Thursday 9th June, 19:45

ENGLISH NATIONAL OPERA AND THE ROYAL OPERA
“A LITTLE MORE LIGHT MUSIC”

Tickets: £15 (£12)

FIONA CANFIELD - Soprano
SUSANNA TUDOR-THOMAS - Mezzo Soprano
NEIL GILLESPIE - Tenor
ANTON RICH - Tenor
MICHAEL SELBY - Bass

NICHOLAS CHALMERS - Piano
 

Following their appearance at the 2009 Festival, these members of English National Opera and The Royal Opera return to give another concert focusing on the lighter side of the repertoire. The programme will include a sprinkling of opera, but alongside items from the world of Gilbert and Sullivan, musicals, ballads and other “not so serious” ditties!

Fiona Canfield read music at Goldsmiths’ College, University of London and subsequently studied singing at the Royal Academy of Music and the Britten-Pears School. In 1986 Fiona joined ENO where she has sung numerous small roles, including Countess Ceprano Rigoletto, Peep-Bo and Yum Yum Mikado, Barbarino Figaro, Flora Turn of the Screw amongst others. Outside of ENO she has taken roles with Court Opera, Opera South, Southgate Opera, St Albans Chamber Opera, Kentish Opera, Harrow School of Young Musicians and as Peep-Bo for La Fenice in Venice. Other engagements have included concerts and oratorio in all the major London concert halls, as well as throughout the UK and Europe.

Susanna Tudor-Thomas went to the Guildhall and the RSAMD. When only 17 she sang Barbarina (Le Nozze) for WNO under Sir Charles Mackerras. Susanna is a member of ENO and has sung or understudied roles in Belle Vivette, Magic Flute, Marriage of Figaro, The Gondoliers, The Mikado, Die Fledermaus and many others. In 1997 Susanna was the London Welsh young Welsh Singer of the Year and has been soloist for the London Welsh Centenary Festival of 1000 voices in the Royal Albert Hall. She has sung leading roles in Holland , Canada, and in The Magic Flute and Jenufa with ENO.

Neil Gillespie was born in Glasgow and studied singing with Duncan Robertson, piano and viola at the Royal Scottish Academy Music and Drama and also attended the Britten-Pears School, studying with Sir Peter Pears and Heather Harper. Since 1992 Neil has been a member of the Royal Opera Chorus at Covent Garden and has sung and understudied roles in La Traviata, Luisa Miller, Gawain, Un Ballo in Maschera, Die Meistersinger, Le Nozze di Figaro, Eugene Onegin and many others. Neil also created the role of Young Man on Train in Sir Trevor Nunn’s production of Nicholas Maw’s Sophie’s Choice.

Anton Rich was born in Devon and studied at the Royal Academy of Music. Before joining ENO Anton was in the Glyndebourne Chorus. At ENO Anton has sung roles in Salome, La Traviata, Der Roenkavalier, Boris Godunov, I Pagliacci, Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Janaceck’s The Cunning Little Vixen and From the House of the Dead, Henze’s The Prince of Homburg and world premieres of Gavin Bryar’s Doctor Ox’s Experiment and Mark Anthony Turnage’s The Silver Tassle. Anton has sung for Kentish Opera and extensively in oratorios like Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius under the late Vernon Handley.

Michael Selby was born in Lancashire and grew up in the Midlands. He has sung with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden and at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York. He has performed in Japan, France, Germany, Spain and Italy and is now a member of ENO where he has sung Guccio in Gianni Schicchi, Thierry in Dialogues of the Carmelites, The Gondolier in La Gioconda, Giorgio in The Gondoliers, and The Gypsy in Il Trovatore. Michael’s other operatic roles include Figaro and Papageno in The Magic Flute, Colline in La Boheme, Publio in La Clemenza di Tito, and Enrico in Anna Bolena.

Nicholas Chalmers is the Assistant Chorus Master of ENO, Musical Director of the Bromley Youth Choirs and Musical Director of Second Movement (a London based music and drama production company). He currently holds the Choral Conducting Scholarship with the London Symphony Chorus and directs the music at St. Jude-on-the-Hill, Hampstead Garden Suburb. From 2003 until 2008 Nicholas was the Director of Music at Westminster Abbey Choir School. Nicholas now works as accompanist to soloists and groups like Schola Cantorum of Oxford, The Laudate Chamber Choir and Tonus Peregrinus. In addition he has directed productions of Le Nozze di Figaro and Il Barbiere di Siviglia.