Photo credit: Harry Richards
Exeter Bach Society gets off to a flying start in 2009 with star performer Amy Carson, reports Exmouth Road’s Chris Parrish. Amy’s feature film debut as lead actress Pamina in Kenneth Branagh’s film The Magic Flute, which was premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2006, won international acclaim for the Bristol-born soprano.
Her recital of songs and arias by Bach, Handel, Monteverdi and Purcell on Sunday 8 February in Exeter Cathedral Chapter House will be one of the many highlights of the Society’s 2008/9 programme.
Two of the songs that she will be singing in this recital in the outstanding series organized by the Exeter Bach Society are entitled Music for a while and Endless Pleasure, titles which might equally well serve to advertise this evening’s concert. The recital ranges widely in mood, with moments of virtuosity and moments of calm, ranging over much of the eighteenth century and going back a bit earlier too: it includes operatic arias by Monteverdi, Purcell, Handel and Mozart, arias from one of Bach’s Wedding Cantatas and some piano solos performed by her distinguished accompanist Nicola Rose.
The dazzling soprano Amy Carson was born in Bristol; her mother, Mary, is a classical and Baroque violinist, and her father, Ian, produced music for BBC Radio 3 in Bristol. At the age of eight Amy was the youngest chorister in the first girls’ Cathedral choir at Salisbury Cathedral. She was educated at Bryanston School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where as a choral scholar she studied music and sang in the chapel. She sprang to national fame in 2006 in the role of Pamina in Kenneth Branagh’s highly acclaimed film of Mozart’s Magic Flute, a performance about which reviewers used adjectives such as gorgeous, bright-eyed, wondrous, sweet, charming and eloquent. Branagh has described her as “very winning, with transparent intelligence.” Multi-talented, she is a composer and instrumentalist (viola, piano, organ and guitar) as well as a singer (choral, solo, jazz and pop) and actor (Mme de Tourvel in Dangerous Liaisons, Cicely in The Importance of Being Ernest and other roles).
Originally from Somerset, Nicola Rose first met Amy when they were both accepted into the Salisbury Cathedral Girls’ Choir in 1991. She feels she owes a great deal of her musicianship to her training under the direction of its conductor, Dr Richard Seal. She went on to gain a scholarship to Clifton College, Bristol, and has recently graduated from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama where she studied accompaniment.
Exeter Bach Society gets off to a flying start in 2009 with star performer Amy Carson, reports Exmouth Road’s Chris Parrish. Amy’s feature film debut as lead actress Pamina in Kenneth Branagh’s film The Magic Flute, which was premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2006, won international acclaim for the Bristol-born soprano.
Her recital of songs and arias by Bach, Handel, Monteverdi and Purcell on Sunday 8 February in Exeter Cathedral Chapter House will be one of the many highlights of the Society’s 2008/9 programme.
Two of the songs that she will be singing in this recital in the outstanding series organized by the Exeter Bach Society are entitled Music for a while and Endless Pleasure, titles which might equally well serve to advertise this evening’s concert. The recital ranges widely in mood, with moments of virtuosity and moments of calm, ranging over much of the eighteenth century and going back a bit earlier too: it includes operatic arias by Monteverdi, Purcell, Handel and Mozart, arias from one of Bach’s Wedding Cantatas and some piano solos performed by her distinguished accompanist Nicola Rose.
The dazzling soprano Amy Carson was born in Bristol; her mother, Mary, is a classical and Baroque violinist, and her father, Ian, produced music for BBC Radio 3 in Bristol. At the age of eight Amy was the youngest chorister in the first girls’ Cathedral choir at Salisbury Cathedral. She was educated at Bryanston School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where as a choral scholar she studied music and sang in the chapel. She sprang to national fame in 2006 in the role of Pamina in Kenneth Branagh’s highly acclaimed film of Mozart’s Magic Flute, a performance about which reviewers used adjectives such as gorgeous, bright-eyed, wondrous, sweet, charming and eloquent. Branagh has described her as “very winning, with transparent intelligence.” Multi-talented, she is a composer and instrumentalist (viola, piano, organ and guitar) as well as a singer (choral, solo, jazz and pop) and actor (Mme de Tourvel in Dangerous Liaisons, Cicely in The Importance of Being Ernest and other roles).
