The Dream of Gerontius (November 8th 2008)

We have been looking forward to being able to put on this very special concert, and we are fortunate to have The Lewisham Choral Society with its conductor: Stefan Reid, joining us for this occasion. Our soloists for this performance are:

CATHERINE WYN-ROGERS - CONTRALTO

Catherine Wyn-Rogers was a Foundation Scholar at the Royal College of Music, studying with Meriel St Clair and gaining several prizes including the Dame Clara Butt award. She continued her studies with Ellis Keeler and now works with Diane Forlano.

Miss Wyn-Rogers works extensively in recital and oratorio, appearing with the major British orchestras and choral societies and at the Three Choirs, Edinburgh and Aldeburgh Festivals and at the BBC Proms, of which she was a memorable soloist at the Last Night of the 1995 Proms. She is equally renowned for her performances with the period instrument orchestras. Her recent engagements have included appearances with the Philharmonia under Slatkin, the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Haitink and Andrew Davis, the Netherlands Radio Orchestra under Rozhdestvensky, the European Union Youth Orchestra under Haitink and her debut with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under Norrington.

Catherine Wyn-Rogers' numerous recordings include Handel's "Samson" with The Sixteen under Harry Christophers, Mozart's "Vespers" with Trevor Pinnock for DG, Vaughan Williams "Serenade to Music" with Roger Norrington for Decca, and Elgar's "The Dream of Gerontius" for EMI. She has joined Graham Johnson's Complete Schubert Edition for Hyperion, recorded Mozart’s “Requiem” with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Sir Charles Mackerras and Mrs Sedley (“Peter Grimes”) with the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Colin Davis.

She appears regularly on the opera stage and has worked with Scottish Opera, Welsh National Opera, Opera North, the Semperoper, Dresden, the Teatro Real Madrid, the Netherlands Opera and the Salzburg Festival. She is a regular guest artist with English National Opera - Suzuki (“Madama Butterfly”), Akhrosimova (“War and Peace”), La Cieca (“La Gioconda”), “St. John Passion”, “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “The Rape of Lucretia”; with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden - First Norn ("Götterdämmerung"), Erda ("Das Rheingold" and "Siegfried"), Magdalene ("Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg"), Cornelia ("Giulio Cesare"), Sosostris ("The Midsummer Marriage") and Genevieve (“Pelleas et Melisande”) and with the Bavarian State Opera, Munich - Sosostris, Adelaide (“Arabella”), First Norn (“Götterdämmerung”), Genevieve (“Pelleas et Melisande”), Cornelia (“Giulio Cesare“), Amastra (“Xerxes”) and Elgar’s “The Dream of Gerontius” in concert with Zubin Mehta. She made her debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in “The Midsummer Marriage”.

Her engagements include both First Norn and Erda under Pappano for the Royal Opera, Erda and Waltraute (“Goetterdammerung”) under Mehta in Valencia and Florence, Filipyevna (“Eugene Onegin”) for the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Hexe (“Königskinder”) in Munich and Britten’s “Phaedra” in Bordeaux.

DAVID SOAR - BASS

David was born in Nottinghamshire and studied organ and singing at the Royal Academy of Music. After working as a freelance organist, singer and conductor, including the post of Director of Music at All Saints Parish Church, Kingston, he joined the Chorus of Welsh National Opera, where he also performed a number of roles including Captain/Zaretsky Eugene Onegin, Doctor Grenvil La Traviata, Bertrand Iolanta and Sarastro The Magic Flute. 

After studying at the National Opera Studio David re-joined WNO as an Associate Artist, where roles include Colline La Boheme, Zuniga Carmen, Bonze Madam Butterfly, Brander The Damnation of Faust, Bass The Seven Deadly Sins, Ferrando Il Trovatore , Alidoro La Cenerentola, Sarastro The Magic Flute and Prince Gremin Eugene Onegin. Other roles include Banquo Macbeth and Zaccaria Nabucco, Ceprano Rigoletto and Baron Douphol La Traviata for Opera Holland Park, and Donner Das Rheingold for Lucerne Festival. 

