HERE - London Handel Festival

14TH YEAR
FINAL
Monday 20 April 2015 7pm
St George’s, Hanover Square
London, W1S 1FX
ADJUDICATORS
IAN PARTRIDGE CHAIRMAN (all rounds)
EDWARD BLAKEMAN (Final)
CATHERINE DENLEY (all rounds)
MICHAEL GEORGE (all rounds)
CATHERINE WYN-ROGERS (Final)
FINALISTS
INGRIDA GÁPOVÁ SOPRANO
SARAH HAYASHI SOPRANO
JOSEP-RAMON OLIVÉ BARITONE
MARIA OSTROUKHOVA MEZZO-SOPRANO
ALICE PRIVETT SOPRANO
LAURENCE CUMMINGS CONDUCTOR
London Handel Orchestra
ADRIAN BUTTERFIELD LEADER
SUPPORTED BY
Franz and Regina Etz
The Groner Trust
The Michael Oliver Trust
Mr Michael Normington
The Selma D and Leon Fishbach
Memorial Prizes
London Handel Society Ltd
Horton House, 8 Ditton Street
Ilminster, Somerset, TA19 0BQ
01460 53500
londonhandelfestival@gmail.com
Handel Singing Competition
inaugurated in 2002
Promoted by the London Handel Society Ltd
Charity no. 269184
1
MONDAY 20 APRIL 2015 - 7pm
St George’s, Hanover Square
St George Street
London, W1S 1FX
FINAL
INGRIDA GÁPOVÁ SOPRANO
Aria: Scherza in mar la navicella (Lotario HWV26)
Aria: O sleep, why dost thou leave me (Semele HWV58)
Aria: Neghittosi or voi che fate? (Ariodante HWV33)
MARIA OSTROUKHOVA MEZZO-SOPRANO
Aria: Nel passar da un laccio all’altro (Giove in Argo HWVA14)
Aria: Se in fiorito ameno prato (Giulio Cesare in Egitto HWV17)
SARAH HAYASHI SOPRANO
Cantata: La Lucrezia HWV145
JOSEP-RAMON OLIVÉ BARITONE
Recitative & Aria: Principessa infelice ... Nel mondo e nell’ abisso (Tamerlano HWV18)
Vouchsafe, O Lord (Dettingen Te Deum HWV283)
Aria: Tu sei il cor di questo core (Giulio Cesare in Egitto HWV17)
Aria: Se il mar promette calma (Lotario HWV26)
ALICE PRIVETT SOPRANO
Aria: Morrai sì, l’empia tua testa (Rodelinda HWV19)
Aria: Date serta, date flores (Silete venti HWV242)
Alleluia
LAURENCE CUMMINGS CONDUCTOR
ACCOMPANISTS
AND SEMI-FINAL
Luke Green
Chad Kelly
FOR THE FIRST
ROUND
LONDON HANDEL ORCHESTRA
1ST VIOLINS
Nathaniel Mander
Asako Ogawa
Heather Tomala
CELLOS
Adrian Butterfield leader
Jean Paterson
William Thorp
Ellen O’Dell
Katherine Sharman
Melanie Woodcock
2ND VIOLINS
OBOES
BASS
Cecelia Bruggemeyer
Theresa Caudle
Diane Moore
Stephen Bull
Laura Cochrane
Mark Baigent
Hilary Stock
VIOLAS
HARPSICHORD
Rachel Byrt
Elitsa Bogdanova
2
BASSOON
Nathaniel Harrison
Laurence Cummings
INGRIDA GÁPOVÁ SOPRANO
Lotario HWV26
Scherza in mar la navicella
Mentre ride aura seconda:
Ma se poi fiera procella
Turba il Ciel, sconvolge l’onda,
Va perduta a naufragar.
Non così questo mio core
Cederà d’un empia sorte
Allo sdegno ed al furore,
Che per anco in faccia a morte
Sa da grande trionfar.
Scherza in mar, ecc
A little boat plays upon the ocean
while a favourable breeze blows:
but if a fierce tempest suddenly
darkens the sky and whips up the waves,
it is doomed to founder.
This heart of mine will not
yield in the same way to the scorn and fury
of an evil fate,
for it knows, even in the face of death
it will emerge triumphant.
A little boat, etc
Semele HWV58
O sleep, why dost thou leave me,
Why thy visionary joys remove?
O sleep, again deceive me,
To my arms restore my wand’ring love!
Ariodante HWV33
Neghittosi or voi che fate?
fulminate, Cieli,
omai sul capo all’empio!
Fate scempio dell’ingrato,
del crudel che m’ha tradita,
impunita t’empietà riderà
nel veder poi fulminato
qual che scoglio o qual che tempio.
Neghittosi, ecc.
Slothful ones, what are you doing?
Hurl your lightning, heavens,
On the head of the evil one.
Make havoc of the ingrate,
The cruel one who has betrayed me,
Unpunished, the impious one will laugh
Seeing lightning struck
Some rock or some temple.
Slothful ones, etc.
3
MARIA OSTROUKHOVA MEZZO-SOPRANO
Giove in Argo HWVA14
Nel passar da un laccio all’altro
sospirar talor si vede
per decoro di sua fede,
ingegnosa la beltà.
E quel duol sagace e scaltro
fa parer che nel suo petto
il piacer d’un nuovo affetto
sia fatal necessità.
Nel passer, ecc.
In passing from one trap to another
sometimes you’ll see
for loyalty’s sake,
a fair one reluctantly become artful.
And that shrewd and cunning care
is a harsh necessity,
to make it appear that in her heart
she has the pleasure of a new love.
In passing, etc.
Giulio Cesare in Egitto HWV17
Se in fiorito ameno prato
l’augellin tra fiori e fronde
si nasconde,
fa più grato il suo cantar.
Se così Lidia vezzosa
spiega ancor notti canore,
più graziosa
fa ogni core innamorar.
Se in fiorito, ecc.
4
If a little bird
Hides itself among the flowers and leaves
Of a pleasant meadow,
It makes its song the lovelier.
If in the same way the lovely Lydia
Unfolds her song by night,
Even more gracefully
She enamours every heart
If a little bird, etc.
SARAH HAYASHI SOPRANO
La Lucrezia HWV145
Recitativo
O Numi Eterni!
O Stelle, stelle!
Che fulminate empi tiranni,
Impugnate a’ miei voti
Orridi Strali:
Voi con fochi tonanti
Incenerite il reo Tarquinio e Roma.
Dalla superba chioma
Omai trabocchi il vacillante alloro
S’apra il suolo in voragini
Si celi, con memorando esempio
Nelle viscere sue l’indegno e l’empio.
Recitative
Oh eternal deities,
oh stars, stars,
who strike down evil tyrants,
sieze, at my prayers,
your deadly arrows:
with thunder and fires turn
the wicked Tarquinius and Rome to ashes.
Let the uneasy laurels
fall from his proud head,
and the ground become a chasm
to swallow, as an unforgettable example,
into its bowels the unworthy evil one.
Aria
Già superbo del mio affanno,
Traditor dell’onor mio
Parte l’empio, lo sleal.
Tu punisci il fiero inganno
Del fellon, del mostro rio
Giusto Ciel, parca fatal!
Già superbo, ecc.
