Tallmezzo's Blog

New additions to the website

tallmezzo — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 21:27:11 +0000

The reviews from the USA tour are now on my website, along with a live recording of Handel’s ‘Venti, turbini’ from Rinaldo from the concert at Norfolk Chamber Music Festival at Yale on August 15th on the LISTEN page.

I’m also thrilled to announce another performance of ‘A Celebration of Kathleen Ferrier’ at the Perth Festival of the Arts next May (24th), with Brian Kay joining me as co-presenter and Christopher Glynn at the piano. There are also some new additions to the Events Diary for the coming year!

Watch this space for some exciting news in the next few days…

Tour of the USA with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Handel’s Orlando, Summer 2011

tallmezzo — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 16:39:26 +0000

Click to view slideshow.

I’ve recently returned from one of the most enjoyable trips I’ve ever had, musically, with Nic McGegan, his orchestra Philharmonia Baroque from San Francisco and the cast of Handel’s Orlando which began life back in 2008 back in Goettingen and has since travelled to Drottningholm, Sweden in 2009 and then San Francisco and Palo Alto in 2010. The performances were ecstatically received at all the venues we visited, three of which have been on my Ultimate Venue Wishlist for as long as I can remember – Ravinia, the Lincoln Centre and Tanglewood. However, the show at the Lincoln Centre will stay with me for many, many years to come and I have never experienced an audience reaction like it – I also received one of my most gratifying reviews to date! I’ll be posting all my reviews from the tour on the REVIEWS page of my website in the next few days.

I also had a solo concert with the orchestra of Vivaldi and Handel arias at the Norfolk campus of Yale University as part of the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, which must count as one of my favourite concerts of my music career so far – what a wonderful audience too and a fabulous reception afterwards. The concert was streamed live on the web and I’ll be uploading highlights of the programme onto the LISTEN page of my website very soon.

Ferrier, female composers and the US

tallmezzo — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 22:04:56 +0000

Several pieces of news: I’m pleased to announce another performance of ‘A Celebration of Kathleen Ferrier’ on November 20th this year, to be given as a fundraising event for Opera South at King Edward’s School, Witley, in Surrey. Tickets are available by contacting Opera South either via their email – office@operasouth.co.uk or by calling 01428 644716.

Adverts for the Feminine Charms programme I’ve compiled for the Celebration of English Song festival have appeared in Classical Music magazine this last week and Fiona Clampin has submitted an article to The Singer magazine about the project. I’m in the final stages of memorising at the moment – 26 songs, 24 of which I hadn’t come across before! – so it’s been quite a task but a thoroughly rewarding one. I can’t wait to re-introduce some of this wonderful music back onto the stage.

Just a couple of days to go now before I leave for the USA to fulfil several of my musical ambitions in one trip! Ravinia, Tanglewood and the Lincoln Centre. It’s going to be a real treat to return to Handel’s Orlando, but with 2 new cast members but I’m especially looking forward to my concert of Handel and Vivaldi arias with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival on Yale campus on August 15th.

Let’s hope there are no volcanos on this trip!

Events Diary updated – at last!

tallmezzo — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 22:49:20 +0000

I’ve been overwhelmed with planning the final details of the Feminine Charms programme but now, it’s all done so I’m catching up on all the things I’ve let slip. Like, for example, altering and updating my Events Diary! There are a couple of alterations for 2011 – the Celebration of Kathleen Ferrier concerts in Wales have been moved to November 2012. These have been replaced with a Classic FM concert at the SAGE of Manuel de Falla’s El Amor Brujo and Canteloube’s Chants d’Auverne with Northern Sinfonia conducted by Joshua Weilerstein on November 3, and the Centenary Celebration of the Society of Women Musicians at St James’, Piccadilly where I’ll be singing Ethel Smyth’s 4 songs for mezzo and chamber ensemble and songs by Rhian Samuel and Lynne Plowman.

