Pinner Festival Choir, Soloists & Orchestra

PINNER MUSIC FESTIVAL CHOIR & ORCHESTRA 

Orchestra Leader: Rebecca Boyle

REBECCA RYLAND-JONES (Soprano)

ALISON DUNNE (Mezzo Soprano)

CHRISTOPHER LEMMINGS (Tenor)

MICHAEL HICKMAN (Baritone)

Conducted by PAUL JEANES

Two masters, composing in grand style, complete our week. Handel composed his Coronation Anthems for the accession of George II in 1727, and they have been played regularly at coronations ever since – Zadok the Priest is the best known, but Let thy Hand be Strengthened, The King shall Rejoice, and My Heart is Inditing each has its own mood and character. With text chosen from King James Bible, these works marked his first compositions as a British citizen, and are appropriately majestic in both style and impact. We shall hear three.

Haydn composed the Nelson Mass in 1798 towards the end of his long life, and many regard it as his finest work. His initial title was Missa in angustiis (‘in troubled times’), but the first performance coincided with Lord Nelson’s major victory over Napoleon (Battle of the Nile) – usage changed, especially after Nelson and Lady Hamilton attended a performance and met the composer. The standard mass movements all feature choir, with striking use of the soloists, and the orchestral writing benefitted from his London Symphonies. Despite the title and context, the core message is one of faith.

Rebecca Ryland-Jones is a graduate of Royal Holloway University of London, where she read BA Music with German and studied vocal performance with Elaine Pearce for three years. During her time there, she sang with the Founders Choir and the university Savoy Opera Society, and participated in a masterclass with renowned soprano Sarah Fox, as well as helping to run the university orchestras. At the 2020 North London Festival, she was awarded First Prize in the Association of English Singers and Speakers Recital Competition and Third Prize in the Recital Class.

She currently studies with Joanna Tomlinson, and is enjoying establishing a freelance singing career, both as a choral singer and as a soloist and recitalist. Rebecca is a member of, and administrator for, The Epiphoni Consort, with whom she has enjoyed discovering many new works and has recorded two albums of British choral music, by composers Owain Park and Bernard Hughes. She is also a member of Thomas Tallis Society, with whom she recently appeared as a soloist in Bach’s St Matthew Passion with Britten Sinfonia, conducted by Eamonn Dougan. She also sings with the ArchiCantiores consort – a flexible solo voice ensemble performing for the architectural heritage. Forthcoming engagements include singing the role of Angelina in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Trial by Jury with Alyth Choral Society, and Mendelssohn’s Hear my Prayer with Amici Chamber choir in July 2024.

Alison Dunne (alto) was born and trained in Dublin with Mary Brennan. After this she continued at Royal Welsh College of Music where Dennis O’ Neill heard her sing and offered her a scholarship to Cardiff International Academy of Voice. Directly after college she was offered a full-time chorister position at Welsh National Opera. She worked here for three years until she was accepted on ENO’s Opera Works for young artists and moved to London. She has sung with Grange Park Opera, Grange Festival, Longborough Festival, Wexford Festival opera, WNO and currently is a regular extra with ENO. Roles include Dorabella (Cosi fan Tutte), Mercedes (Carmen), Third lady (Magic Flute), Orlofsky (Fledermaus) and Suzuki (Madam Butterfly) to name a few. Alison is also in demand as a sacred and Oratorio singer in the UK and Ireland.

Christopher Lemmings (tenor) studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Appearances include Royal Opera House Covent Garden, ENO, Glyndebourne Festival, BBC Proms, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Staatsoper Berlin, Nantes, Strasbourg, Paris, Helsinki, Academia Filarmonica Verona, and the Disney Hall Los Angeles, under leading conductors including Sir Simon Rattle, Riccardo Muti, Susanna Malkki, Thomas Ades, Sir Colin Davis, Daniel Barenboim, Leif Segerstam and Edo de Waart. Recent operatic roles include Bruno Moderna’s Satyricon (La Fenice, Venice), Death/Parpignol La Bohème (Glyndebourne Festival), Sellem The Rake’s Progress (Rennes/Nantes), Jack O’Brien Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny (Rome/ Parma), Mouse Alice in Wonderland (LA Philharmonic), Il Podestá La Finta Giardiniera (Buxton Festival), Bob Boles Peter Grimes (Vlaamse Opera), Caliban The Tempest (Covent Garden/ Strasbourg), Zweiter Junge Offizier Die Soldaten (Bochum/New York), Marquis/Prinz Lulu (Rome) and Georgio Batistelli's Richard III (Strasbourg/ Geneva/Venice).

Michael Hickman (baritone) began his musical training as a chorister in the choir of Magdalen College, Oxford, and at the Junior Royal Academy of Music where he won the Ann Lampard Singing Prize. He studied Music at Durham University where he was a choral scholar in Durham Cathedral Choir. Michael became a Lay Clerk in the choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford after graduating, under the direction of Dr Stephen Darlington, and is a featured soloist on the choir’s celebrated series of CDs of music from the Eton Choirbook. Since leaving the choir, Michael has pursued a freelance singing career in London and has sung for ensembles including BBC Singers, EXAUDI, Stile Antico and Dunedin Consort, and regularly with the choirs of Westminster Cathedral, Temple Church and St James’ Church, Spanish Place.

As a soloist Michael’s recent highlights have included Handel Messiah in Southwell Minster, Duruflé Requiem and Messe cum Jubilo at Temple Church, Pärt Passio in Hamburg and Cologne, Bach St Matthew Passion at St John’s, Smith Square, Bach Christmas Oratorio with the Instruments of Time and Truth, and Fauré Requiem with the Southern Sinfonia. Michael continues to study singing with David Barrell.

Paul Jeanes studied conducting, composition, organ and piano at Trinity College of Music and is the holder of several awards including the Chappell Composition Prize, the Harold Clarke Prize for Accompaniment and the St Marylebone Award for Musicianship.

He divides his time between a number of musical endeavours, including choral directing, performing, composing and arranging. He has been Musical Director of the Amici Chamber Choir since January 2017 and is also Musical Director of Ember Choral Society, Godalming Choral Society, The Anselm Singers, and is Organist and Choir Director at Hampton Parish Church. He has previously been musical director of Kennet Opera, Norwood Green Choral Society and Eastcote Choral Society.

As an arranger, he has orchestrated music for several television and films projects, and has recorded at some of London’s most prestigious studios including Air, Hoxa HQ, and Abbey Road.

Paul is much in demand as an accompanist and recitalist. He performs regularly with tenor Stephen Anthony Brown, and flautist Nina Robertson, in recitals across the UK and Europe, and has a strong commitment to performing the music of neglected British composers. Paul also works with several leading performing arts institutions including the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) and Italia Conti.