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Welcome to this performance at the Royal College of Music. Please turn off your mobile phone to avoid any disturbance to the performers. Photographs may only be taken during applause following a performance, unless otherwise notified. Private filming, sound recording and commercial photography are not permitted without prior written permission. Many events are filmed and recorded by the RCM for teaching, research, promotional and other purposes. By attending an event, you consent to any photography, filming or sound recording which may include you as a member of the audience and its use for any purposes, including commercial distribution, without payment or copyright. Wherever possible, tickets, programmes and signage in the building will state whether events will be filmed. Latecomers will not be allowed into the auditorium until a suitable break in the programme. In the interests of safety, sitting or standing on the steps, gangways or floor in any part of the auditorium is strictly prohibited. Your co-operation is appreciated. Programme details correct at time of going to print
Royal College of Music In association with Tête à Tête presents
Benjamien Lycke music, Mien Bogaert words
Stream of Consciousness, Sea of Blood
Kenichi Ikuno Sekiguchi music and words
76 Days
Alex Paxton music and words
BEL and the DRAGON Interval
Algirdas Kraunaitis music, Grace Lee-Khoo words
The Two Sisters
Amy Bryce music, Roland Karl Bryce words
Der Eisenhut
Samuel Hall music, Darren Rapier words
Killer Graphics
Bill Bankes-Jones director Lionel Friend conductor Sarah Booth designer Ralph Stokeld lighting designer Royal College of Music Opera Orchestra Between each opera there will be a short entr’acte written by an RCM composer The performance on 21 May will be streamed live online at www.rcm.ac.uk/live
20 and 21 May 2016 Britten Theatre, Royal College of Music
programme notes Stream of Consciousness, Sea of Blood
76 Days
Benjamien Lycke music Mien Bogaert words
Kenichi Ikuno Sekiguchi music and words
Advisor 1 Elizabeth Reeves Advisor 2 Thobela Ntshanyana President Kieran Rayner Porfiri Francis Gush Sofia Carly Owen Razoemichin Ben Smith The leader of a world power/corporate identity has to make a difficult decision of great impact. He sends his arguing advisers out of the room and, just before deciding, he opens Crime and Punishment. He reads the passage where Raskalnikov admits he believes in Lazarus’ rising from the dead and defends to his friend Razoemichin, the Mary Magdalene-like Sofia and the detective Porfiri, his theory of men being divided into two categories: inferior (ordinary) and (rare) great men. The latter can commit crimes for the greater good, because he believes in Lazarus’ rising from the dead, take Napoleon Bonaparte for example. Benjamien Lycke
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Fear Kieran Rayner Husband Benjamin Durrant Wife Polly Leech Kidnapper 1 Simon Tournier Kidnapper 2 Dan D’Souza Brother Thobela Ntshanyana The mystery of crime is what whets our fascination for the subject. There are many questions, some are answered but most are not. The motivations of the act are many and multi-faceted. Sometimes it is premeditated, sometimes it is sudden like a thunderclap. It is a mirror on both our most abhorrent and vulnerable selves. Crime is a transgression of invisible boundaries, boundaries that we have set in our psyche. This transgression scars the mind and soul not only of the victim, but of the perpetrator as well. The consequences of a criminal act cannot be truly grasped unless one has been affected by it. Mexico, my homeland, has suffered from crime for a long time. It is common to hear stories of a friend, a co-worker, or a family member who has been affected by crime. They come up in social gatherings and in casual situations. It is testimony and hearsay. It is a serious subject and an icebreaker. But the constant is the anonymity of the perpetrators.
76 Days is an opera loosely based on a kidnapping of a close family member in Mexico. When composing the opera, the characters began to have a life of their own, to the point that if they met with their real-life counterparts they would not recognise themselves. Fear, personified, is the entity that holds the whole opera together: narrating, commenting, participating and questioning. It is the voice of those unheard; the voice one tries to quench in our minds. The story of 76 Days is one commonly heard in Mexico, often with fatal outcomes, but even if one is lucky enough to walk away seemingly unscathed, shoulders are looked over, kindness is suspected, questions linger on. Kenichi Ikuno Sekiguchi
BEL and the DRAGON Alex Paxton music and words Daniel Joel Williams King Kieran Rayner Dragon Priestess Cherise Lukow Angel Polly Leech Haggard Cow Dan D’Souza BEL and the DRAGON imitates the form and pacing of the original biblical miniature (composed c500BCE). I was immediately attracted to the book by its wonderful eating motif which provides a comic impetus that goads the reader through the three scenes. ! ! I love food! I set out to tell the story through a comestible exegeses. ! ! I love mealtimes! It is a triumph of the human spirit that despite the fact that eating is merely an ineluctably violent alternative to photosynthesis, almost all human societies and religions, throughout known history, celebrate mealtimes with togetherness. ! ! I love music! Munchy munch chew chew chew gulp spittle teeth graunch grind chop smack smile blood love and laugh; the language of mastication that binds the offal of mankind into a faggot, regardless of epoch, religion and race. Love food, love music, love your neighbour. Alex Paxton
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The Two Sisters
Der Eisenhut
Algirdas Kraunaitis music Grace Lee-Khoo words
Amy Bryce music Roland Karl Bryce words
Grace Louise Fuller Judith Ashlyn Tymms Edward Thomas Erlank Martha Carly Owen Absalom Timothy Edlin
Kirsten Turiya Haudenhuyse Hannelore Elizabeth Reeves Valentin Thomas Erlank Alexei Simon Tournier Ivan Timothy Edlin
The Two Sisters is based on an old Scottish ballad. It is an old tale about how the truth always comes out. One sister drowns the other. An old man comes and finds the dead body. He makes a musical instrument out of it. A year later, he comes to the sister’s household, where she lives with her parents. He plays the instrument – and the murdered sister’s voice appears! The parents are in shock and can’t believe what they are hearing, but the murderer sister realises that it is indeed her sister’s voice. She admits her crime. The opera ends how a fairy tale of this sort would end – in a summary of the moral.
