Mary Bevan, Nicky Spence, Roderick Williams, Thomas Gould, William Vann
Biographie Mary Bevan, Nicky Spence, Roderick Williams, Thomas Gould, William Vann
Mary Bevan
Praised by Opera for her “dramatic wit and vocal control”, British soprano Mary Bevan is internationally renowned in baroque, classical and contemporary repertoire, and appears regularly with leading conductors, orchestras and ensembles around the world. She is a winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Young Artist award and UK Critics’ Circle Award for Exceptional Young Talent in music and was awarded a MBE in the Queen’s birthday honours list in 2019.
In the 2019/20 season, Bevan makes her role debut as Eurydice in a new production of Orpheus in the Underworld for English National Opera, performs Sifare in Mozart Mitridate for Garsington Opera, reprises the role of Rose Maurrant in Weill Street Scene for Opera de Monte Carlo, and tours as Diana Iphigenie en Tauride with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. On the concert platform, Bevan will appear this season with The Hallé, The Handel and Haydn Society, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the CBSO and the Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla.
Recent operatic highlights for Bevan include her Royal Danish Opera debut as Bellezza Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno, Rose Maurrant Street Scene at the Teatro Real, Madrid, the title role in Turnage’s new opera Coraline for the Royal Opera at the Barbican, Zerlina Don Giovanni for English National Opera, and Merab Saul for the Adelaide Festival. At the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Bevan created the role of Lila in David Bruce The Firework-Maker’s Daughter, and also performed the roles of Barbarina Le nozze di Figaro and the title role in Rossi Orpheus at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse.
On the concert platform, recent highlights include appearences with the BBC Symphony, BBC Concert Orchestra at the Proms, and with Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla and the CBSO in the world premiere of Roxanna Panufnik’s Faithful Journey. She joined the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment as Mary in Sally Beamish The Judas Passion; performed Bach Christmas Oratorio on tour in Australia with the Choir of London and Australian Chamber Orchestra; and Handel Messiah with the Academy of Ancient Music. She also headlined a tour of Asia with The English Concert and Harry Bicket and made her Carnegie Hall debut with the ensemble as Dalinda in Handel Ariodante. In 2020 she will make her debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Bevan’s discography includes her art song album Voyages with pianist Joseph Middleton and Handel's Queens with London Early Opera, both released by Signum Records, Mendelssohn songs for Champs Hill Records, Handel: The Triumph of Time and Truth and Handel: Ode for St Cecilia’s Day with Ludus Baroque, and Vaughan Williams Symphony No.3 and Schubert Rosamunde with the BBC Philharmonic. In autumn 2019 Signum will release her second disc with Joseph Middleton including Lieder by Schubert, Haydn and Wolf.
Nicky Spence
Hailed recently in the Daily Telegraph as ‘a voice of real distinction’, Nicky Spence is currently a Harwood Young Artist at English National Opera having trained at London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the National Opera Studio.
2010-11 marked Nicky’s debut for some of the UK’s most distinguished opera houses including Opera North, Opera Holland Park, Scottish Opera and English National Opera. His roles include Tom Rakewell (The Rake’s Progress), Jaquino (Fidelio) for Opera Holland Park; Lampwick (The Adventures of Pinocchio), and Quint (The Turn of the Screw) for Opera North. Nicky also took the leading part of Brian in Nico Muhly’s Metropolitan Opera commission Two Boys, which received its world premiere at ENO. Earlier this year, he made his debut with New Zealand Opera in the role of Thomas Mason in Jenny McLeod’s opera Hohepa, followed by a return to ENO as Novice in David Alden's new production of Billy Budd. Most recently, he gave his role debut as Tamino (Magic Flute) for Scottish Opera.
Concert performances include Act 1 of Tristan and Isolde with the BBC Scottish Symphony and Donald Runnicles, a Britten Song-Cycle Series in Aldeburgh and at Kings Place, Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings with L’Orchestre National d’Ile de France under Gordan Nikolic, a Gala performance at the Royal Festival Hall and Mozart Requiem with the Cambridge Philharmonic. In recital, he has most recently appeared at the Leeds and Oxford Lieder Festivals, and the Cambridge Summer Music Festival.
An experienced recording artist, Nicky attracted a long-term recording contract with Universal Classics. He has recently recorded a disc of Britten Songs with Malcolm Martineau (Onyx), and a disc of premiere Hoddinott recordings, which brought him extensive acclaim. Adding to his credentials in contemporary repertoire, his world-premiere recording of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s song cycle A Constant Obsession for Resonus Classics received uniformly excellent reviews. A CD of Eichendorff settings by Wolf, with Sholto Kynoch, is planned for later in the year.
