working with them.

Schola Cantorum of Oxford - I owe all of my world travel
(and love of steak and Argentinian red wine) to Schola,
with whom I sang with for many happy years as an undergraduate.

Lydia Press - words don't describe how lasting and devastating the
grief of losing Lydia in a climbing accident in 2008 has been to all of us.
Lydia was in my year - we'd met (and been inseparable
for a couple of summers) when we were 11 & 12 at Morland
Choristers' Camp, so it was quite a surreal reunion turning up
to our first ever Schola rehearsal in 2003 and finding we had both
descended to second alto..!

Halle Youth Choir - summer of 2006 was fab for lots of
reasons (graduating!), not least being privileged enough to
spend a week teaching this great bunch of young people.

Oxford Gargoyles - scoobadee-wap to you too... Possibly
the most fun summer ever (2005), proof that even the beardiest
early music geek has some schwing in them :)

Oxford Lieder - a fantastic outfit promoting song in Oxford:

without a doubt their annual Festival is the only place in the
country where you can see such fresh talent line up
alongside numerous international stars in the same arena
night after night. I managed the festival last year and am
glad to say the organisation's going from strength to strength.

Rodolfus Choir - the cream of talented young singers
from the Eton Choral Courses each summer, founded and
directed by Ralph Allwood. I didn't
sing in the choir when I was of age, but now
that I manage them I often get to cheekily join in when
we're an alto down.

Get in touch

2009-01-20T19:00:00.001Z

To contact me, please email claireeadington@gmail.com, or find me on facebook (Claire Eadington) or twitter (claireeads)