Der Eisenhut is based on true family accounts of post WWII events told to the writer by his German grandmother.
Algirdas Kraunaitis
Der Eisenhut (Lit. ‘Iron hat’ as in war helmet) is set in a post WWII Russianoccupied rural area east of Berlin. Terrible war crime atrocities were committed on all sides, especially against the women of all nations during and after this evil war. The ‘spoils of war’ were considered for the taking by whichever occupying force, and they were duly taken. Very few German women have ever openly recounted the events that took place at this time. From girls as young as eight, to women age 80, nobody was safe and it is said that Stalin actively encouraged the ensuing rape and pillage. Der Eisenhut deals with the overt hatred between Russians and Germans in the eastern occupied zone in late 1945. The plot is one of revenge by Hannelore who finds her daughter Kirsten raped in the forest by Russian soldiers. Mother and grandmother Elke are determined. They cook a hearty rabbit stew laced with poison. The deadly but pretty blue woodland aconite flowers (also called ‘Eisenhut’) join forces with the death
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cap mushroom to produce a weapon of choice in this drama. The Russian soldiers Alexei, Valentin and Ivan succumb to the food, unaware of the toxic effects which are masked by the strong vodka they have been drinking. Amy Bryce
Killer Graphics Samuel Hall music Darren Rapier words Kai Feargal Mostyn-Williams Martin Benjamin Durrant Nadia Eleanor-Rose Sanderson-Nash Devlin Ben Smith Bank Manager Dan D’Souza Offstage Martin’s Mum Polly Leech Man 1 Polly Leech Man 2 Thomas Erlank Man 3 Francis Gush Woman 1 Elizabeth Reeves Cop Simon Tournier Customer Louise Fuller Chorus of Sopranos
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My interest in the subject started from a very young age. I first played GTA Vice City aged eight and, ever since then, I have been a huge fan of the entire Grand Theft Auto series. Sometimes I think it is good for people to explore their inner criminal... but not too far... don’t get arrested, or caught. Samuel Hall
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production For the Royal College of Music Director of Opera Michael Rosewell Head of Vocal Studies Nick Sears Assistant Director of Opera Christopher Middleton Head of Composition William Mival Manager of Vocal Faculty and Opera School Ann Somerville Vocal Faculty Administrator Katie Clay Opera Administrator Naomi Morgan
For the production
Orchestra
Director Bill Bankes-Jones
Violin Julia Liang
Conductor Lionel Friend
Viola Thomas Broadbent
Designer Sarah Booth
Cello Lydia Dobson
Lighting Designer Ralph Stokeld
Double Bass Frances Emery
Production Manager and Technical Director Paul Tucker
Flute Alenka Bogataj
Head of Costume Jools Osborne
Oboe Weronika Stepkowska
Costume Supervisor Philip Engleheart
Saxophone Guillermo Presa
Chamber Music Manager Geoff Parkin
Costume Assistants Clara Lopez Merino Chris Hayward
Chamber Music Assistant Eleanor Cooper
Costume Trainee Polly Baker
For Tête à Tête
Senior Staging Technician Matthew Gorman
Artistic Director Bill Bankes-Jones Music Director Timothy Burke Administrative Director Anna Gregg
Stage Management Carys Eaton Sabrina Buck Theatre Technician Jen Watson Fight Director Keith Wallis Electronics Ruaidhri Mannion
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Clarinet Piotr Dec
Horn Fabian van der Geest Percussion Angela Hui Alun McNeil-Watson Harp Ines Cavalheiro Piano Gamal Khamis Many thanks to the Young Vic and English Touring Theatre for providing props for this production
creative team Bill Bankes-Jones director Bill Bankes-Jones is founder and Artistic Director of Tête à Tête and Chair of the Opera and Music Theatre Forum, the UK’s network of opera companies. He has directed more than 100 world premieres of operas, as well as many revivals, plays and other events. He was named one of the Evening Standard’s 1,000 most influential Londoners in 2012 and listed in Who’s Who 2013. Bankes-Jones ran the Scottish National Association of Youth Theatre and was a member of the ITV Regional Theatre Young Directors’ Scheme before working as a staff director with English National Opera. He also worked as staff or associate director with the National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal Opera and Salzburg Easter and Summer Festivals. With Tête à Tête he has championed audiences for new and innovative opera, directing all of the company’s productions to date while leading nine successful years of Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival, hosting world premieres of more than 400 works by more than 200 composers. Major opera productions include Salad Days for Tête à Tête/Riverside Studios, Die Fledermaus for English Touring Opera, A Nitro at the Opera and Revival! for ROH2/ Nitro (televised on BBC4), revivals of Otello for The Royal Opera, Seoul Arts Centre and New National Theatre Tokyo and translating and directing Hansel and Gretel for Scottish Opera.
