Introducing 2020 Messiah SoloistsWe look forward to seeing you at our annual concert of Handel's Messiah at the Christchurch Town Hall on 12th December 2020. Tickets are available from Ticketek.
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Principal Sponsor: Cuningham Taylor Law
Concert Sponsor: John Rhind Funerals |
Anna Pierard, Soprano
Anna Pierard
Anna is a versatile operatic and concert mezzo soprano and now based in New Zealand after completing the prestigious opera programme Die Niewe Opera Academie in Amsterdam, after gaining her MMus from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.
European performances include Eurilda in Haydn’s Le Pescatrici at KammerOper Wien, Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater at Valencia's Palau de la Musica and Gertrude in Hansel und Gretel for Teatro Castello. She realised the role of Frau Gabor in the World Premiere of Benoît Mernier’s Frühlings Erwachen with La Monnaie/De Munt, Brussels, subsequently performing in the revival of Frühlings Erwachen for the Opera National du Rhin in Strasbourg and Mulhouse in 2008, before returning to New Zealand.
Anna has appeared regularly with the NZSO, NZ Opera, APO, Christchurch City Choir, Auckland Choral Society, and regional choral societies.
In 2013, together with Sarah Walmsley, Anna founded Festival Opera and Project Prima Volta: Finding Voices, Shaping Futures - the successful singing programme dedicated to supporting teenagers from diverse backgrounds to find common ground through music. Anna is also a Trustee on the Dame Malvina Major Foundation, reinforcing her commitment to developing young artists ‘from grassroots to excellence’.
European performances include Eurilda in Haydn’s Le Pescatrici at KammerOper Wien, Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater at Valencia's Palau de la Musica and Gertrude in Hansel und Gretel for Teatro Castello. She realised the role of Frau Gabor in the World Premiere of Benoît Mernier’s Frühlings Erwachen with La Monnaie/De Munt, Brussels, subsequently performing in the revival of Frühlings Erwachen for the Opera National du Rhin in Strasbourg and Mulhouse in 2008, before returning to New Zealand.
Anna has appeared regularly with the NZSO, NZ Opera, APO, Christchurch City Choir, Auckland Choral Society, and regional choral societies.
In 2013, together with Sarah Walmsley, Anna founded Festival Opera and Project Prima Volta: Finding Voices, Shaping Futures - the successful singing programme dedicated to supporting teenagers from diverse backgrounds to find common ground through music. Anna is also a Trustee on the Dame Malvina Major Foundation, reinforcing her commitment to developing young artists ‘from grassroots to excellence’.
Catrin Johnsson ARAM, Mezzo-soprano
Catrin Johnsson
Catrin Johnsson is originally from Sweden and trained at the Royal College of Music, Stockholm and at the Royal Academy of Music, London. In 2018 she was awarded an ARAM from the Royal Academy of Music for “significant contribution to the music profession”. Other awards include the prestigious Christina Nilsson Award.
An experienced international opera singer, Catrin has worked as a principal artist for companies such as English National Opera and Opera Holland Park. In 2016 Catrin made her debut for NZ Opera as Second Lady in The Magic Flute. In concert she has performed at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and St John's, Smith Square in London. Catrin recently premiered and recorded for CD "Sit Down With Me Awhile", a song cycle by NZ composer Janet Jennings (Voices of Women, Atoll Records).
Catrin is a Performance Teacher in Voice and Stagecraft at the University of Auckland, is language and vocal coach for Voices NZ Chamber Choir and also for the Auckland Chamber Choir. In 2017, Catrin was National Adjudicator for the IFAC Handa Australian Singing Competition. Catrin is also an accomplished organist.
An experienced international opera singer, Catrin has worked as a principal artist for companies such as English National Opera and Opera Holland Park. In 2016 Catrin made her debut for NZ Opera as Second Lady in The Magic Flute. In concert she has performed at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and St John's, Smith Square in London. Catrin recently premiered and recorded for CD "Sit Down With Me Awhile", a song cycle by NZ composer Janet Jennings (Voices of Women, Atoll Records).
Catrin is a Performance Teacher in Voice and Stagecraft at the University of Auckland, is language and vocal coach for Voices NZ Chamber Choir and also for the Auckland Chamber Choir. In 2017, Catrin was National Adjudicator for the IFAC Handa Australian Singing Competition. Catrin is also an accomplished organist.
Paul Whelan, Bass Baritone.