Aria
Rejoicing in my sorrow,
the betrayer of my honour
now departs, the evil one, the faithless one.
Avenge, righteous heaven, remorseless fate,
the vile misdeed of the felon,
of the wretched monster.
Rejoicing, etc.
Recitativo
Ma voi forse nel cielo
Per castigo maggior del mio delitto,
State oziosi, o provocati Numi:
Se son sorde le stele,
Se non mi odon le sfere,
A voi Tremende Deità,
Deità dell’abisso mi volgo
A voi, a voi spetta
Del tradito onor mio far la vendetta.
Recitative
But if in heaven,
for the greater punishment of my dishonour,
you, the invoked gods, remain unmoved;
if the stars are deaf,
if the heavenly spheres do not hear me,
I turn to you, great god,
god of the abyss,
from you, from you my betrayed honour
awaits its revenge.
Aria
Il suol che preme,
L’aura che spira
L’empio romano
S’apra, s’infetti.
Aria
For the foul Roman,
may the ground upon
which he treads open under him,
may the air he breathes poison him.
5
Se il paso move,
Se il guardo gira,
Incontri larve,
Riune aspeti.
Il suol che preme, ecc.
As he walks,
as he looks around,
may he meet only ghosts,
and await destruction.
For the foul Roman, etc.
Recitativo
Ah! che ancor nel abisso
dormon le furie,
i sdegni e le vendette;
Giove dunque per me non ha saette,
è pietoso l’inferno?
Ah! ch’io già sono in odio al Cielo, ah! dite:
e se la pena non piomba sul mio capo,
a’ miei rimorsi è rimorso
il poter di castigarmi.
Recitative
Ah! in the abyss
the furies,
rage, and revenge are still asleep;
Has Jove no thunderbolts for me?
Is hell merciful?
Ah! Am I despised in Heaven, ah! tell me:
if punishment does not fall upon my head,
I feel the remorse, added to my sorrows,
of having the power to punish myself.
Aria
Questi la disperata anima mia puniscan, sì, sì
Ma il ferro che già intrepido stringo –
Alla salma infedel porga la pena.
Aria
May this punish my despairing soul, yes, yes!
And may the sword which, without fear, I already hold –
Mete out justice to my faithless body.
Recitativo
A voi, padre, consorte, a Roma, al mondo
presento il mio morir;
mi si perdoni il delitto esecrando
ond’io macchiai involontaria il nostro onor,
un’altra più detestabil colpa
di non m’aver uccisa
pria del misfatta, mi si perdoni.
Recitative
To you, Father, husband, to Rome, to the world,
I offer my death;
forgive me for my horrible crime
by which I unwillingly stained our honour;
and may another, more heinous crime,
that of not killing myself
before the misdeed, be forgiven me.
Arioso
Già nel seno comincia
a compir questo ferro
i duri uffizii;
Sento ch’il cor si scuote
più dal dolor di questa caduta invendicata,
che dal furor della vicina morte.
Ma se qui non m’è dato
castigar il tiranno, opprimer l’empio
con più barbaro esempio,
per ch’ei sen cada estinto
tringerò a danni suoi mortal saetta,
e furibonda e cruda
nell inferno farò la mia vendetta.
Arioso
Already in my breast
this blade begins to complete
its cruel task;
I feel that my heart is hurt more deeply
by the pain of unavenged wrong,
than by the fury of approaching death.
But if it not given to me
to punish the tyrant here and now
and treat him with the barbarous cruelty he deserves,
I will see to it that he falls dead,
I will grasp the deadly dart,
and, furious and cruel,
I will wreak my vengeance in Hell.
INTERVAL OF 15 MINUTES
6
JOSEP-RAMON OLIVÉ BARITONE
Tamerlano HWV18
Principessa infelice,
infido Tamerlano!
Questa, questa è la fede
che dee un monarca
a così illustre erede?
Con generoso core
vuò mostrargli’l suo errore;
corro per rinfacciarlo;
ma sogno, o veglio?
e così incauto io parlo?
Del superbo il furore
ecciterò; ma che tem’ io?
Si vada a difesa del giusto,
s’irriti pure il barbaro regnante;
sprezza i gran pergli alma costante.
Unhappy princess,
faithless Tamerlano!
This, this is the faith
a monarch gives
to such an illustrious heiress?
With a noble heart
I want to show him his error;
I run to reproach him;
but am I dreaming, or awake?
do I speak so incautiously?
I’ll excite the anger
of that haughty one; but what do I fear?
I go to defend the right,
and if I should annoy the barbarous sovereign,
a constant heart despises great dangers.
Nel mondo e nell’ abisso
io non pavento
tutto l’orror che mai
possa inventar il ciel, la terra, il mare.
No, perdere non vuò
giusto contento,
Irene, tu vedrai
che virtù sol m’è guida, a grande oprare.
Nel mondo, ecc.
I don’t fear on earth or in hell
all the horrors
that could be devised
by heaven, earth or sea.
No, I don’t want to lose
fair satisfaction,
Irene, you will see
that virtue alone is my guide in these great acts.
I don’t fear, etc.
Dettingen Te Deum HWV283
Vouchsafe, O Lord : to keep us this day
without sin.
O Lord, have mercy upon us : have mercy
upon us.
O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us :
as our trust is in thee.
7
Giulio Cesare in Egitto HWV17
Tu sei il cor di questo core,
sei il mio ben, non t’adirar!
Per amor io chiedo amore,
più da te non vo’ bramar.
Tu sei, ecc.
Lotario HWV26
Se il mar promette calma,
ed il nocchier la sprezza,
poi l’onda il vento spezza,
ed in periglio è allor d’esservi assorto;
così se afflitta è l’alma
perché fu avverso il fato,
se il vede poi placato,
non deve più irritar chi è suo conforto.
Se il mar, ecc.
8
You are the sweetheart of this heart,
You are my only love, don’t be angry!
In love, I ask for love,
I ask no more of you.
You are, etc.
When the sea promises to be calm,
And the sailor takes it for granted,
Then the wind whips up the waves
And the boat finds itself in danger.
Thus is the soul afflicted,
For fate was against it;
If it sees it then that fate has been appeased,
It must no longer provoke that which is its consolation.
When the sea, etc.
ALICE PRIVETT SOPRANO
Rodelinda HWV19
Morrai sì, l’empia tua testa
già m’appresta
un gradin per gire il trono.
Che del mio sposo novello,
né più bel dono
sò bramar.
Morrai, sì, ecc.
You will die, yes; your evil head
will provide me with
a step to climb the throne.
For from my new husband
a better gift
I cannot ask for.
You will die, etc.
Silete venti HWV242
Date serta, date flores
Me coronent vestri honores,
Date palmas nobiles.
Surgant venti et beatæ
Spirent almae fortunatæ
Auras cœli fulgidas.
Date serta, ecc.
Offer garlands, offer flowers,
Crown me with your honours,
Offer the noble palm.
Let the winds stir,
And let the souls of the blessed ones
Breathe in heaven’s glorious atmosphere.
Offer garlands, etc
Alleluja.
Alleluia.
9
PROGRAMME NOTE
On 2 December 1729 the first performance
of Handel’s opera Lotario took place at the
King’s Theatre, with Anna Maria Strada del
Pò in the role of Adelaide, widow of Lotario
(the son of the Duke of Arles). Berengario,
Duke of Spoleto who led Italy jointly with
Lotario had become jealous, and poisoned
his co-ruler; Adelaide rules in Lotario’s stead.
