December News
Advent Recital
Last month, we were full of the Christmas spirit and were lucky enough to enjoy not one but two Advent Recitals from Dan D’Souza (baritone), Lorena Paz Nieto (soprano) and Dylan Perez (pianist). The trio treated us to some beautiful renditions of German duets, Lieder and traditional carols. We heard works from Hildegard von Bingen, Praetorius, Reger, Humperdinck and more – they were truly festive and special events for our audiences in both Henley and London. Thank you to all three performers for their wonderful work and to our audiences for celebrating the festive period with us. It was also lovely to be at St Mary’s, Barnes for the first time!
We also introduced our brand new intake of Young Artists for 2025 to our Opera Prelude audiences last month! We are so happy to be welcoming the following new singers to the Opera Prelude family:
- Georgie Malcolm (soprano)
- Natasha Agarwal (soprano)
- Eyra Norman (soprano)
- Phoebe Smith (soprano)
- Ellen Pearson (mezzo-soprano)
- Alexandra Meier (mezzo-soprano)
- Tom Lilburn (countertenor)
- Will Diggle (tenor)
- Matthew Curtis (tenor)
- Ross Cumming (baritone)
- Jacob Bettinelli (baritone)
- Stephen Whitford (baritone)
These singers really wowed us at audition, and we can’t wait until our audiences get to hear the wonderful voices live over the next year! We have some really special plans in store, so keep your eyes on our What’s On page to book yourselves in!
Elsewhere, Young Artists old and new were celebrating the Christmas season with performances of seasonal favourites such as the Messiah, Christmas Oratorio and much, much more. Catherine Hooper, soprano, spent December touring Handel’s Messiah around Spain and Italy with the English Concert. Shafali Jalota, soprano, appeared in the chorus for Tosca at the Royal Opera House over the beginning of December. Mezzo-soprano Annabel Kennedy appeared as the Sandmännchen in Humperdinck’s festive favourite Hansel and Gretel over at Deutsche Oper am Rhein – Theater Duisburg. And in a less festive but equally exciting turn, Brenton Spiteri, tenor, appeared in Janáček’s the Diary of One Who Disappeared all the way over at Brisbane Music Festival.