2012 marks the Centenary of Kathleen Ferrier’s birth and I’m thrilled to be involved with the official celebrations. There are a few further events to announce but I’m awaiting final confirmation before adding those dates. I’m also excited to announce that the wonderful broadcaster, conductor and friend, Brian Kay, will be joining me as co-presenter for my A Celebration of Kathleen Ferrier programme at the SAGE on April 4th and I’m awaiting confirmation of further dates.

More very soon!

2012

tallmezzo — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 10:33:26 +0000

I’m just about to add 2012′s dates to my Events Diary and am thrilled to announce confirmation of another season of Handel’s Rinaldo (title role) at the National Theatre, Prague. Louise Moaty’s acclaimed production, fresh from success at Lausanne will return with performances throughout Spring 2012. Please check the Events page in the next couple of days for dates.

Other good news for 2012 is that the Celebration of Kathleen Ferrier programme at the SAGE on April 4th is already selling so well that I’m in negotiations with them about further performances – I’ll keep you posted…

Great news for 2011 – check out August’s edition of The Singer magazine for Fiona Clampin’s article about my Feminine Charms programme on August 28th at the Celebration of English Song Festival. It’s been such a treat to put this programme together and I’ve discovered some really exciting music which deserves to be out there!

More very soon!

English song, Vivaldi and Handel

tallmezzo — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 09:43:06 +0000

They say that variety is the spice of life… I think this is what is known as a cramming period! They never mention at college that one of the most important skills as a singer is to be able to continue to motivate yourself and keep on top of learning when there’s a break between concerts. The next patch of work feels distant and yet far too close! So, I’m balancing Vivaldi and Handel arias, Handel’s opera, Orlando, a programme of almost entirely new repertoire (Feminine Charms - unjustly neglected song by English female composers), plus audition repertoire!

I’ve been having particular fun with the song programme as I’ve put it together myself with input from some incredibly helpful people, including one of the acknowledged experts, Sophie Fuller from Trinity Laban College, and Valerie Langfield, leading Quilter scholar. What wonderful music and talents?! I can’t wait to introduce this music to the audience as a whole – although I’m a little daunted at this stage by the prospect of 26 songs to memorise! At least it’s in English!

The historical background to the lives of these women is also fascinating and it’s shocking to realise how much they did for female musicians that we take for granted today – and that it was all so recent! Through my work with this programme, I’ve been contacted by Laura from Contemporary Connections, to take part in a concert at St James’ Piccadilly in London in November, inspired by the centenary of the formation of the Society of Women Composers. I’ve been reading about them a lot so I’m excited to be part of this. We’re still finalising the details of the concert at the moment but I’ll keep you posted.

We’re having great difficulty getting hold of one of the Vivaldi arias that I want to sing with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in the US this Summer. We’ve approached a few orchestras who hold scores of the piece but everyone seems to be jealously guarding it and not being helpful at all!! So, transcription here we come! I’m going to know it very well by August!!

More soon – you can bet I’ll write more often with all this work to do – Long live displacement activity!

Handel and Ferrier

tallmezzo — Wed, 18 May 2011 12:58:29 +0000

Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay – I’ve been moving house, zooming around over Easter and dealing with some family business – my Grandma recently passed away. However, I’m now firmly back in the saddle and looking forward to the next concerts coming up. I’m working on Handel’s La Resurrezione at the moment, ready for a trip over to Marseille at the end of the month with The King’s Consort – I sang this with them back in 2001, with some of the same team – Charles Daniels and Lorna Anderson – plus some other old friends – Andrew Foster Williams and Julia Doyle – so I think it’s going to be a lovely trip!

And then, straight afterwards, on June 3rd, is a performance of A Celebration of Kathleen Ferrier at Blackheath Concert Hall, London, with the lovely Christopher Glynn at the piano. I’ve done a lot of thinking about this programme recently so I’m really looking forward to performing it again.