Lest the plot seem too simple, another
Lotario appears on the scene, this one a
German king who is trying to invade Italy.
Intrigue abounds, especially as Berengario’s
son is in love with Adelaide, but his mother
Matilde has other ideas, and the defiant
Adelaide suffers many privations at her
hands, enduring also the treachery of
Berengario, and the revelation that the
German Lotario (a figure based on King
Otho of Germany, better known as the
leading figure in Handel’s 1723 opera
Ottone) is also in love with her. Adelaide’s
aria ‘Scherza in mar la navicella‘ concludes
the first act of Lotario, ending a dramatic
scene with the jealous Matilde: Adelaide
uses the metaphor of a small boat caught
in a tempest to show that her valiant heart
will not be crushed by the machinations of
her rivals.
Nautical metaphors must have appealed to
Handel’s librettist, Giacomo Rossi, as the
image of the heart as a vessel in peril on
the sea also occurs in the aria ‘Se il mar
promette calma’, the aria Clodomiro (one
of Berengario’s soldiers) sings at the end
of a dramatic scene with Adelaide in Act I.
An oddity in a cast of Italian principals, the
creator of Clodomiro was a German bass
called Johann Gottfried Riemschneider who
had known Handel since the composer’s
days in Halle. The Daily Journal reported
that Handel had engaged this bass ‘from
Hamburgh’ as there was ‘none worth
engaging in Italy’. However, another of
Handel’s librettists, Paulo Rolli, commented
acidly that Riemschneider sang ‘sweetly in
his throat and nose, pronounces Italian in
the Teutonic manner, acts like a sucking-pig,
and looks more like a valet than anything.’
Lotario was not a successful opera, running
for only ten performances owing to the ‘vile
taste of the town’, and a revival of the more
popular Giulio Cesare followed on its heels.
This popular work, with a libretto by Nicola
Francesco Haym, had its first performance
on 20 February 1724, with Giuseppe Maria
10
Boschi as Achilla. Boschi and Handel had a
long association: Boschi had sung the role
of Pallas in Handel’s Agrippina during its
triumphant season at Venice’s Teatro di San
Giovanni Crisostomo in 1709, and although
he performed in London c. 1710, he spent
the next decade working in Italy and
Dresden before becoming an important
part of Handel’s Royal Academy of Music.
‘Tu sei il cor di questo core’ comes from
the final scene of Act I, in which Achilla
attempts to woo Cornelia, widow of
Pompey, despite the challenge posed by
her stepson Sesto. Words and music work
against each other, as the domineering
character’s stentorian vocal lines and somewhat dogmatic utterances belie his ardent
words. Later, Giulio Cesare sings the
rhapsodic ‘Se in fiorito, ameno prato’, an
ecstatic duet with a sparkling violin to
represent the ‘little bird’. The ‘Lidia’ of
whom Cesare sings is in fact Cleopatra,
who had arranged to appear as ‘Virtue’ in
an allegorical pageant for Cesare’s benefit. ‘Se in fiorito’ gives the singer licence to
embellish the vocal line with every possible
rhetorical device for conveying passionate
ardour and the infinite variety of this aria
must have delighted Handel’s audience in
1724.
The cantata La Lucrezia dates from the
young Handel’s time in Italy, where he
threw himself into mastering the genre
which was a substitute for opera after it
was prohibited by papal decree in Rome.
Instead, the dramatic cantata for solo voice
and continuo or orchestra with pastoral or
mythological libretti flourished. The intimate
solo cantata had been evolving as a special
art-form in the seventeenth century, and
when Handel arrived in Rome early in
1707 he quickly became familiar with the
nuances of the style. His excoriating La
Lucrezia brings to life the humiliation and
despair of Lucretia – an honourable Roman
matron – who had the misfortune to be
raped by Tarquinius. Rather than bringing
shame upon her husband Collinatus,
Lucretia chooses to kill herself but vows
that her ghost or shade will hound
Tarquinius. The continuo line in La
Lucrezia is a crucial counterpoint to
Lucretia’s emotions, demonstrating how
much power Handel could create with a
deceptively ‘simple’ texture.
Another independent work for solo voice,
but this time with orchestra, is the motet
Silete venti. Whilst its date is uncertain,
the type of manuscript paper Handel used
suggests he wrote the piece in c. 1724,
possibly for Cardinal Colonna of Rome.
Unlike the viscerally Italianate liturgical
music Handel wrote in the first decade of
the eighteenth century, Silete venti seems
tempered by the changing style of his first
London years. The aria ‘Date serta’ – which
refers to the palm fronds (symbolising
victory and goodness) associated with
Jesus Christ – is in three sections, each of
surpassing beauty and virtuosity. The
concluding ‘Alleluia’ is an exuberant gigue.
In contrast ‘Vouchsafe, O Lord’ from
Handel’s ‘Dettingen’ Te Deum represents
the composer’s masterly fusion of Italian
and Germanic sacred styles with the music
of the Anglican tradition. Handel’s Te Deum
of 1743 (which he began composing on 17
July) marked a defeat of the French by the
massed allies of Austria (Britain, Hanover,
Hesse) on June 27. King George II led the
troops into battle, which was a decisive
victory in this eight-year conflict. Whilst
the Te Deum itself sometimes allows
ceremonial bombast to outweigh the
musically sublime, this brief air for bass is
a moment of simple, ardent intercession.
The Te Deum was performed for the first
time in a service of thanksgiving for the
King’s safety in the Chapel Royal of St
James’s Palace on 26 September 1743.
1743 was also the year in which Handel
wrote his mythological oratorio Semele for
the Lenten concerts at the Covent Garden
Theatre. The Old Testament was the typical
source of oratorio texts, but the performance of scriptural works in theatres rather
than churches upset some pious commentators:
‘An Oratorio either is an Act of Religion or
it is not; if it is, I ask if the Playhouse is a fit
Temple to perform it in or a Company of
Players fit Ministers of God’s Word . . . In the
other Case, it is not perform’d as an Act of
Religion, but for Diversion and Amusement
only (and indeed I believe few or none go to
an Oratorio out of Devotion)’.
We can only imagine the reaction of
‘Philalethes’ (the author of this polemic in
the Universal Spectator of 19 March 1743)
upon discovering the subject of the first of
Handel’s ‘two New Performances’ for the
1744 oratorio season – The Story of Semele.
Semele’s languorous, sensuous air ‘O sleep,
why dost thou leave me’ comes from Act
II of the work: unaware that jealous Juno is
planning a terrible revenge, she lies sleeping
in her palace (dreaming of Jupiter), fanned
by the silky wings of zephyrs at the behest
of Cupid. However, in the next scene, she is
rewarded by a visit from Jupiter. Jove’s
amorous exploits are also the focus of
Handel’s pasticcio Giove in Argo, in which
the deity pursues the nymph Calisto, and Isis
(future consort of Osiris), whilst in disguise.
The mezzo-soprano Costanza Posterla took
the role of Isis for the first performance
on 1 May 1739 and as with so many Handel
arias, the words and the music tell different
stories: the radiant ecstasy of the music here
in ‘Nel passar’ is at odds with the cynicism
of Isis’s words. The aria is also an elaborated
version of the luminous ‘As with rosy steps
the morn’ from Handel’s Theodora, and
indeed Giove in Argo is a clever assembly
of much pre-existing music to a libretto by
Antonio Maria Lucchini.