Paul Whelan
International New Zealand Bass Baritone, Paul Whelan, is a winner of the Cardiff Singer of the World Lieder Prize. Conductors with whom he has collaborated include Sir Simon Rattle, Kent Nagano, Richard Hickox, Yehudi Menuhin, Valery Gergiev, Gary Bertini, and Vassily Sinaisky.
Highlights of Paul’s international career include the title role in Bluebeard’s Castle (NBR Opera New Zealand), Four Villains (Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Southern Opera), Argante (Handel’s Rinaldo, Munich), Apollon (Alceste, Dresden Festival), a staged production of Bach’s St. John Passion (directed by Deborah Warner), Schaunard in a new production of Leoncavallo’s La bohème, Raimondo (Lucia di Lammermoor, English National Opera), Escamillo (Carmen, Welsh National Opera), Harry Joy (Bliss, Hamburg State Opera), the world premieres of The Assassin Tree by Stuart MacRae (Royal Opera House and the Edinburgh Festival), Bird of Night by Dominique Legendre ( Royal Opera House, Covent Garden) and Semele (Opera New Zealand).
Other companies include Hyde Park Music Festival Chicago, Brisbane, Lille and Dijon, Opera Norway, Opera Australia, Glyndebourne, Auckland Philharmonic, The Grange Festival, Hawaii Opera, Gothenburg Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Victorian Opera, Opera North, Norwegian Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra, Opera New Orleans, Scottish opera and Garsington Opera.
Recordings include A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Philips), Kurt Weill’s Silber (BMG); recordings with the BBC Philharmonic for Chandos and with the BBC Scottish Symphony for Hyperion.
paulwhelan.co.uk
Highlights of Paul’s international career include the title role in Bluebeard’s Castle (NBR Opera New Zealand), Four Villains (Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Southern Opera), Argante (Handel’s Rinaldo, Munich), Apollon (Alceste, Dresden Festival), a staged production of Bach’s St. John Passion (directed by Deborah Warner), Schaunard in a new production of Leoncavallo’s La bohème, Raimondo (Lucia di Lammermoor, English National Opera), Escamillo (Carmen, Welsh National Opera), Harry Joy (Bliss, Hamburg State Opera), the world premieres of The Assassin Tree by Stuart MacRae (Royal Opera House and the Edinburgh Festival), Bird of Night by Dominique Legendre ( Royal Opera House, Covent Garden) and Semele (Opera New Zealand).
Other companies include Hyde Park Music Festival Chicago, Brisbane, Lille and Dijon, Opera Norway, Opera Australia, Glyndebourne, Auckland Philharmonic, The Grange Festival, Hawaii Opera, Gothenburg Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Victorian Opera, Opera North, Norwegian Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra, Opera New Orleans, Scottish opera and Garsington Opera.
Recordings include A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Philips), Kurt Weill’s Silber (BMG); recordings with the BBC Philharmonic for Chandos and with the BBC Scottish Symphony for Hyperion.
paulwhelan.co.uk
Oliver Sewell, Tenor
Oliver Sewell
Christchurch born tenor Oliver Sewell has been praised by Philadelphia magazine for “his lovely, burnished tone color, natural sense of line, and unstinting generosity”. He has performed as a soloist at the Lincoln Centre’s Alice Tully Hall and the Rose Theatre, and in Carnegie Hall.
Other highlights include performing Giannetto in La Gazza Ladra with Will Crutchfield's Teatro Nuovo, Fernand in La Favorite, Ferrando in Così fan tutte and Alfredo in La Traviata at the Academy of Vocal Arts, Handel's Messiah with the Columbus Symphony, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with Kent Tritle, with George Manahan performing Danceny in The Dangerous Liaisons and Tamino in Die Zauberflöte.
For the last three years he has been a Resident Artist at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia. He has recently been named one of the Circle100 Scholars for 2020. Oliver gratefully acknowledges the support of the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation.
www.oliversewell.com
Other highlights include performing Giannetto in La Gazza Ladra with Will Crutchfield's Teatro Nuovo, Fernand in La Favorite, Ferrando in Così fan tutte and Alfredo in La Traviata at the Academy of Vocal Arts, Handel's Messiah with the Columbus Symphony, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with Kent Tritle, with George Manahan performing Danceny in The Dangerous Liaisons and Tamino in Die Zauberflöte.
For the last three years he has been a Resident Artist at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia. He has recently been named one of the Circle100 Scholars for 2020. Oliver gratefully acknowledges the support of the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation.
www.oliversewell.com
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