Just been sent this lovely review of April’s concert at Leith Hill:

“… the outstanding delivery by contralto Diana Moore of ‘Rhapsody’ (Opus 53) by Johannes Brahms in which the combination of the vocal and orchestral vision brought, perhaps, one of the most memorable sequences of the LHMF of the last decade.” Simon Ames

Dorking revisited!

tallmezzo — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 11:03:17 +0000

It was so lovely to return to Dorking Halls this week for the Leith Hill Festival. I was so disappointed to miss the performance of St Matthew Passion in March – Leith Hill always feels like coming home and I have so many long-standing friends and colleagues there. However, it was an extra pleasure to return on Thursday to sing one of my all time favourite pieces of music – Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody - with them, along with Beethoven’s Mass in C. This is the first time I’ve had the chance to sing it with orchestra (the English Festival Orchestra) and also only the second time I’ve had the opportunity to sing it, the last being over 10 years ago! But what a piece!! I enjoyed every second of it!

The programme also included the Vaughan Williams female voice setting of music from ‘Sir John in Love’, which I sang in my first concert with Suffolk Jubilee Choir, my County Youth choir, one of my big inspirations and confidence builders towards taking my singing further. Rather scarily, I can remember the entire alto line throughout, and the cast majority of the text too!! That’s over 20 years ago! It was great to hear it again after so long.

So, after a rather hellish journey back up the M1/A1 yesterday, back to business. Next on the cards is Bach’s St John Passion at Barbican Hall next Saturday (16th) which I am really looking forward to. I enjoy singing in that hall and I haven’t sung with Crouch End Chorus before, which I’m sure will be a great pleasure.

The next performance of A Celebration of Kathleen Ferrier will be on Friday June 3rd at Blackheath Concert Halls. Christopher Glynn will be playing for me – something I’ve been looking forward to for a long time and tickets are available from their box office and online from their website.

Brahms and Bach

tallmezzo — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 12:03:03 +0000

Just doing the final preparations for the Brahms Alto Rhapsody for Leith Hill Music Festival next Thursday – it’s been 10 years since I last sang this piece and although it’s interesting that I’ve remembered it completely since then, I’ve had to work it completely from scratch! And it’s all mostly ‘undoing’! I also have a chest register and upper register now, whereas the F and F sharp were right at the top of my voice then and the low notes were slightly unpredictable territory. Times have changed! I also haven’t sung the St John Passion (Bach) for a couple of years either, so it’s been intriguing to see how my voice has developed in that time – I’m singing this at Barbican on April 16th alongside some colleagues I haven’t seen for a long time, so I can’t wait to catch up.

There’s lambing going on at the farm next door at the moment, and every hour or so, John drives along on his 4×4 with a ewe and new lamb in the trailer on the back and deposits them in the field next to the house! Absolutely gorgeous and distracting me hugely from my practice, but there are worse things to be distracted by!!

Sunday

tallmezzo — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 09:45:37 +0000

So sorry to miss everyone at Dorking Halls on Sunday. I was really disappointed not to be there as it’s a festival with which I have a long standing contact and friendship - I won the LHMF Award back in 1998. I started developing pharyngitis on Saturday afternoon. At first I though it was just the opening stages of a cold that would pass once it got going, so I was hopeful to sing. I warned Brian that perhaps someone should standby, just in case. However, on Sunday morning, I was virtually voiceless and my larynx area was very painful whenever I tried to make a sound.

I’m so grateful to Clare Wilkinson for stepping in and doing such a good job by all accounts, but still, very sad not to have been there myself. No singing for this week at all until this passes, which is incredibly frustrating as I have so many new technical discoveries to put into place – I’m itching to get going. Patience is NOT one of my greatest virtues! However, maybe it’s just time to think about some of these pieces and look at some words. I’ll find something to do, I’m sure!

I’ll be re-appearing at Dorking Halls on April 7 for a performance of Brahms’ wonderful Alto Rhapsody which I am so excited about – I can’t wait. Hopefully, I’ll be able to make up for this weekend.

On a sad note, my Grandma passed away while I was in Prague, after a long and uncomfortable decline in hospital, so at least she was released from any further discomfort. She was 92. I had a chance to spend some time with her a few weeks back when she was still able to talk so I feel as though I said my goodbyes at least and my mum was with her in the last few hours. The funeral is next Thursday.