Many of Handel’s operas are set in exotic
climes: Argos, Rome, Constantinople,
Aetolia, or Persia, and involve enchanted
islands or mythological figures. Ariodante
is set in Scotland. However, the anonymous
libretto is based upon Antonio Salvi’s
Ginevra, principessa di Scozia, which was
derived from Ariosto’s Orlando furioso, and
perhaps for the Florence-based Salvi
Scotland seemed to be a suitably exotic
location for a story of intrigue and tortured
passions. From the beginning, its
atmosphere of mystery is entirely appropriate to the eeriness of its setting in
Edinburgh: ‘Neghittosi or voi che fate?’ is
a darkly magnificent aria for Dalinda
(a servant of Ginevra) in which she calls for
lightning bolts, represented by jagged string
figurations, to strike her perfidious enemies.
Vengeance, deception, and unrequited
passion – three of the most frequently
recurring themes in Handel’s operas –
also unite arias from Handel’s three most
intense dramatic works: Rodelinda (1725),
Tamerlano (1724) and Almira (1705).
‘Principessa infelice’, part of a great scena
for Boschi in the role of Leone in Tamerlano
introduces other complex emotions –
tenderness and pity – and the magnificence
of ‘Nel mondo e nell’abisso’ is often overlooked in the general preoccupation with
Handel’s music for high male voices.
Similarly, Rodelinda’s kaleidoscopic
11
‘Morrai, si’ is an exquisite short aria for one
of Handel’s most noble heroines. She is
tempted to sacrifice herself by marrying
Grimoaldo, her husband’s usurper, so that
she can avenge her husband; ‘Morrai, si’ is
dignified and lyrical, but the glistening
musical textures evoking Rodelinda’s
strength and resolve are at odds with the
grisly text. The first Rodelinda, on 13
February 1725, was the celebrated
Francesca Cuzzoni, one of Handel’s great
stars, and it is easy to hear how Handel
wrote for her ‘clear soprano, pure intonation,
and beautiful trillo’, while the ‘tenderness
[with which] she won the hearts of her
listeners’ was a crucial quality for the
dignified, sympathetic Rodelinda.
Programme note © Corrina Connor 2015
_________________________________
BIOGRAPHIES
FINALISTS
INGRIDA GÁPOVÁ, SOPRANO, was born in
Slovakia. Her musical education began at
the age of six, with piano studies. In 1993
she took part in the Slovak folk-song
competition, being awarded second prize.
Her education continued at the Conservatory in Zilina (Slovakia) in the vocal class,
and then at the Music Academy in Banska
Bystrica. Then she pursued postgraduate
studies at the Vocal and Acting Academy
of Music with F Nowowiejskiego in
Bydgoszcz in Professor Hanna Michalak’s
singing class. Despite her young age she
has a broad repertoire in oratorios, cantatas
and song cycles.
In 2013 she won third prize in the opera
category and five special prizes (among
them the best Mozart interpretation) at the
Antonín Dvořák International Competition
in Karlovy Vary (Czech Republic)
In the contemporary music field Ingrida
performed the world premiere of Spoon
River by the composer Nowak and the
multimedia artist Dudek, a work commissioned by the Warsaw Autumn Festival to
open its 56th edition in 2013. She collaborates with the Spanish Ensemble Taller
Atlántico Contemporáneo (TAC), performing at the Semana de Música Religiosa de
Cuenca and the Festival Internacional de
Música y Danza de Granada singing the
world premiere of Cinco Guerreros by
Sebastián Mariné.
She recorded with Goldberg Baroque
Ensemble the world premieres Christmas
Cantatas of 18th century Gdansk (2010),
Lent Cantatas of 18th century Gdansk (2011)
and Johann Balthasar Christian Freisslich’s
Passio Christi (2012) released by Sarton
records. This last work was nominated for
the Fryderyk Music awards 2013 in Poland.
SARAH HAYASHI, SOPRANO, has sung roles
including Fire, Princess, and the Nightingale
in Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortileges, Belinda
in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Miss Ellen in
Delibes’s Lakmé, Euridice in Offenbach’s
Orphée aux Enfers, and most recently,
Despina in Mozart’s Così fan tutte. She
recently covered the role of Erste Knabe
in the Royal College of Music International
Opera School’s production of Mozart’s
Die Zauberflöte.
At National Theatre Warsaw she performed
the main role (SHE) in the world premiere
of the opera The Sudden Rain by A Nowak,
Xenia in Mussorgsky’s Borys Godunov and
Barbarina in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro.
In 2008, Sarah won the Maryland
Distinguished Scholar in the Arts Award.
She is also the recipient of the 2012
Evergreen House Foundation Scholarship.
She was inducted into the Pi Kappa
Lamda music honor society in 2013.
She performs regularly in the principal opera
houses in Poland. For Opera Baltic (Gdansk)
she has sung the roles of Pamina, Susanna
and Barbarina in Die Zauberflöte and Le
nozze di Figaro, Micaëla in Carmen by Bizet
and Annina in La Traviata by Verdi. At Opera
Nova Bydgoszcz, she has sung Gretel from
Humperdinck’s Hansel und Gretel, Hanna
from Moniuszko’s Haunted Manor and
Belinda in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas.
Sarah completed her four-year studies at
the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore
receiving both Bachelor and Master of
Music degrees in Vocal Performance. She
is currently pursuing a Master of Performance at the Royal College of Music in
London with Janis Kelly and Andrew
Robinson, supported by a Charles
Branchini Award and the Josephine
Baker Trust.
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MARIA OSTROUKHOVA MEZZO-SOPRANO
Born in 1991 Maria was introduced to
professional musical eduction at the age
of 6. She studied in Moscow Gnessins’
College of Music as a pianist until 2009
when she graduated magna cum laude. In
the same year she enrolled at Tchaikovsky’s
Moscow State Conservatoire where she
studied for 3 years as a pianist, harpsichordist and fortepianist. In 2012 she was accepted into Royal College of Music as a scholar
where she currently studies on the MPerf
course with Nick Sears and Simon Lepper.
She is an HF Music Scholar supported by
Theo-Max van der Beugel Award. Among
the roles she has sung are: Carilda Arianna
in Creta, Angelina La Cenerentola (RCMIOS),
Die Dritte Dame Die Zauberflöte, Ottavia,
and Fortuna L’Incoronazione di Poppea,
Maman/ La Tasse Chinoise/ La Libellule
L’Enfant et les Sortileges.
ALICE PRIVETT SOPRANO
Alice Privett graduated from the opera
course at the Royal Academy of Music
in 2014, where she was generously
supported by the Winifred Disney and
Jennifer Vyvyan Awards and was a Sickle
Foundation Scholar; she now continues her
studies with Elizabeth Ritchie. Her oratorio
work includes Handel’s Messiah at St Martinin-the-Fields, Israel in Egypt with the
Huddersfield Choral Society, Bach’s B Minor
Mass and Tippett’s A Child of our Time.
