October News
October was a busy month for Opera Prelude! On the 24th, we hosted our second OperaWorks, a professional development event bringing together young singers and established industry leaders for a day of talks and seminars. The various panels offered insight and advice for the young performers in attendance, who also got to pose questions to our speakers in return. It was a truly fabulous day, and we were so happy to see everyone mingle, share ideas, discuss the future of opera and hopefully open up pathways enabling young people to follow their dream jobs in the industry. We’re so grateful to everyone who attended and engaged in the panels, and to our wonderful guests for devoting their time and energy to OperaWorks. Special thanks go to Georgia Barnes for being the mastermind in charge behind the scenes!
Shortly after, Georgia Mae Bishop gave a wonderful lecture recital in Henley entitled Dido’s Lament: From Purcell to Berlioz, in which she explored the Queen of Carthage and her various appearances in opera. Georgia performed alongside the pianist Brendan Musk, and together they provided our Henley audience with a highly enjoyable morning of music and mythology!
Our October events wrapped up with a much-anticipated talk and masterclass from Dame Sarah Connolly on the 31st, Mezzo to Mezzo, featuring our Young Artist Joanna Harries. We were completely thrilled to have both of these fabulous mezzos with us, and hear so much insight from one of the country’s most successful and renowned opera singers! Our audience was equally thrilled with the morning’s offering – we were so glad to be able to reschedule this event from earlier in the year and are extremely grateful to Dame Sarah and Joanna for being there.
Young Artist News
Outside of our own events in October, our Young Artists have been up to a number of exciting new things.
Mimi Doulton, soprano, performed in a recital entitled Songs at Day, Songs at Night with Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and Vimbayi Kaziboni, conductor, and Thando Mjandana, tenor, on 18th October. Mimi’s singing was commended as “first rate” in The Times and Sunday Times – congratulations to her for a great performance!
Elsewhere, Claire Ward performed at Brighton Early Music Festival with The Portrait Players. Their programme explored the turbulent trials of love from the perspective of 17th and 18th century characters. Claire and The Portrait Players will join us later in November for a similar programme – we can’t wait to hear what they have in store!
Ben Knight, baritone, performed with English Touring Opera over the course of October, appearing as Monty in their children’s opera, Under the Little Red Moon. The opera was described as “delightful” by the Guardian, and Ben and his fellow performers’ characters were complimenting as being “highly engaging” for their young audiences. We absolutely love that our singers are getting involved with projects aimed at the next generations of potential music-lovers and performers, and it is brilliant to hear it received so well by audiences and reviewers alike. Further afield in Germany, James Geidt, tenor, appeared with the Staatsoper Hamburg in Salvatore Sciarrino’s opera Venere e Adone. As a member of the vocal ensemble, James performed under the baton of conductor Kent Nagano.
We’re glad to see our Young Artists get up to such exciting and varied projects, singing music spanning from the baroque era to the present date. We can’t wait to see what they get up to next!
What a great month!