Lionel Friend conductor Lionel Friend was born in London and educated at the Royal College of Music, where he won all the major conducting prizes. His teachers included Sir Adrian Boult, Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt and Sir Colin Davis. After further study at the London Opera Centre, he joined the music staff of Welsh National Opera and Glyndebourne Festival Opera. Before becoming Staff Conductor at English National Opera from 1976 to 1989, he spent three years as Second Kapellmeister at the Staatstheater in Kassel, Germany. At ENO he conducted more than 30 productions by composers including Mozart, Berlioz, Wagner, Verdi, Berg and Britten. He has also conducted opera and ballet in France, Germany, Holland, Belgium and the USA, and worked for two years as Daniel Barenboim’s assistant at the Bayreuth Festival. In the concert hall and recording studio he has directed many of Europe’s most distinguished orchestras and ensembles, such as the Philharmonia, BBC Symphony, Orchestre National de France, Radio Symphony Vienna, London Sinfonietta and the Nash Ensemble, with whom he has also made a number of CDs. He has appeared at the Edinburgh, Bath, Dresden, Flanders, Cheltenham and BBC Proms festivals. He was Conductor-in-Residence at Birmingham Conservatoire (2003–10) and was appointed Music Director of British Youth Opera in 2015.
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Sarah Booth designer Sarah studied Drama at the University of Exeter and trained on the Motley Theatre Design Course. Previous design credits include: Grass for Second Hand Dance; The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (The Park Theatre); A World Elsewhere (Theatre 503); Lite Bites, April in the Amazon and People Watch for Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival; The Poet’s Manifesto (Theatre Royal Stratford East); The Enchanted Story Trail (Rose Theatre Kingston); Bad Physics for RHS Wisley; A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Cunning Little Vixen for Southgate Opera; and L’enfant et les sortilèges and Wind in the Willows for Iris Theatre, St Pauls, Covent Garden. Sarah has made puppets for the Thames Festival Carnival, Folded Feather and Third Hand Opera. She also designs for live events with previous clients including Playstation, Ray Ban and Assassin’s Creed Syndicate.
Ralph Stokeld lighting designer Ralph has worked in theatrical lighting since 2009. During this time he has collaborated with numerous directors and designers in the areas of theatre, opera and live events. Ralph has worked as lighting designer on, among others, Ovid’s Metamorphoses (Pants on Fire, UK and international tour 2010–16), Hogarth’s Stages (Royal College of Music), New Year’s Eve (Timeout. The Shard), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Tooting Arts) and Pinocchio (Pants on Fire, Edinburgh). As production electrician, he has worked on Ariodante and Giove in Argo (London Handel Festival), Die Fledermaus, Albert Herring, The Magic Flute and La gazzetta (RCM International Opera School), Bandages (Kirsty Housley, UK), The Master and Margarita (Complicite, UK and international tour), La bohème, Jeptha, Così fan tutte (Welsh National Opera) and The Man with the Luggage (Trestle).
Tête à Tête is the future of opera Through producing new works and invigorating familiar, well-loved music, as well as leading discussions and exploring support models for the artistic community, Tête à Tête shares its passions and knowledge to explore not what opera is, but what it might become. Its 2016 season sees Tête à Tête collaborating with opera makers at many differing stages of development in a year-long programme of exploration and experimentation. For full listings, please visit www.tete-a-tete.org.uk In a double anniversary, 2017 will see the next and tenth Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival, celebrating Tête à Tête’s first 20 years of exploring what the future of opera might become. @teteateteopera
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composers Benjamien Lycke Benjamien is a Belgium/London based composer. His work includes soundtracks and arrangements for short films, commercials and games and contemporary classical, operatic and electronic music. Recent and future engagements include music for the Flemish Symphonic Orchestra, Flemish classical radio (Klara), Concertgebouw Brugge and the Chamber Players (BE). He obtained his Bachelor’s degree and Masters in music composition at the Royal Conservatory of Ghent, where he composed and produced the opera Acubens which was broadcast on Belgian national television (VRT) and re-staged. He is a founding member of synART which creates contemporary music through a synergy of different art forms. He produced and wrote PUCK, an opera adaption of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, for the RCM’s Great Exhibitionists series in March 2016. He is currently studying composition for screen as a postgraduate scholar supported by a Clifton Parker Award at the RCM with Joseph Horovitz, Francis Shaw and Simon Holt.
Kenichi Ikuno Sekiguchi Kenichi Ikuno Sekiguchi is a Mexican composer of Japanese heritage who was born and raised in Mexico City. He received his Bachelor’s degree in composition at Mannes College of Music in New York City. He is presently completing his Master’s degree in composition at the RCM under the tutelage of Kenneth Hesketh. Kenichi participated in the Stone Workshops in New York, curated by John Zorn, which featured multiple composers and artists, such as Laurie Anderson, Cyro Baptista, Steve Coleman, Terry Riley and John Zorn. He also participated in composition masterclasses with Derek Bermel, Uri Caine and Lowell Liebermann in New York City, David Conte and Philip Lasser in Paris and with Marc-Anthony Turnage in London. His Vox Villaurrutiensis has been recorded by Brooklyn-based ensemble aTonalHits on their album Origins. Kenichi’s pieces have been performed in various cities in the USA, as well as in London, Mexico City and Paris.