Operatic roles include Poppea L’Incoronazione di Poppea (Longborough Festival
Opera Young Artists/ The Complete Singer),
First Bridesmaid/ cover of Susanna Le
nozze di Figaro (BYO), Despina (Hampstead
Garden Opera), Papagena for Longborough
Festival Opera, Pamina for LFO on tour/
The Complete Singer, cover Nanetta for
Iford Arts, Baronessa Irene and Ginevra
Ariodante for RAO, Carolina The Secret
Marriage for British Youth Opera, Nerone
L’Incoronazione di Poppea at the Aldeburgh
Festival with Richard Egarr, Nedda
I Pagliacci for Woodhouse Opera, and
Gretel Hänsel und Gretel for West
Green Opera.
She has had the benefit of working with
Elijah Moshinsky, Sarah Walker, Eugene Asti
at Wigmore Hall and Iain Burnside (in the
premiere of his play Unknown Doors in the
Barbican Pit Theatre). She has also participated in masterclasses with Rudolph
Piernay at the Mozarteum (Salzburg), Joan
Dornemann as part of the IVAI programme
in Tel Aviv, and Dawn Upshaw as a BrittenPears Young Artist at Aldeburgh. Alice
was part of the Academy Song Circle, and
was awarded the Concert Recital Diploma
and the Tracey Chadwell Memorial Prize at
the GSMD for work in contemporary song.
In competition she has won the First Prize
in the Susan Longfield Award, in the Royal
Overseas League with the ensemble ‘Cries
of London’, and the Joan Chissell Schumann
Lieder prize at the RAM. Recent song
recitals include a selection of Birtwistle
songs aired on BBC Radio 3 as part of the
Proms, and a recital of Schoenberg and
Berg songs at Kings Place, London. In 2016
she will sing Strauss’s Vier Letzte Lieder
at the Amersham Festival; upcoming roles
include Gretel (Pimlott Foundation) and
Romilda Serse for Longborough Festival
Opera. In 2014 Alice was the recipient of the
Helen Clarke Award from Garsington Opera,
and this year she receives the Leonard
Ingrams Award for exceptional promise.
JOSEP-RAMON OLIVÉ BARITONE
Born in Barcelona in 1988, Josep-Ramon
Olivé started his musical studies at the
Escolania of Montserrat. He completed his
bachelor’s degrees in Choral Conducting
(2010) and Singing (2012). After achieving
a Singing Masters at the Guildhall School
of Music & Drama in June 2014, he was
selected to take part in the prestigious
Opera Course at the Guildhall School where
he is currently studying with Professor
Rudolf Piernay and with the support of the
Amar-Franses Foster-Jenkins Trust and the
Sheila White Bequest.
From 2010, Josep-Ramon collaborated
regularly with orchestras such as the
Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès, the Orquesta
Ciudad de Granada, the Orquestra Barroca
Catalana, the Orquestra Nacional de Cambra
de Andorra, Al Ayre Español and the
Brussels Philharmonic. New recent venues
include the Palau de la Música Catalana, the
Auditorio Nacional of Madrid, the Auditorio
Manuel de Falla of Granada, the Gran Teatre
del Liceu of Barcelona, the Teatre de la
Faràndula of Sabadell, the Avignon Opera,
the Vichy Opera and the Barbican Hall in
London, amongst others. Such professional
activity has allowed him to work under the
baton of great conductors such as Jordi
Savall, Eduardo López Banzo, Johan Duijck,
Sigiswald Kujken, Rubén Gimeno, Dominic
Wheeler, Xavier Puig or Lluís Vilamajó.
In 2013 he won the Second Prize at the
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20th International Singing Competition of
Mâcon, the Paul Hamburger Prize and the
Second Prize at the 7th International Singing
Competition of Balaguer. He has recorded
for Alia-Vox, Columna Música, Phaedra and
Musièpoca labels, as well as participating in
renowned young singers’ academies such
as the Académie Baroque Européenne
d’Ambronay and the Proyecto Pedagógico
of the Teatro Real of Madrid. He is a current
member of the Capella Reial de Catalunya
conducted by Jordi Savall.
_____________________________________
ADJUDICATORS
EDWARD BLAKEMAN is a commissioning
and programme Editor at BBC Radio 3,
where his responsibilities include the
planning and administration of the BBC
Proms. He previously co-ordinated the
prize-winning Sounding the Century project
for Radio 3 and produced a wide range of
music features, documentaries, live relays
and recordings of orchestral concerts and
operas.
Before joining the BBC, he was a freelance
flute player, writer and presenter. He studied
at Lancaster and Birmingham Universities
and in Paris on scholarships from the British
Council and the CNRS. He held a research
fellowship at the Royal Northern College
of Music and was Head of the Wind
Department at the London College of Music.
He is a trustee of the Royal Philharmonic
Society and the Britten-Pears Foundation,
editor of various music editions, and author
of two recent books: Taffanel - Genius of the
Flute (OUP) and The Faber Pocket Guide to
Handel.
CATHERINE DENLEY studied at Trinity
College of Music from the age of seventeen,
winning prizes there for Lieder and French
Song but also developing a lasting passion
for the Early Music repertoire and an
aptitude for contemporary works. After a
brief time in the BBC Singers she embarked
on a very successful solo career which has
taken her all over the world and has now
spanned almost 40 years. At home she has
worked with all the major British orchestras
as well as most of the principal Early Music
ensembles - her repertoire is varied and
extensive.
She has made many appearances on the
operatic stage, mostly in England and
Germany, in Handel and Monteverdi roles
- though she did also sing Olga in Eugene
14
Onegin under the baton of Rostropovich
- but most of her career has been in the
oratorio field. As a soloist, Catherine has
over sixty recordings to her credit: she is
particularly renowned for her Bach, Handel,
Monteverdi and Vivaldi performances, some
of which have won international awards.
Now as a teacher, Catherine enjoys working
with a huge range of ages and abilities, from
complete beginners to professional singers
and actors. She is in demand as an external
assessor in the singing departments of the
British conservatoires. Still having itchy feet,
she now travels the world as an examiner
for Trinity College London which brings her
almost back to where she started! Recent
trips have included Hong Kong, Australia,
New Zealand, Singapore, India, South Africa,
Egypt and Indonesia.
Bass baritone MICHAEL GEORGE began his
musical life as a chorister at King’s College
Cambridge. Later he studied at the Royal
College of Music where he was a major
prize winner. His career has included
performances with all the leading orchestras
in Britain and in many international festivals.
Conductors he has worked with include
Marriner, Eliot Gardiner, Norrington,
Mackerras, Christophers, Pinnock, Handley,
Sanderling, Zinman, Muti, Elder and Nagano.
His recordings include most of Handel’s
oratorios, The Dream of Gerontius, Creation,
Bach’s Passions, Cantatas, Missa solemnis,
Ninth Symphony, the complete songs,
odes and church anthems of Purcell,
contributions to six volumes of Graham
Johnson’s Schubert Series, Gurney’s songs,
Finzi’s Let Us Garlands Bring and Zelenka’s
Lamentations.
He has worked at ENO, Scottish Opera and
Buxton Opera and toured various baroque
opera projects with Philip Pickett and
Jonathan Miller in Europe, Mexico and China.
In 2014 he was involved in productions
of Purcell’s Faerie Queen in Mexico.
IAN PARTRIDGE has an international
reputation as a concert singer and recitalist.