Originally from Somerset, Nicola Rose first met Amy when they were both accepted into the Salisbury Cathedral Girls’ Choir in 1991. She feels she owes a great deal of her musicianship to her training under the direction of its conductor, Dr Richard Seal. She went on to gain a scholarship to Clifton College, Bristol, and has recently graduated from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama where she studied accompaniment. Photo credit: Gareth Evans
Nicola received the accompaniment prize in 2005 and 2008, and the Mansel Thomas Award for Musicianship in 2007. She enjoys playing for an array of singers, instrumentalists, circuses, choirs, children’s groups and drama societies in and around Cardiff and works as a repetiteur for the Welsh National Opera. She is a member of staff at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama Junior Department and also plays for singing lessons and classes at the Cardiff International Academy of Voice. She gives class and private piano lessons too.
The recital will be preceded by the singing of J. S. Bach’s Cantata BWV 144 Nimm, was dein ist, und gehe hin during the 5.00 pm Evening Service by the combined forces of the Exeter Cathedral Voluntary Choir and the Exeter Bach Society, with soloists and orchestral accompaniment. The Cantata will be conducted by Nicholas Marshall, Director of Music, Exeter Bach Society. Entrance to the Cathedral 5.00 pm service and the Cantata is, of course, free.
Tickets for all Exeter Bach Society events are available from Exeter Visitor Information & Tickets, Dix’s Field, Exeter EX1 1GF Tel: 01392 665700. Or telephone 01392 211080. Also from choir members and at the door. For further information on tickets, telephone Roger Churchward on 01392 468867.
CARMINA BURANA
Founded in 1995, Exeter Bach Society is the only choral group in Exeter devoted to the life and works of Johann Sebastian Bach. “We set out to cater for enthusiasts for Bach's music in a serious manner but without undue pedantry,” says Chris Parrish, who is the Society’s co-Chairman. However its programme is not exclusively limited to Bach, including for example an all-day workshop and performance on Saturday 21 February in the Mint Church, Exeter, of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, with chorus master Gavin Carr. The intention is to sing it in performance the following day with Devon Sinfonietta, conducted by Scott Stroman. There is still time to join in. Ring Gill Manning on 01392 255177 to find out how.
The recital will be preceded by the singing of J. S. Bach’s Cantata BWV 144 Nimm, was dein ist, und gehe hin during the 5.00 pm Evening Service by the combined forces of the Exeter Cathedral Voluntary Choir and the Exeter Bach Society, with soloists and orchestral accompaniment. The Cantata will be conducted by Nicholas Marshall, Director of Music, Exeter Bach Society. Entrance to the Cathedral 5.00 pm service and the Cantata is, of course, free.
Tickets for all Exeter Bach Society events are available from Exeter Visitor Information & Tickets, Dix’s Field, Exeter EX1 1GF Tel: 01392 665700. Or telephone 01392 211080. Also from choir members and at the door. For further information on tickets, telephone Roger Churchward on 01392 468867.
CARMINA BURANAFounded in 1995, Exeter Bach Society is the only choral group in Exeter devoted to the life and works of Johann Sebastian Bach. “We set out to cater for enthusiasts for Bach's music in a serious manner but without undue pedantry,” says Chris Parrish, who is the Society’s co-Chairman. However its programme is not exclusively limited to Bach, including for example an all-day workshop and performance on Saturday 21 February in the Mint Church, Exeter, of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, with chorus master Gavin Carr. The intention is to sing it in performance the following day with Devon Sinfonietta, conducted by Scott Stroman. There is still time to join in. Ring Gill Manning on 01392 255177 to find out how.
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