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Alex Paxton Alex is a prolific composer of chamber, orchestral and vocal music. He studied jazz trombone and composition at the Royal Academy of Music, where he graduated in 2014 with First Class Honours. Alex commenced his postgraduate studies on a full scholarship at the RCM in 2015, as the Ian Evans Lombe Scholar under the supervision of Mark-Anthony Turnage and Jonathan Cole. Further funding has been provided by the Henry Wood Trust and Music Students’ Hostel Trust. Alex won the RCM’s prestigious Concerto Competition for his orchestral piece SPAKE which was premiered in April 2016 by the RCM Philharmonic conducted by Ben Palmer. His works have been performed at numerous venues across the UK. Alex also works professionally as an orchestrator and arranger, and is currently head of composition and academic music at Pelican Music
Algirdas Kraunaitis Algirdas was born in 1992, in Lithuania. He attended the National MK Čiurlionis School of Art, where he studied composition under Nailia Galiamova and conducting under Romualdas Gražinis. During his school years, Algirdas took part in various competitions and won First and Second Place in the Student Song Competition, First Prize in the Student Composition Competition and Second Place in the Song Competition ‘Vox Juventutis’.
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Algirdas is currently in the last year of his undergraduate degree and studies with Jonathan Cole. Recent performances of his music have included the The Bet for Hogarth’s Stages, an RCM and Tête à Tête production, and Silence Cloaks like Snow for violin solo.
Amy Bryce Amy began studying composition at the RCM Junior Department in 2010, thanks to the generous support of the HR Taylor Trust. She won the Yorke Dance Project in 2012 and her work Aeonia was performed by Trinity Orchestra in 2013 under the baton of Michael Murray. Amy is now in her third year of an undergraduate degree at the RCM, taught by Kenneth Hesketh. Her work has been performed at the 2014 Cheltenham Music Festival as part of the Composer’s Academy led by Peter Wiegold, and by the Dr K Sextet and soprano Lesley-Jane Rogers who premiered her work Mahnung as part of The Pierrot Project at Club Inégales. Most recently, Amy collaborated with poet Jimmy Andrex on an interpretation of a Norse folk tale, The Green Children of Woolpit, as part of the Leeds Lieder Festival. Amy has also been accepted onto the LSO Panufnik Composer’s 2016/17 scheme.
Samuel Hall Samuel currently holds a scholarship at the RCM and studies with Mark-Anthony Turnage. His music has been performed by the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Aurora Orchestra, Juice Vocal Ensemble, City of Rochester Symphony Orchestra and National Youth Orchestra in venues including the Royal Opera House, The Lindbury Theatre, Snape Maltings, Southbank Centre and Rochester Cathedral. Sam has also worked in collaboration with contemporary dance groups, including Views performed at the Southbank Centre and Burnt Norton with Richard Chappell Dance. He is also a creative dance pianist for the Royal Opera House’s Chance to Dance programme. Sam has written soundtracks for films and TV, including Shane Lynch Life and Dan by Uzo Oleh, which won the Shortlist Shorts competition at the Raindance Film Festival 2015. Sam is also a multi-instrumentalist in various bands, including You Are Wolf, Rhinoceros, Made of She and Torva.
librettists Mien Bogaert Mien is a librettist, dramaturge and stage director. He studied Art Science at the University of Ghent, specialising in opera. Today, he lives in Germany, studying opera stage direction at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg. He is a cofounder of the artist collective synART. Working with the Munich composer Florian Huber, Mien presented a music theatrical version of Willem Elsschot’s novel Het dwaallicht at the 2015 Brutkastenfestival, Hamburg. Mien also directed Vier Heuvels: Liefde in tijden van oorlog, a semi-staged opera project set up by the baroque orchestra Il Fondamento, founded by Paul Dombrecht, and the conservatories of Amsterdam, Ghent and Brussels. His latest project was the stage direction of PUCK, an opera adaption of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Benjamien Lycke and Mahlon Berv at the RCM.
Grace Lee-Khoo Currently based in the UK, Grace is pursuing her Masters in Applied Theatre at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. She has worked with London and Oxford-based theatre companies such as The Albany in conjunction with the Victoria and Albert Museum (The Peter Brook Project), Pegasus Theatre (Ripple of Hope), Creation Theatre
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(Alice in Wonderland, 12 Labours of Heracles) and Arts at the Old Fire Station (Marmalade). A graduate of the National University of Singapore’s theatre studies programme, Grace also holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Education (National Institute of Education). A full-time theatre practitioner and educator in Singapore, Grace performs, stage manages, directs and teaches regularly. She has acted in You Me Bum Bum Train and London Bubble Theatre Company’s After Hiroshima, puppeteered for The Little Angel Theatre (Suspense Festival) and toured with HMDT Ltd (Trench Brothers).
Roland Karl Bryce Born in Scotland in 1955 to German and Canadian parents, Roland lived in Germany and Austria as a child. He went on to study music and German literature at Reading University. Roland has taught music in British secondary schools and uses the holidays to compose and develop innovative teaching materials. His compositions include incidental music to When the Wind Blows, composed in collaboration with Raymond Briggs, and stage musicals Windspinners and Flight of the Eagle. More recently, Roland has focused on arranging music for young performers and teaches music in Dubai. Looking to spread a spirit of cooperation and internationalism among the young, his most recent children’s ballad contains the word ‘love’ in more than 40 different languages.