His wide repertoire encompassed the
music of Monteverdi, Bach and Handel,
Elizabethan lute songs, German, French
and English songs and first performances
of new works.
Ian’s phenomenal list of recordings
includes Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin
(first choice in BBC Radio 3’s Building a
Library), Schumann’s Dichterliebe and
Liederkreis Opus 39, and Britten’s Serenade,
Vaughan Williams’s On Wenlock Edge and
Warlock’s The Curlew. He sang the
Evangelist in Bach’s St John Passion and
was the tenor soloist in the complete set
of Handel’s Chandos Anthems recorded
with The Sixteen, conducted by Harry Christophers.
Upcoming concert engagements include
the Toronto Symphony Orchestra with
Peter Oundjian and the Melbourne
Symphony Orchestra with Sir Andrew
Davis. Catherine returns to the Royal Opera
House, Covent Garden to sing her first
Mary in Der Fliegende Höllander, and
makes her debut for the Glyndebourne
Festival with Rape of Lucretia.
Ian has also enjoyed taking masterclasses
on Lieder, English Song and EarlyMusic. He
retired from public performance in 2008
but remains a professor at the Royal
Academy of Music. He was awarded the
CBE in 1992 for services to music.
_____________________________________
ANN ALLEN
As well as playing baroque oboe and shawm,
Ann Allen also works as an opera director
and has created a new style of atmospherically presented concerts.
CATHERINE WYN-ROGERS was a
Foundation Scholar at the Royal College
of Music, studying with Meriel St Clair and
gaining several prizes including the Dame
Clara Butt award. She continued her studies
with Ellis Keeler and now works with
Diane Forlano.
She studied at Manchester University, Royal
Academy of Music and the Schola Cantorum
and now freelances with leading ensembles
and orchestras throughout Europe including
Academy of Ancient Music, Ad Fontes and
L’arpa Festante.
Catherine appears with the Three Choirs,
Edinburgh and Aldeburgh festivals, and
also at the BBC Proms, where she was a
memorable soloist in the 1995 Last Night.
She has performed in concert with Leonard
Slatkin, Bernard Haitink, Sir Andrew Davis,
Sir Colin Davis, Gennady Rozhdestvensky,
Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Roger Norrington, Edward Gardner and Zubin Mehta. Her
numerous recordings include Samson with
Harry Christophers, The Dream of Gerontius
with Vernon Handley for EMI, Mozart’s
Vespers with Trevor Pinnock for DG, Peter
Grimes with the London Symphony
Orchestra and Sir Colin Davis, and Graham
Johnson’s Complete Schubert Edition for
Hyperion.
Catherine sang Erda and Waltraute in
Valencia and Florence with Zubin Mehta
and appeared at the Lyric Opera of Chicago
as Sosostris in The Midsummer Marriage.
She made her debut for the Teatro alla
Scala as Mrs Sedley in Peter Grimes, and
for the Metropolitan Opera as Adelaide in
Arabella. She is a regular guest of the
English National Opera, the Royal Opera
House, Covent Garden and the Bavarian
State Opera, Munich, and has also worked
with the Scottish Opera, the Welsh National
Opera, Opera North, the Salzburg Festival,
the Netherlands Opera and the Bordeaux
Opera.
She recently appeared at the Coliseum in
Dr Dee, the rock opera by Damon Albarn,
and has performed at the Globe Theatre in
the award winning version of Richard III.
She set up the medieval group Mediva while
at the RAM, which went on to reach the
finals of several prestigious competitions as
well as recording three CDs. She also directs
the baroque ensemble Il Bacio and jointly
runs the double reed ensemble Syrinx.
After her musical training, her love of the
stage inspired her to direct several operas
in the UK and Switzerland and set up her
own festival mixing early music with
modern music and presenting it in new and
unusual ways. This festival Nox Illuminata
has been running for seven years in Basel,
Switzerland, as well as four years in
St Pölten, Austria and three years as the
concert series Illuminationen at the
Burghof Lörrach, Germany.
ADRIAN BUTTERFIELD
Adrian Butterfield is a violinist, director
and conductor who specialises in
performing music from 1600-1900 on
period instruments. He is Musical Director
of the Tilford Bach Society and Associate
Director of the London Handel Festival
and regularly directs the London Handel
Orchestra and Players as well as working
as a guest soloist and director in Europe
and North America.
15
The London Handel Players perform
regularly at Wigmore Hall and throughout
Europe and North America and their
Handel recordings have received glowing
reviews. The Revolutionary Drawing Room
specialises in classical and romantic music
on period instruments and has also
performed in North America and Europe.
A new recording of quartets by Haydn,
Mozart, Vanhal and Dittersdorf has been
released by RDR to coincide with their
25th anniversary in 2015. Other recent
CD releases include Mozart’s Clarinet
Quintet with Colin Lawson on Clarinet
Classics and Geminiani’s Op 1 Sonatas
(SOMM) by LHP in 2012. Adrian’s world
premiere complete recordings of Leclair’s
Books 1 and 2 violin sonatas were released
in 2009 and 2013 on Naxos Records.
He works annually with the Southbank
Sinfonia, is Professor of Baroque Violin
at the Royal College of Music in London,
gives masterclasses in Europe and North
America and teaches on the Aestas Musica
International Summer School of Baroque
Music and Dance in Croatia.
Recent highlights have included conducting
the LHO in Bach’s B Minor Mass,
St John Passion and Magnificat at Tilford
and Handel’s Israel in Egypt at St George’s,
Hanover Square and La Resurrezione at
Wigmore Hall, directing the London
Mozart Players in Bach and Mendelssohn
and appearing on Croatian Television with
LHP as well as at the Brighton, Gregynog,
King’s Lynn and Buxton Festivals. Plans
for the 2014/15 season include LHP’s
debut at Carnegie Hall and the Halle Handel
Festival in Germany. Adrian will appear again
with the Croatian Baroque Ensemble in
Zagreb and direct a programme of Leclair
and Locatelli at the Greenwich Early Music
Festival.
Artistic Director of the London Handel
Festival since 1999 and of the Internationale
Händel-Festspiele Göttingen since 2012,
as well as acting as Music Director for
Orquestra Barocca Casa da Musica Porto
and as a trustee of Handel House London.
He has conducted productions for English
National Opera, Opera North, Glyndebourne
Festival Opera, Gothenburg Opera,
Opernhaus Zürich, Opera de Lyon,
Garsington Opera, English Touring Opera
and at the Linbury Theatre Covent Garden.
He regularly conducts The English Concert
and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and has worked with the Royal
Liverpool Philharmonic, Ulster Orchestra,
Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony, Hallé, Britten Sinfonia,
Royal Northern Sinfonia, Handel and Haydn
Society (Boston), St Paul Chamber
Orchestra (Minnesota), Wiener Akademie,
Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Musikcollegium
Winterthur, Jerusalem Symphony and
Basel Chamber Orchestra.
His numerous recordings include the first
recording of Handel’s newly discovered
Gloria with Emma Kirkby, and Handel
Arias with Angelika Kirchschlager and the
Basel Chamber Orchestra for Sony BMG.
Future highlights include King Arthur for
Zurich Opera, Saul for Glyndebourne on
Tour and his debut with the National
Symphony Orchestra in Washington DC.