Other future plans include his debut at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, recitals at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Perth Concert Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room and The Forge, Handel’s Messiah for the Kathleen Ferrier Society, Mozart’s C minor Mass at Cadogan Hall, Finzi's Dies Natalis with the BBC Concert Orchestra, a Hogmanay Gala in Glasgow, Steersman The Flying Dutchman for Scottish Opera and in concert with the CBSO and Andris Nelsons, Elgar’s The Kingdom with Cambridge Philharmonic, his Grange Park Opera debut as Chevalier in Les Dialogues des Carmelites, Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni) for New Zealand Opera and Steva (Jenůfa) for La Monnaie in Brussels.
Roderick Williams
is one of this country’s most sought after baritones and is constantly in demand on the concert platform and in recital, encompassing a repertoire from the baroque to world premieres. In 2016 he won the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Singer of the year award.
Opera engagements have included for Royal Opera House Covent Garden Schaunard/La bohème and Ned Keene/Peter Grimes; for English National Opera Papageno/Die Zauberflöte, Pollux in Rameau’s Castor and Pollux, and Jaufre Rudel in Saariaho’s L’amour de loin ,as well as world premieres of From Morning to Midnight by David Sawer and A Better Place by Martin Butler. For Opera North his roles have included the title role of Don Giovanni, The Count/Le nozze di Figaro, Guglielmo/Cosi fan tutte, Figaro/Il barbiere di Siviglia, Ned Keene and Goryanchikov/From the House of the Dead. For Scottish Opera roles have included Marcello/La bohème, Lord Byron in the world premiere of Sally Beamish’s Monster and Count/ Figaro. Other notable world premieres have included Alexander Knaifel’s Alice in Wonderland and Michel van der Aa’s After Life for Netherlands Opera, as well as the title role in Robert Saxton’s The Wandering Jew with the BBC Symphony , which has been released on NMC to considerable critical acclaim. He made his North American opera debut singing Figaro/Il barbiere di Siviglia for Florida Grand Opera.
Among Roderick Williams’ many performances of opera in concert are recent appearances with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Tippett’s The Knot Garden (Barbican) and Birtwistle’s The Second Mrs Kong (Royal Festival Hall) and with the London Symphony Orchestra and Daniel Harding Billy Budd. He has also sung the role of Eddie in Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Greek for the BBC. He has taken major roles in conductor Richard Hickox’s semi-staged performances of opera, including Britten’s Gloriana (Aldeburgh, 2003), Walton’s Troilus and Cressida and most of the Vaughan Williams operas. Other concert performances include Henze, Strauss, Stravinsky and Wagner (Donner in Das Rheingold for ENO).
Roderick Williams has sung concert repertoire with all the BBC orchestras, and many other ensembles including the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Russian National Orchestra, Academy of Ancient Music, The Sixteen, Le Concert Spirituel, and Bamberg Symphony Orchestra. Recent successes include Britten’s War Requiem and Pilgrim in Vaughan Williams’s The Pilgrim’s Progress (semi-staged) with the Philharmonia, Jesus in The Last Supper by Birtwistle with the London Sinfonietta in Milan and Turin, Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius in Toulouse, a European tour of Handel’s Messiah with RIAS Kammerchor, Tippett’s The Vision of St Augustine with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales at the 2005 BBC Proms, Henze’s Elegy for Young Lovers with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the world premiere of Birtwistle’s The Ring Dance of the Nazarene with VARA Radio (repeated at the BBC Proms), performances of Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen at La Scala, concerts with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in San Francisco, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and a concert with Bach Collegium Japan at the Edinburgh Festival.
Recent and future operatic engagements include Oronte in Charpentier’s Medée, Toby Kramer in Van der Aa’s Sunken Garden and Sharpless / Madam Butterfly for English National Opera, the title role in Eugene Onegin for Garsington Opera, the title role in Billy Budd for Opera North, Van der Aa’s After Life at Melbourne State Theatre and at Opera de Lyon, Captain Balstrode / Peter Grimes in a concert performance with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Papageno and Ulisse / Il ritorno di Ulisse in Patria for the Royal Opera House, Toby Kramer for Dallas Opera, a concert performance of Ned Keene/Peter Grimes with Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome and Christus / St John Passion in staged performances with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment both under Sir Simon Rattle.
Recent and future concert engagements include performances with Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Manchester Camerata, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Hallé, Britten Sinfonia, City of London Sinfonia, King’s College Cambridge, Goldsmiths Choral Union, Ex Cathedra, The Sixteen, The King’s Consort, New London Consort, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Le Concert Spirituel, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Berlin Philharmonic, Rias Kammerchor, Orquesta Sinfonica de Euskadi, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Iceland Symphony, Danish National Radio Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Utah Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Music of the Baroque Chicago, Bach Collegium Japan, Cappella Amsterdam, New York Philharmonic, Britten War Requiem with the Maggio Musicale and Semyon Bychkov in Florence, the UK premiere of Sally Beamish’s Judas Passion with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment as well as with Philharmonia Baroque. In 2014 Roderick was the featured soloist at the BBC Last Night of the Proms.