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Darren Rapier Darren trained at Rose Bruford College and has written for film, television, radio and theatre. He has worked for the BBC, Natidonal Youth Theatre, Royal Albert Hall, Greenwich and Lewisham Young People’s Theatre, London Bubble and the Half Moon. He has written and directed five short films, is a current writer on Doctors and EastEnders for BBC1 and was a writer on the BBC Asian Network radio soap Silver Street. Darren currently teaches film and TV at Rose Bruford College and is a visiting lecturer on the MA writing course at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. This year he has two long-form short films out (9 Months and Deep Breaths, directed by Gareth Fient) and his own short film Sealed with a Kiss, with music by Sam Hall, has been nominated for Best Short Film at the Philadelphia Independent Film Awards.
performers
Dan D’Souza
Benjamin Durrant
Timothy Edlin
Dan was educated at Tiffin Boys School and the University of Cambridge. He is currently a student at the Royal College of Music, where he studies with Russell Smythe and Gary Matthewman. He is an RCM Award Holder supported by a Big Give Award and supported by the Josephine Baker Trust. His opera roles include Sid Albert Herring, Figaro Le nozze di Figaro, Ben The Telephone, Junius The Rape of Lucretia and Harasta The Cunning Little Vixen.
Benjamin is a young British tenor currently studying at the RCM where he is the Cuthbert Smith Scholar, generously supported by a Douglas and Hilda Simmonds Award and the Josephine Baker Trust. Formally a Lay Clerk at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, Benjamin currently studies with Tim EvansJones. Recent and future solo engagements include Handel’s Messiah for Reigate and Redhill Choral Society, JS Bach’s St John Passion (Evangelist) at Ely Cathedral, Haydn’s Nelson Mass at Chichester Cathedral and Mozart’s Requiem with Jersey Festival Choir.
Bass baritone Timothy Edlin is studying at the RCM under Russell Smythe and Caroline Dowdle. He is supported by a Derek Butler Scholarship, as well as the Countess of Munster Charitable Trust and the Josephine Baker Trust. Timothy graduated with a First Class undergraduate degree in music from the University of Manchester, where he was awarded numerous prizes. Operatic roles include Figaro Le nozze di Figaro, Polythemus Acis and Galatea, Enrico Lucia di Lammermoor (UoM scene), Don Alfonso Così fan tutte (RCM scene) and Il Re di Scozia Ariodante. Recent oratorio roles include Handel’s Messiah, Alexander’s Feast and Nisi Dominus, Mozart’s Requiem, and Mass in C minor and JS Bach’s Magnificat.
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Thomas Erlank
Louise Fuller
Francis Gush
Thomas received a Diploma in Practical Music from the University of Stellenbosch. In 2011, he was the winner of the Mable Quick singing bursary and made his public debut as soloist in Dr Steven van der Merwe’s Eleven at St George’s Cathedral. Thomas is currently studying at the RCM under the tutelage of Tim Evans-Jones and Andrew Robinson. He is a Gisela Gledhill/Sheila Saam Scholar supported by the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust, the Josephine Baker Trust, the John and Heather Clemence Charitable Settlement and an Annie Grice Award. Recent roles include Acis and Damon Acis and Galatea, Aeneas Dido and Aeneas, Ralph Rackstraw HMS Pinafore, Dr Blind Die Fledermaus and Lurcanio Ariodante.
Louise graduated with First Class Honours from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and is now in the second year of her Masters at the RCM, studying with Rosa Mannion. She is a Soirée d’Or Scholar, supported by the Henry Wood Accommodation Trust, a Help Musicians UK Award and the Josephine Baker Trust. Louise has performed as a soloist in Haydn’s The Creation, Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle, Handel’s Salve regina and Alexander’s Feast, JS Bach’s Magnificat, Mozart’s Requiem and Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem. Opera roles include Juliet Romeo and Juliet, Micaëla Carmen, Mary The Secret Garden, Gretel, Dew Fairy and Sandman Hänsel und Gretel and Diana Orpheus in the Underworld.
Francis is a recent graduate of Magdalen College in Oxford, having completed a degree in music. Also a Lay Clerk of the College, he recorded three albums with the choir, as well as performing with them live on BBC Radio 3 as a soloist. Francis’ operatic debut came in the role of Ottone L’incoronazione de Poppea with the Pocket Music Ensemble in 2015. Future roles include David in Handel’s Saul and Oberon in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Francis is grateful to the Broadley Charitable Trust for its support.
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Turiya Haudenhuyse
Polly Leech
Cherise Lukow
Belgian-Indian soprano Turiya Haudenhuyse is currently pursuing a Masters in Vocal Performance with Amanda Roocroft and Andrew Robinson at the RCM. She is an RCM scholar supported by a Neville Wathen Award and the Josephine Baker Trust. Operatic roles include the title role in Iphigénie en Tauride (Euphonia Opera), Zerlina Don Giovanni (Rye Arts Festival), Papagena Die Zauberflöte (RCM International Opera School), Model in Henri Christiné’s Phi-Phi (Opéra de Lausanne) and Suor Dolcina Suor Angelica (LUCA School of Arts in Belgium). In opera scenes, Turiya has appeared as Taumännchen Hänsel und Gretel, Susanna Le nozze di Figaro, Héro Béatrice et Bénédict and Frasquita Carmen. Future engagements include Annina La traviata for Clonter Opera.
Mezzo soprano Polly Leech is studying for a Masters in Vocal Performance at the RCM under Amanda Roocroft and Christopher Glynn. Polly is the Theo Max van der Beugel Scholar and is supported by the Josephine Baker Trust. At the RCM, she has performed the role of Dritter Knabe Die Zauberflöte and Florence Pike Albert Herring and featured in the Chorus of Handel’s Giove in Argo, in association with the London Handel Festival. Polly will join the chorus of Opera Holland Park this summer in productions of Die Fledermaus and La Cenerentola, and will feature in Malcolm Williamson’s English Eccentrics with BYO.