RDR’s 25th anniversary celebrations
will open with concerts for the Tilford
Bach Society and at St John’s, Smith Square.
Adrian will also direct one singer per part
performances of the St Matthew Passion at
the Tilford Bach Festival and at St John’s,
Smith Square in June with the LHO.
Following a period in the Arts Council
Art Department, CATHERINE HODGSON
trained as a bookbinder, specialising in
repair and modern design binding. Once
her three children were at school she joined
the staff of the Academy of St Martin in
the Fields, from where she moved to the
administrative staff of the Royal College
of Music. In 1999, Denys Darlow invited her
to take on the organisation of the London
Handel Festival which he founded in 1978.
She runs the administration from her office
in Ilminster, Somerset where she also set up
Concerts in the West in 2006, an annual
series of concerts for young professional
musicians and spanning three counties.
LAURENCE CUMMINGS
Laurence Cummings is one of Britain’s
most exciting and versatile exponents of
historical performance both as conductor
and harpsichord player. He has been
PETER JONES was born in Pontlottyn, South
Wales. After leaving university he studied
singing privately with Ivor Evans. His singing
repertoire concentrated on Handel, Bach,
Haydn and Mozart. He was encouraged to
16
develop his interest in score editing and
engraving by the late Denys Darlow. He has
prepared editions of Handel’s operas and
other works for the London Handel Festival,
the Göttingen Handel Festival, English
Touring Opera, the Buxton Festival, The
Sixteen, The Early Opera Company, Garsington Opera, Bampton Classical Opera and
the London Mozart Players, among others.
He collaborated with the late Anthony Hicks
on several editions, notably Saul. He is
currently preparing Agrippina for Iford
Opera. Peter has provided translations for
the annual opera collaboration between the
London Handel Festival and the Royal
College of Music for several years, and has
prepared the translations for this year’s
Handel Singing Competition. He has entered
into an agreement with ChesterNovello to
market his Handel editions.
CORRINA CONNOR
Corrina Connor is currently a PhD student
at Oxford Brookes University, where her
research focuses on the performance of
masculinity in Johann Strauss’s Die
Fledermaus and other operettas.
Corrina studied at Victoria University of
Wellington, before completing an MPhil
in musicology and performance at Oxford
University where she received college
and university music awards. She wrote her
Master’s thesis on the performance
of Pelham Humfrey’s penitential anthems
and has presented research papers at
several international conferences. As a
cellist, Corrina has been a frequent
participant in the Baroque Orchestra course
at Dartington International Summer School,
as well as a Chamber Music Associate at the
Summer School. She has performed at the
London Handel Festival with Trinity Laban
Baroque Orchestra, and worked with
Solomon’s Knot and the Amadè Players.
Since 2012 Corrina has worked regularly as
a musician with the award-winning show
Austentatious at the Edinburgh Fringe and
during their highly successful UK tours in
2014 and 2015.
The LONDON HANDEL ORCHESTRA,
The London Handel Orchestra, which is
made up of some of London’s finest
professional baroque players and is
directed by Adrian Butterfield and
Laurence Cummings, was formed in
1981 by Denys Darlow to perform at the
annual London Handel Festival. It has
gained an excellent reputation for
historically-informed performance and
contributed greatly to the revival of
interest in Handel’s music over that
period. The Orchestra performs throughout the Festival at venues including
Handel’s church, St George’s, Hanover
Square, the Royal College of Music and
Wigmore Hall. It also gives concerts at
venues throughout the country outside
the Festival period and has appeared at
the Chelsea, Windsor, Tilford Bach, Three
Choirs and Oslo Church Music Festivals
and at the Barber Institute as well as for
the opening of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee
in April 2002 in St George’s Chapel,
Windsor.
Recordings include Handel’s Aminta e Fillide
and The Triumph of Time and Truth
(Hyperion) and the premiere of Handel’s
opera Silla (Somm), conducted by Denys
Darlow. The first recording of the 1732
version of the oratorio Esther, conducted
by Laurence Cummings, appeared in
December 2007 and was Editor’s Choice
in Gramophone Magazine and a live
recording of Joshua was released in 2009.
Recent concerts include performances
of Handel’s La Resurrezione at Wigmore
Hall, Bach’s St John Passion, B minor Mass,
Magnificat and cantatas at the Tilford Bach
Festival and appearances at a number of
cathedrals around the UK. In June 2015
Adrian Butterfield will direct performances
of Bach’s St Matthew Passion at Tilford and
at St John’s, Smith Square
ST GEORGE’S CHURCH,
HANOVER SQUARE
St George Street, London, W1S 1FX
St George’s was built between 1721 and
1724 to the design of John James, one of
Christopher Wren’s assistants, as one of
fifty churches for the Cities of London and
Westminster by Act of Parliament in 1711.
It cost just £10,000 (about £850,000 in
today’s terms).
During two and a half centuries
St George’s has been a centre of musical
activities from the time of Thomas
Roseingrave, appointed the church’s first
organist in 1725, to our own day and the
present musical director, Simon Williams.
In 1978 the then organist, Denys Darlow,
founded the London Handel Festival. The
17
church was built when Handel was in his
thirties. In 1723 he rented a house nearby
in Brook Street and remained there until his
death in 1759. He was often to be seen in the
church, especially in his later years, and this
makes St George’s a particularly appropriate
venue for the London Handel Festival.
The past five years have seen an
extraordinary period of restoration
and renewal at St George’s. In 2010
we undertook the comprehensive repair
and refurbishment of the interior of the
church and in 2012 we installed a brand
new organ. The process of planning,
crafting, and then installing a first class
organ (by Richards Fowkes & Company
of Tennessee) took a full four years and
after its dedication to the glory of God
and a superb inaugural recital in October
2012, those now coming to the church as
worshippers or concert-goers are able
to hear the results of our labours for
themselves. In January 2013 St George’s
and its sister church, the Grosvenor
Chapel, launched a combined weekly
lunchtime recital series known as Mayfair
Organ Concerts. We are delighted that the
2015 London Handel Festival will once more
incorporate recitals in this series into its
own programme. Later in the year a series
devoted to the complete organ works of
Handel’s great contemporary, JS Bach,
will be presented here.
But the work of St George’s is not all
musical! The renovation of the church’s
interior five years ago was far from being
just cosmetic. The cable laying involved
in re-wiring the building brought us into
close contact with our Undercroft, the use
of which has until now been confined to
storage. And yet there beneath our feet is
a useable ‘space’ with a floor area greater
than the church’s. It is too soon at this stage
to offer more than a teaser on the subject.
Suffice it to say, plans are being hatched . . .
In the 2013 & 2014 Festival Programmes
we appealed to patrons for assistance with
sponsoring our food coupon scheme to feed
hungry and homeless people in the area and
the response has been gratifying. Instead
of the small amounts of cash we used to
give such people when they came knocking
at our door, we now offer a coupon redeemable for food to the value of £2.00 at the
Cabman’s Shelter in Hanover Square. This
scheme has now been running for three
18
years but the demand is still such that
available funding is only sufficient to allow
us to provide coupons for part of each
week. A further £180 a week (£9,360 a year)
is needed if we are to offer such help every
day.