Concert repertoire includes Messiah, Creation, Elijah, Mozart and Brahms Requiem, Beethoven’s Symphony no. 9, Verdi’s Requiem, Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius and The Apostles, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle, Stanford’s Songs of the Fleet, Bach’s Mass in B minor, St John Passion, St Matthew Passion, Christmas Oratorio and numerous cantatas including Ich habe genug for solo bass. He has recently performed The King Aida for WNO, and future plans include Lodovico Otello and the title role Le Nozze di Figaro, Alvise La Gioconda for Opera Holland Park, and performances of Beethoven’s Symphony no.9 with the Bamberg Symphoniker.

PAUL NILON - TENOR (photo courtesy of Joan Russell Photography)

Paul Nilon is established as one of Europe’s outstanding lyric tenors in a wide repertoire ranging from Monteverdi to Britten.

His many major operatic roles include Septimus/Theodora and Piro/Ermione for Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Tamino, Lurcanio/Ariodante, Cinna/La Vestale by Spontini, Don Ottavio in a new production of Don Giovanni, and the title role of Tito/La clemenza di Tito, all for English National Opera; Tom Rakewell/The Rake’s Progress, Nerone/Incoronazione di Poppea (shown on BBC Television over Christmas 1998), Benedict/Beatrice and Benedict, Prologue/Peter Quint/The Turn of the Screw, Eisenstein/Die Fledermaus, Pylade/Iphigenie en Tauride, and the title role in Il ritorno di Ulisse in patria, all for Welsh National Opera; Fenton/Falstaff, Grimoaldo/Rodelinda, Alfredo/La Traviata and Septimus/Theodora for Glyndebourne Touring Opera; and Ferrando/Cosi fan tutte, Don Ottavio/Don Giovanni, Fenton/Falstaff , King Ouf/L’Etoile and the title roles of Idomeneo, Orfeo, Croesus (by Keiser) and Zemlinsky’s Der Zwerg for Opera North; Ulysses/Ulysses Comes Home for the Birmingham Opera Company, Don Ottavio and Vivaldi’s L’incoronazione di Dario at Garsington, and Golo in Schumann’s Genoveva at the 2000 Edinburgh Festival. 

Recent overseas engagements have included the title role in Monteverdi’s Ulisse at the Maggio Musicale in Florence directed by Luca Ronconi conducted by Trevor Pinnock and for the Netherlands Opera, the title role in Croesus for Minnesota Opera, Grimoaldo/Rodelinda at the Montreux Festival with Glyndebourne Festival Opera, conducted by William Christie, Cosi fan tutte and The Barber of Seville for the New Israeli Opera, Mischa (Julietta) in Prague with Opera North, Lurcanio/Ariodante (in Munich and on tour in Japan) and Grimoaldo/Rodelinda for the Bayerische Staatsoper, Pylade in Oviedo, and Grimoaldo in his debut with San Francisco and Dallas Operas.

He has an active concert career with highlights including Bach’s B Minor Mass with the LPO, Mozart Requiem and Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri (conducted by Mark Elder) and Handel Susanna, all with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Handel L’Allegro with the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Handel Solomon in Florence and Israel under Ivor Bolton, Britten’s War Requiem and Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings with the Hallé, the Messiah with The Sixteen and Harry Christophers, and Beethoven Symphony No 9 with the BBC Philharmonic and Gianandrea Noseda, Britten’s War Requiem with the Huddersfield Choral Society, and Mendelssohn Elijah for the Newbury Spring Festival.

Future engagements include Idomeneo for Birmingham Opera Company, Werther for Opera North, Lurcanio in Oviedo, Mahler (arr Schoenberg) Das Lied von der Erde with the London Philharmonic and Mark Elder at the Wigmore Hall, a concert performance of Handel Jephtha for City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Rossini’s Ermione with Opera Rara, Beethoven Symphony No 9 with BBC Philharmonic and a concert with the Bayerische Rundfunk.

Paul Nilon has appeared on a number of notable recordings for Opera Rara including Rossini’s Ricciardo et Zoriade and Donizetti’s L’assedio di Calais and Medea in Corinto.

The following week – Sunday November 16th 2008 – we shall be travelling to repeat the performance (with different soloists) with the Lewisham Choir on their home ground.. We look forward to collaborating with this choir and to working with Stefan again.

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