Soprano Cherise Lukow has worked with the Santa Fe Opera as an apprentice singer in her home state of New Mexico and now performs in opera houses throughout Europe. In 2015 she sang Donna Elvira Don Giovanni at the Estates Theatre in Prague. In concert venues, she has collaborated with some of today’s greatest living composers. Cherise is in her final year of study at the RCM, where she is pursuing a Master of Performance degree with Amanda Roocroft and is a recipient of the Vivan Prins Award. This summer, in collaboration with the Ryedale Festival, she will perform the title role in Handel’s Alcina.
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Feargal Mostyn-Williams
Thobela Ntshanyana
Carly Owen
British countertenor Feargal Mostyn-Williams is studying for a Masters in Vocal Performance at the RCM with Russell Smythe. He is an RCM Scholar supported by the Yvonne Wells Award. He was previously a choral scholar at King’s College, Cambridge, taking part in international tours and recordings. Stage experience includes Oberon A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Ottone L’incoronazione di Poppea, Polinesso Ariodante (RCM opera scenes) and Didymus Theodora (Atelier Lyrique de Londres). Oratorio work includes Handel’s Messiah (Stamford Choral) and Purcell’s Te Deum (Three Choirs Festival). This summer he will play Oberon for Surrey Opera and the Cheshire Cat for Opera Holland Park’s Alice in Wonderland.
Tenor Thobela Ntshanyana is studying for a Masters in Performance at the RCM where he is an HF Music Scholar supported by a Jessie Sumner Award, studying under Tim EvansJones. In 2015, he appeared as Alfredo La traviata on the Cape Town Opera stage, in his home town. Previous roles include Mr Owen Postcard from Morocco, Le Chevalier Dialogues des carmélites, Parpignol La bohème and Zefirino Il viaggio a Reims. He also performed as the soloist in Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Dvořák’s Stabat Mater, Haydn’s The Creation and Mozart’s Coronation Mass. Thobela won First Prize in the 2016 Clonter Opera Competition and the 2015 Lord and Lady Lurgan Opera Bursary.
Welsh soprano Carly Owen is a first year Masters student at the RCM and a Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts graduate. She is a Soirée d’Or Scholar and studies with Janis Kelly and Christopher Middleton. Carly won First Prize and the Audience Prize at the 2015 London Welsh Young Singer of the Year Competition, with prizes donated by the Richard Carne Trust and Gwalia Male Voice Choir. She has performed in masterclasses with Dame Anne Evans, Sholto Kynoch, Mark Shanahan and Della Jones. At the RCM, Carly has performed the role of Cendrillon (opera scenes) and was a chorus member in Die Fledermaus, directed by John Copley.
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Kieran Rayner
Elizabeth Reeves
Kieran is a New Zealand baritone studying for a Masters in Performance with Russell Smythe, as a Stephen Catto Memorial Scholar. He was a 2012/13 Emerging Artist with New Zealand Opera. His roles include Eisenstein Die Fledermaus and Vicar Gedge Albert Herring (RCMIOS); Forester The Cunning Little Vixen (British Youth Opera); Blacksmith The Glass Knight (Saffron Hall, world premiere); Figaro The Barber of Seville (Park Opera) and Marchese d’Obigny La traviata (NZO). His concert highlights include Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Ravel’s Histoires naturelles, Haydn’s The Seasons and The Creation, Handel’s Messiah, JS Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Gounod’s St Cecilia Mass (Les Alizés, New Caledonia).
Mezzo soprano Elizabeth Reeves is currently pursuing a Masters in Performance at the RCM. Her operatic roles include Dorabella Così fan tutte and Zerlina Don Giovanni (both with the Narnia Festival), Marcellina Le nozze di Figaro (Ensemble OrQuesta) and Miss Jessel The Turn of the Screw (Siena Music Festival). An active proponent of new music, she has written libretti for operas that been performed at the Kennedy Center, Virginia Arts Festival and Peabody Conservatory. She also created the role of Veronica in Don Cesarino for the Peabody Conservatory’s Opera Etudes project. This summer, Elizabeth will perform the title role in La Cenerentola with London Young Sinfonia.
Eleanor-Rose Sanderson-Nash Eleanor graduated with a First Class Honours degree from the Royal Northern College of Music in 2015. She is now studying for a Masters in Performance at the RCM under the tutelage of Janis Kelly and Gary Matthewman. She is an RCM Award Holder supported by a Martin Harris Award and a Charles Branchini Award, The Lake House Charitable Trust and Friends of Music in Mayfield. Roles during her time at the RNCM include Despina Così fan tutte, Ida (cover) Die Fledermaus, Cobweb A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Miss Ellen Lakme, Dodo The Merry Widow, April Company and Elisetta Il matrimonio segreto.
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Ben Smith
Simon Tournier
Ashlyn Tymms
Welsh tenor Ben Smith is in his final year of undergraduate studies at the RCM and will continue as a postgraduate scholar with Tim EvansJones in September. He is generously supported by the Sir Peter and Lady Walters Award and the William Gibbs Educational Trust and was the recipient of the Geraint Morris Memorial Prize after receiving recommendation from Stuart Burrows OBE. Ben is an Iford Arts Next Generation Artist and will perform a new realisation of Purcell’s The Fairy Queen this summer. He has had the pleasure of performing at the Royal Albert Hall and Cardiff’s St David’s Hall.