If you feel you can help us, please contact
St George’s Parish Administrator on
020 7629 0874 or
stephen.wikner@stgeorgeshanoversquare.org
Further information about St George’s
may be found on
www.stgeorgeshanoversquare.org
_____________________________________
HSC ACCOMPANISTS
LUKE GREEN
Luke Green was catapulted into the world
of international music making by conductor
Ivor Bolton, following studies at London’s
Royal Academy of Music. He has performed
frequently at the Salzburg Festival, the
Opera Houses of the Bayerisches Staatsoper
in Munich, Amsterdam, Strasbourg, Zürich
and Glyndebourne; future engagements
include the Teatro Real in Madrid, and the
Frankfurt Opera. Luke has a particular
affinity with the voice and has coached both
students and professionals alike in music
stretching from the beginning of opera,
to Rossini, Donizetti and even Verdi; and
anything in between. He has recently
embarked on a recording project to present
the music of Dr Maurice Greene, an English
baroque composer contemporary with
Handel, to a wider audience.
CHAD KELLY
Chad Kelly enjoys a rich and diverse career
as a performer and director, spanning almost
all genres of music, from historicallyinformed performance and chamber
music to Opera and Musical Theatre. He is
currently the Lucille Graham fellow at the
Royal Academy of Music, where he is an
Assistant Conductor and Répétiteur for
Royal Academy Opera. He is also Director
of Music at the historic church of St Anne’s,
Kew Green. Chad is Lector in Music at Trinity
College, Cambridge, supervising undergraduates on the Music Tripos. He is also
co-founder and Artistic Director of the
period-instrument ensemble Ars
Eloquentiae.
From a young age, NATHANIEL MANDER
has nurtured a dynamic passion for the
harpsichord and its rich and varied
repertoire. He is winner of the 10th
Broadwood solo harpsichord competition
and graduated from the Royal Academy
of Music in 2011 with first class honours. In
2009 he moved to London to take up
a place at the Royal Academy of Music
and began his studies with Carole Cerasi.
His time at the Academy included winning
the Early Music Prize three years consecutively, as well as the Harold Samuel Bach
Solo Keyboard Prize. In 2010 he won first
prize for the Early Keyboard Ensemble
Competition at Fenton House with his
group, Ensemble Caravaggio and in 2011
he was also awarded a prize at the first
international Competition for Harpsichord
‘G Gambi’ in Pesaro, Italy. Nathaniel gave his
debut London recital for the British Harpsichord Society at Handel House in 2010.
Nathaniel is an active solo performer,
continuo player and chamber musician,
and performances have taken him all over
Europe and to the USA in recent years with
his Wigmore Hall concerto debut in 2012.
He has given recitals at the Handel House
Museum, Mandeville Place, Fenton House,
Finchcocks, the Cobbe Collection of Early
Keyboards at Hatchlands, the Russell
Collection in Edinburgh, St Martin-in-theFields, Wigmore Hall, Kings Place, the
Tudeley Festival, the International Handel
Festival in Göttingen, the London Handel
Festival, the Spitalfields Winter Festival,
Raynham Hall and the Bach Steinitz festival.
In 2014-15 Nathaniel will hold the Linda Hill
Junior Fellowship in Harpsichord/ Continuo
at the Royal College of Music.
ASAKO OGAWA
Asako is a Japanese born harpsichordist
who regularly performs both as a soloist
and as a continuo player and is also in
demand as a baroque repertoire coach
especially in vocal repertoire.
Her career as a historical keyboard player
developed with her taking up the harpsichord in 2006 while already performing as
an established collaborative pianist. She
formed an immediate and deep feeling for
the instrument, and received scholarships to
take part in the Aestas Musica International
Baroque Course in Croatia and the Dartington International Summer School. Asako
obtained her postgraduate diploma in Early
Music at the Guildhall School of Music and
Drama in 2006 then awarded a fellowship
in the following year. She was awarded the
Accompanist’s Prize in the London Handel
Singing Competition 2007, and performed
with the winners of the competition for the
Brighton Early Music festival, broadcast on
BBC Radio 3. Since then, she has been
working as an official accompanist for the
HSC. She was also one of the finalists in
the Broadwood Early Keyboard Ensemble
Competition. Asako was also selected to
participate in public masterclasses with
Ton Koopman, Colin Tilney, and Bob
van Asperen. This spring, her baroque
ensemble LUX has performed to much
acclaim at the Georgian Concert Society’s
prestigious Concert Series, Edinburgh
followed by concerts in Tokyo and Chiba,
Japan.
She studied harpsichord with Nicholas Parle,
James Johnstone, and Laurence Cummings.
Currently Asako is a baroque repertoire
coach at the Guildhall School of Music &
Drama.
HEATHER TOMALA
Combining interests in early music,
musical theatre and languages, Heather
leads a fulfilling career as an audition and
rehearsal pianist, continuo player and
musical director. Répétiteur work includes
the Southbank Centre, Classical Opera
Company, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Monteverdi Choir & Orchestra,
Trafalgar Sinfonia, London conservatoires,
and numerous choirs and instrumental
ensembles. This year she will accompany
the inaugural Bel Canto Summer School in
Dublin.
Heather has coached for Dartington
International Summer School, London
Mahler Orchestra and small London
opera companies. She is a member of
Junior Guildhall School’s Musical Awareness
staff (also directing their Baroque Ensemble
for five years), Keyboard skills & Musicianship tutor at the National Opera Studio,
Répétiteur and Musicianship leader for
Ingenium Academy Summer School, and
Theory & Aural tutor for St. Paul’s School.
Off duty Heather is a Director of the Lucille
Graham Trust, and a dedicated member
of the Delaney Academy of Irish Dance.
_____________________________________
19
PREVIOUS WINNERS
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
ANDREW KENNEDY tenor
ELIZABETH ATHERTON soprano
ANGHARAD GRUFFYDD JONES soprano
FFLUR WYN soprano
NATHAN VALE tenor
DEREK WELTON baritone
ERICA ELOFF soprano
RUBY HUGHES soprano
SOPHIE JUNKER soprano
STEFANIE TRUE soprano
ANNA STARUSHKEVYCH mezzo-soprano
RUPERT CHARLESWORTH tenor
EWA GUBAŃSKA mezzo-soprano
FIRST ROUND
23, 24, 25 February
Craxton Studios, 14 Kidderpore Avenue, NW3 7SU
SEMI-FINAL
9 April
St George’s Church, Hanover Square
St George Street, London, W1S 1FX
PRIZES
First: Regina Etz Prize - £5000
Second: Michael Oliver Prize - £2000
Audience: Michael Normington Prize - £300
The Selma D and Leon Fishbach Memorial Prizes for
Finalists - £300 each
20
LAURENCE CUMMINGS Musical Director
ADRIAN BUTTERFIELD Associate Director
CATHERINE HODGSON Festival Director
RICHARD HOPKIN Chairman of the LHS
ANN ALLEN & SUSAN PALMER & YVONNE EDDY
HSC Administrators
ANNE-MARIE NORMAN Orchestra Manager
PETER JONES Music preparation
CORRINA CONNOR Programme note
CLAIRE HAMMETT Harpischords
LATASHA LAMB Box Office Manager
LUKE GREEN, CHAD KELLY, NATHANIEL MANDER,
ASAKO OGAWA, HEATHER TOMALA Accompanists
Photo: Ewa Gubańska- Winner in 2014
(Chris Christodoulou)

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