He is an accomplished and highly sought after recital artist who can be heard at venues and festivals including Wigmore Hall, Kings Place, LSO St Luke’s, the Perth Concert Hall, the Concertgebouw, Oxford Lieder Festival, London Song Festival, Howard Assembly Room, the Musikverein, Vienna and on Radio 3, where he has participated on Iain Burnside’s Voices programme. Recent recitals include the three Schubert cycles at the Wigmore Hall, recitals for the BBC and appearances at the Ludlow Song Festival, Oxford Lieder Festival, Three Choirs Festival and at the Bath International Music Festival.
His numerous recordings include Vaughan Williams, Berkeley and Britten operas for Chandos, and an extensive repertoire of English song with pianist Iain Burnside for Naxos. He is currently in the process of recording the three Schubert Cycles for Chandos as well as recordings of Stanford and Somervell for Somm.
He is also a composer and has had works premiered at the Wigmore and Barbican Halls, the Purcell Room and live on national radio. Recent commissions include a major work, World without End, for the Rias Kammerchor and BBC Singers as well as a commission to celebrate the centenary of the RAF. He was Artistic Director of Leeds Lieder + in April 2016 and he is currently ‘singer-in-residence’ for Music in the Round in Sheffield, presenting concerts and leading on dynamic and innovative learning and participation projects that introduce amateur singers, young and old, to performing classical song repertoire. He was awarded an OBE for services to music in June 2017.
William Vann
Gramophone, reviewing Purer than Pearl, Albion Records’ latest disc of Vaughan Williams song, reserved “a special word of praise for William Vann’s deft pianism”. A multiple-prize winning conductor and accompanist of growing renown and former pupil of Malcolm Martineau, William performs with a host of major singers and instrumentalists across the world and is the founder and Artistic Director of the London English Song Festival.
Born in Bedford, William was a Chorister at King’s College, Cambridge and a Music Scholar at Bedford School. He subsequently read law and took up a choral scholarship at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he was taught the piano by Peter Uppard, and studied piano accompaniment at the RAM with Malcolm Martineau and Colin Stone, where he has recently been made an Associate.
He has been awarded many prizes for piano accompaniment, including the Wigmore Song Competition Jean Meikle Prize for a Duo (with Johnny Herford), the Gerald Moore award, the Royal Overseas League Accompanists’ Award, a Geoffrey Parsons Memorial Trust award, the Concordia-Serena Nevill Prize, the Association of English Singers and Speakers Accompanist Prize, the Great Elm Awards Accompanist Prize, the Sir Henry Richardson Scholarship and the Hodgson Fellowship in piano accompaniment at the RAM.
William has collaborated on stage with a vast array of singers and instrumentalists, among them Sir Thomas Allen CBE, Mary Bevan, Katie Bray, Allan Clayton, James Gilchrist, Thomas Gould, Johnny Herford, Guy Johnston, Jennifer Johnston, Aoife Miskelly, Ann Murray DBE, Brindley Sherratt, Nicky Spence, Andrew Staples, Kitty Whately and the Benyounes and Navarra Quartets. Recent performances have included appearances at Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall, the ROH Crush Room, Sage, Gateshead and St John’s, Smith Square, at the Aldeburgh, Edinburgh, Oxford Lieder, Machynlleth and City of London Festivals, the Northern Ireland Festival of Voice (broadcast on Radio 3) and abroad in France, Germany (on live ZDF television), Ireland, Nigeria, South Africa (National Arts Festival) and Sweden. His discography includes recordings with Albion Records, Champs Hill Records, Navona Records and SOMM. Purer than Pearl, Albion’s 2016 release, featured six previously unrecorded songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams.
In addition to his performances of standard song repertoire, he has also either commissioned or given the first performances of new English songs and song cycles by several English composers, including Christian Alexander, Joseph Atkins, Martin Eastwood, Johnny Herford, Ian Venables, David Nield and Graham Ross (the latter two at Wigmore Hall).
He is a Trustee of the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society, a Samling Artist, a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Musicians, the Co-Chairman of Kensington and Chelsea Music Society, the Artistic Director of Bedford Music Club, a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists and a conductor and vocal coach on the Dartington and Oxenfoord International Summer Schools. He is also the Director of Music at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, where he directs the choir and a programme of concerts in the Royal Hospital’s Wren Chapel, the Assistant Conductor of the English Chamber Choir and the founder and Artistic Director of the London English Song Festival, the sixth season of which took place at Wilton’s Music Hall in July 2017. Projects in 2018 include discs of song with Mary Bevan, Gareth John, Kitty Whately and Roderick Williams and a recital to commemorate the centenary of Parry’s death at Wigmore Hall on 23rd September.