French baritone Simon Tournier is a Master of Vocal Performance student at the RCM, studying with Roderick Earle and Gary Matthewman. He graduated from the Haute Ecole de Musique de Lausanne, Switzerland, in 2014. Simon recently performed Harasta The Cunning Little Vixen with British Youth Opera. Opera roles include The Mother Die sieben Todsünden and Le Commissaire and Le Premier Le voyage dans la Lune. He has appeared in opera scenes as Malatesta Don Pasquale, Il Conte Almaviva Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Demetrius A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Vodnik Rusalka. On the concert stage, he has performed the Mass of the Children by John Rutter.
Australian mezzo soprano Ashlyn is an HF Scholar supported by a Basil Coleman Opera Award studying for a Masters in Vocal Performance at the RCM. Under the tutelage of Tim Evans-Jones, Ashlyn is the recipient of a grant from the Ian Potter Cultural Trust, The Tait Memorial Trust and the PPCA Performers Trust, Australia. Graduating with a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Melbourne, Ashlyn also performed with the Opera Studio Melbourne as the Gertrude Johnson Scholar. Roles include Euridice L’Orfeo, Pitti-Sing The Mikado, Dido Dido and Aeneas, Busby Le Cornu The Cockatoos (Australian premiere), Eurydice Orpheus in the Underworld and Berenice L’occasione fa il ladro.
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DEBUT SOUNDS 7.30pm | Monday 4 July 2016
Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall, RCM
Joel Williams Joel is studying for a Masters in Vocal Performance at the Royal College of Music. He is a Soirée d’Or Scholar supported by an HR Taylor Trust Award and studies with Justin Lavender and Christopher Glynn. Joel made his operatic debut as Cobweb in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He went on to study History at King’s College, Cambridge, where he was a Choral Scholar. Joel’s most recent roles were Odoardo Ariodante (RCMIOS and London Handel Festival), Satyavan Savitri (cover British Youth Opera) and Mayor Albert Herring (RCMIOS).
Magnus Lindberg conductor Timothy Lines conductor RCM New Perspectives* Members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra LPO Foyle Future Firsts Julian Anderson Alhambra Fantasy* Oliver Knussen Two Organa* Boulez Dérive I* Magnus Lindberg Corrente* World premieres from LPO Young Composers: Hunter Coblentz, Michael Cryne, Lisa Illean, Katarzyna Krzewinska, Robert Peate The Royal College of Music New Perspectives ensemble joins forces with the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Young Composers and Foyle Future Firsts for the first time in an evening celebrating contemporary music and cutting-edge compositions. The concert also features world premieres of concertini by the five LPO Young Composers, including two RCM alumni, Hunter Coblentz and Lisa Illean. These works, honed under the guidance of LPO Composer in Residence Magnus Lindberg, offer the exclusive opportunity to hear some of the brightest compositional voices in the country, played by members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and exceptional instrumentalists from the LPO’s Foyle Future Firsts Development Programme. Tickets: £8 RCM Box Office 020 7591 4314 www.rcm.ac.uk/events
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THANK YOU TO OUR supporters Music has the power to transform lives. Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, generations of gifted students from around the world have been guided and inspired at the RCM. We would like to thank in particular those who have made donations of £1,000 or more in the last 12 months. Donors are listed in alphabetically in order of surname. Supporters of named
scholarships, bursaries and Junior Fellowships The Abinger Hammer Award ABRSM The Ackroyd Trust The Jane Barker Scholarship Laurie Barry and the John Barry Scholarship for Film Composition Dr Linda Beeley Phoebe Benham Junior Fellowship Bell Percussion The Big Give Trust The Bliss Trust Boconnoc Scholarship The Boltini Trust Scholarship The Gary & Eleanor Brass Scholarship Betty Brenner Scholarship The Derek Butler Trust The Richard Carne Charitable Trust Sir Roger and Lady Carr Soirée d’Or Scholarship Stephen Catto Memorial Scholarship The Estate of Miss Iris Chappell Edgar Tom and Hilda May Cook Else and Leonard Cross Charitable Trust The Cuthbert Smith Award Douglas and Kyra Downie Ann Driver Trust Gilbert and Eileen Edgar Junior Fellowship Amaryllis Fleming Foundation Fiona and Douglas Flint Soirée d’Or Scholarship The Future of Russia Foundation Gylla Godwin Award Peter Granger The Greenbank Scholarship HF Music Award+ HMD Meyer Violin Prize Royal College of Music Pete Handley Award Irene Hanson Scholarship
