Mila Tsoneva, David M. Patrick
Biography Mila Tsoneva, David M. Patrick
Mila Tsoneva
an exciting young soprano, has been singing for as long as she can remember. Aged 10, she joined the Choir of Manchester Cathedral. Since then, Mila has performed solo and choral recitals and services across the UK. In 2020, she was awarded a specialist vocal scholarship at Wells Cathedral School.
Mila has made several recordings for the BBC. Aged 14, she was the Runner-Up in BBC Young Chorister of the Year 2021. She was the British and International Federation of Festivals North West Regional Champion in 2019, and in 2018 sang as the soloist in The Snowman at Blackburn Cathedral and at a special charity event at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.
At the time of recording, Mila is studying for her GCSEs at Wells Cathedral School, where she is a member of the Chamber Choir and School Choralia. She hopes to progress into the Sixth Form and then to conservatoire to study opera.
David M. Patrick
pursued his musical education at the Royal College of Music in London with distinction winning the Stuart Prize for organ in 1967 and going on to gain the much coveted Walford Davies Prize the following year. This award brought him prestigious recitals at both Westminster Cathedral and Westminster Abbey as well as the honour of being presented to H.R.H. Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
His early decision to specialise in the romantic and modern French repertoire followed logically from his impulse to accept the highest technical and artistic challenges which the organ presents. A recording of the complete organ works of Maurice Duruflé at Coventry Cathedral in 1996 was a Critic’s Choice of the Year in the BBC Music Magazine in 1997 and in the final list of three highly recommended recordings in BBC Radio 3’s Building a Library in 2006. In a letter to David M. Patrick, the late Marie-Madeleine Duruflé wrote “Vos interprétations des oeuvres de M. Duruflé sont excellentes, je vous en félicite...bien...Très bien...brillant...BRAVO.”
In December 2020, David M. Patrick’s recording of César Franck’s Trois Chorales (recorded in St Albans Cathedral) was also included in BBC Radio 3’s Building a Library final list of recommended recordings.
David M. Patrick has performed public concerts at many major venues in Great Britain, the USA, Canada and Europe as well as numerous recitals for BBC Radio 3 on significant British instruments. He has made numerous recordings featuring the organs of the Cathedrals of Gloucester, St Albans and Coventry, Katarina Kyrka in Stockholm and the Downes/Walker organ of Buckfast Abbey.
