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Conductor: Colin Marston
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ENGLAND'S GOLDEN AGES

Gibbons – Hosanna to the son of David
Purcell – Come, ye sons of Art
Howells – Requiem
Vaughan Williams – Mass in G minor
Vaughan Williams – Toward the Unknown Region


                       

Sunday May 9th, 2010
in St. Andrew's Church, Penrith
at 7.30 pm


Rachel Little (soprano)
Lucinda Stuart-Grant (mezzo-soprano)
Richard Pollock (tenor)
Benjamin Weaver (baritone)

 

Ian Hare (organ)
Colin Marston (conductor)


Tickets: £12 (Adults), £10 (Concessions), £4 (Students)
Available from Penrith Tourist Information Centre, Middlegate, Penrith from April 1st



 

Rachel Little / soprano

Rachel studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama with Patricia MacMahon and at the Royal College of Music with Eiddwen Harrhy. An experienced oratorio singer, she has performed extensively in venues from The Royal Albert Hall and The Barbican to the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall and St. Patrick’s Cathedral Dublin.

She was the soprano soloist for a BBC Radio 3 recording of Haydn’s The Creation, conducted by Sir Philip Ledger, and the soloist for two BAFTA award-winning film sound tracks Transition and American Cousins, both composed by Donald Shaw.

On the concert platform she has worked with internationally renowned conductors including Sir David Wilcocks, Peter Robinson and Tan Dun. Recent performances include Mozart’s Exultate Jubilate conducted by David Chapman, Handel’s Messiah with the Manchester Chamber Choir and the Haydn Harmonie Messe in St Asaph’s Cathedral, Wales.

On the operatic stage Rachel has sung for three years with the critically acclaimed Opera Holland Park Chorus and performed in the British Premiere of Tan Dun’s opera Marco Polo with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. She has won several awards including the Jean Highgate Scholarship, the Jewish Choral Prize and the Hugh Sloane Memorial Award.

Lucinda Stuart-Grant / mezzo-soprano

Education:
2009-Present: Alexander Gibson Opera School, RSAMD, Glasgow
Master of Music (Opera)
Professor: Kathleen McKellar Ferguson
2003- 2007: Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London
Bachelor of Music (Hons) Vocal Studies- 2,1
Professor:Annette Thompson

Opera Experience:
Hélène Bezukhova, War and Peace, Prokofiev. Scottish Opera/ RSAMD, January 2010
Nancy (Selected scenes), Albert Herring, Britten. RSAMD, December 2009
Stewardess (Understudy), Flight, Jonathan Dove. British Youth Opera,September 2008
Meg Page (Selected scenes), Falstaff, Verdi. Royal Albert Hall, April 2008
Ino, Semele, Handel. Handel Music Festival- High Wycombe, October 2007
Third Boy, The Magic Flute, Mozart. British Youth Opera, September 2007

Cis (Understudy), Albert Herring, Britten. British Youth Opera, September 2007      
Hermia (Selected scenes), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Britten. GSMD, July 2007
Larina (Selected scenes), Eugene Onegin, Tchaikovsky. GSMD, July 2007
Mercedes (Selected scenes), Carmen, Bizet. GSMD,July 2007
Irene, Theodora, Handel. Handel Music Festival- High Wycombe, October 2006

Concert Experience:
Concert with The Bridge Duo. Luton Music Club, October 2009
Pierrot Lunaire (Part 2), Schoenberg. GSMD,May 2007
Messiah, Handel. North Herts Guild of Singers, November 2007

Recent Engagements:
Dorabella (Selected scenes), Cosi Fan Tutte, Mozart. RSAMD, March 2010

Madelaine, Kaspar Hauser, Rory Boyle. RSAMD, March 2010

 

Richard Pollock / tenor

Richard Pollock was awarded a distinction in vocal performance and opera from the Royal Northern College of Music, as a pupil of Mr Patrick McGuigan and scholar of Sir Peter Moores.  By that time he had also graduated in law and trained as a teacher.

Richard thoroughly enjoys a broad oratorio concert repertoire, including the Evangelist in Bach St John and St Matthew Passions and Christmas Oratorio, Britten Saint Nicolas, Handel Samson, Messiah, and Acis and Galatea, Puccini Messa di Gloria, Dvorak Stabat Mater, Mozart Requiem, Solemn Vespers and Coronation Mass, Haydn Creation, Mendelssohn Elijah, Orff Carmina Burana, Rossini Petite Messe Solennelle, and Bizet Te Deum, performing in cathedrals and concert halls across the country.

In recital, Richard was the winner of the RNCM Cronshaw/Frost Song Cycle competition with Britten’s Winter Words.  Despite no longer singing opera, he still enjoys the odd gala, both home and abroad.

He and his wife celebrated the birth of their second child last year, with their elder son actively using his father’s musical scores to sooth his teething.  Richard is currently the deputy headteacher of a school in Manchester, and somehow still finds time to go sailing, cook, watch rugby and walk his two dogs.

 

Benjamin Weaver / baritone

Musical Education:
MOpera – RSAMD 2008-Present
MMus (Opera) - RSAMD 2007-2008
PGDip Opera Studies – RSAMD 2006-2007
PGDip Concert Singing – RSAMD 2005-2006
BMus (Hons) – RNCM 2001-2005

Singing Teachers:
Alan Watt: Sep 2006 – Present
George Gordon: Sep 2006 – Present
Peter Wilson: Sep 2001 – Sep 2006
Diana Palmerston: Sep 1998 – Sep 2001

Operatic Excerpts:
Dr Malatesta, Belcore Donizetti
Count Almaviva, Figaro, Guglielmo, Papageno, Don Giovanni Mozart
Marcello Puccini
Figaro Rossini
Tarquinius, Demetrius, Owen Wingrave Britten

Smirnov Walton
Faninal Strauss

Operatic Roles:
Kuligin (Cover) Katya Kabanova (English)
Scottish Opera Sep - Oct 09

Baritone Solos Carmina Burana (Staged)
Edinburgh Studio Opera
Fringe Festival Aug 09

Marullo Rigoletto
Clonter Farm Opera Jul/Oct 09

Lescaut (Shadowing) Manon
Scottish Opera May/Jun 09

Tarquinius The Rape of Lucretia
Elemental Opera Apr 09

Der Musiklehrer Ariadne Auf Naxos
RSAMD Mar 09
''beautifully sung by Benjamin Weaver''
Opera Now Magazine Sep/Oct 09

Leandre L’amour des Trois Oranges
RSAMD Jan 09

Pritschitsch, Bogdanovitsch & Kromow (Cover) The Merry Widow (English)
Scottish Opera Tour Aug – Nov 08

Giuseppe The Gondoliers
Buxton G&S Festival Aug 08

Marquis de la Force Dialogues des Carmelites
RSAMD Jun 08
''Benjamin Weaver was wonderfully patrician …''
Opera Now Magazine Nov/Dec 08

Zaretsky Onegin
RSAMD Jan / Feb 2008
''the small part of Zaretsky was strongly delivered by Benjamin Weaver.''
Opera Magazine Apr 08

Count Almaviva The Marriage of Figaro
Richmondshire Subscription Opera Jan 08

Sir Marmaduke Pointdextre The Sorcerer
Buxton G&S Festival Aug 07

Masetto Don Giovanni
RSAMD Jun 07

Sid (Cover) Albert Herring
RSAMD May 07

Il Notaro Gianni Schicchi
RSAMD Jan 07

 

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