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The Estate of Christopher Hogwood Independent Opera Artist Scholarship Charles Jacobs Scholarship The JMC Award The Johnson Scholarship John Lewis Partnership Scholarships+ The Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation UK Knights of the Round Table Kirby Laing Foundation Lark Insurance Scholarship Hester Laverne Award The Lee Abbey Award Leverhulme Trust Carole and Geoffrey Lindey Philip Loubser Foundation Loveday Scholarship Lord and Lady Lurgan Trust Mason Scholarship Mr James McAlinden Legacy The Mills Williams Foundation The Howard and Abbey Milstein Foundation Music Talks Scholarship Charles Napper Award Lydia Napper Award The John Nickson Scholarship Midori Nishiura Sir Gordon Palmer Scholarship The Charles Peel Charitable Trust The Stanley Picker Scholarship The Polonsky Foundation PRS for Music Foundation The Radcliffe Trust Norman Reintamm The Charles Stewart Richardson Scholarship for Composition The Estate of Edith Mary Richmond Virginia and Simon Robertson Scholarship Victoria Robey Scholarship Emma Rose Memorial Scholarship Humphrey Searle Scholarship Frank Shipway Memorial Scholarship
Dasha Shenkman Scholarship The Siow-Furniss Scholarship Soirée d’Or Scholarships South Square Trust Steinway & Sons Opperby Stokowski Collection Trust Ian Stoutzker OBE, CBE, FRCM Sudborough Foundation Tait Trust Scholarship HR Taylor Trust Ian and Meriel Tegner The Richard Toeman/Weinberger Opera Scholarship The Tsukanov Family Foundation The Wall Trust Sir Peter and Lady Walters Soirée d’Or Scholarship Bob and Sarah Wigley Scholarship Arthur Wilson Trombone Award Professor Lord Winston The Wolfson Foundation Andy Woodburn Memorial Award The Worshipful Company of Drapers The Worshipful Company of Fishmongers The Worshipful Company of Musicians The Wyseliot Charitable Trust Supporters of RCM Sparks Karina and Dhairya Choudhrie Denis and Meredith Coleman Guy Dawson and Sam Horscroft The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust J Paul Getty Jr Charitable Trust The Hedley Foundation HF Awards John Lewis Partnership Miss Joanna Kaye The Oldhurst Trust Georg and Emily von Opel Foundation Sykes & Son Universal Music Group Anne Wadsworth OBE
Members of the RCM Chairman’s Circle Philip Carne MBE HonRCM and Christine Carne* Karina and Dhairya Choudhrie+* Denis and Meredith Coleman+ Guy Dawson and Sam Horscroft+ Gisela Gledhill* Linda Hill HonRCM and Tony Hill* Terry Hitchcock* James and Clare Kirkman* Victoria Robey OBE* Roland Saam* Lady Sitwell Dasha Shenkman OBE, HonRCM* Michael and Ruth West HonRCM* Members of the RCM Director’s Circle Daniel Chapchal Tania Chislett Helen Chung-Halpern and Abel Halpern Miss Joanna Kaye+ Mr James Lancaster and Mrs Margaret Lancaster Dr Mark Levesley and Christina Hoseason* Sir Sydney and Lady Lipworth Vivien McLean Beckwith Sir Peter and Lady Middleton FRCM John Nickson and Simon Rew* Richard and Sue Price Peter and Dimity Spiller The Vernon Ellis Foundation Anne Wadsworth OBE+ Quentin Williams* Members of the RCM Patrons’ Circle Isla Baring OAM* Jane Barker CBE* Halina and John Bennett Lady Bergman Ms Sylvia Bettermann Nathenson Lorna and Christopher Bown Mrs Lorraine Buckland Sir Roger and Lady Carr HonRCM* Sir Anthony Cleaver FRCM and Lady Cleaver Mr Michael Estorick Mr Kenneth and Mrs Lillemor Gardener Professor Alice Gast MarieNoelle and Mathias Gislev
Sarah Griffin Carol Hagh Greta Hemus John and Sue Heywood Mr William and Mrs AnnaMarie Hill Mr David James David and Sue Lewis Charles and Dominique Lubar Mr David Mildon Ellen Moloney Judy and Terence Mowschenson Jennifer Neelands Russell Race* Victoria Rock Mrs Marcella Rossi Kerry and Dimity Rubie Mrs Piffa Schroder Barbara Simmonds Betty Sutherland Sir Richard and Lady Sykes Louisa Treger John Ward Jane Wilson Sir Robert and Lady Wilson Dr Yvonne Winkler Mr Richard Wintour Mr Rhoddy Voremberg Corporate Supporters BAE Systems Campus Living Villages Finsbury Hatch Mansfield Huawei Technologies (UK) Niquesa Fine Jewellery and Hotels Major Supporters Jane Barker CBE* Karen Cook Mr Peter Dart The Robert Fleming Hannay Memorial Charity Mr Rex and Mrs Susan Harbour Heritage Lottery Fund Professor Colin Lawson FRCM Mr Julian Metherell The Mirfield Trust Geoffrey Richards HonRCM The Rothschild Foundation Roland Rudd The Peter Sowerby Foundation Georg and Emily von Opel Foundation+ Sir Siegmund Warburg’s Voluntary Settlement The Garfield Weston Foundation
Bob and Sarah Wigley* Sir David Willcocks Legacy Supporters Mr Christopher Arnander FRCM Mr Peter Beckwith Guy Black of Brentwood Mr Michael Boxford Brooks-van der Pump English Song Prize Mr Sudhir Choudhrie Sir David Cooksey Mr Hugh Davidson The Derek Hill Foundation George Drexler Foundation Mr Andrew Haigh Ms Lily Harriss Mr Laurence Hopkins Mr Michael Jeans Mrs Hanna Klein Mr Peter Lofthouse The Hon Richard Lyttelton Edward Mandel/Jaques Samuel Pianos Bursary Mr Marcus McDonald HonRCM Mrs Philippa Micklethwait Legacy Sir Douglas Morpeth FRCM The Edith Murphy Foundation St Marylebone Educational Foundation Ofenheim Charitable Trust The John Ogden Foundation Mrs Helen Ogunbiyi Mr Christopher Saul Miss Kathleen Beryl Sleigh Charitable Trust Peter and Dimity Spiller Mr Ian Stoutzker OBE, CBE, FRCM Ms Simona Tappi Mr William Tilden Mr Rhoddy Voremberg Mr Nigel Woolner Mr John Wright * also support a named award + also support RCM Sparks
For more information about supporting the RCM, visit www.rcm.ac.uk/support us
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