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14TH YEAR

FINALMonday 20 April 2015 7pm

St George’s, Hanover SquareLondon, W1S 1FX

ADJUDICATORSIAN PARTRIDGE CHAIRMAN (all rounds)

EDWARD BLAKEMAN (Final) CATHERINE DENLEY (all rounds)MICHAEL GEORGE (all rounds)

CATHERINE WYN-ROGERS (Final)

FINALISTSINGRIDA GÁPOVÁ SOPRANO

SARAH HAYASHI SOPRANO

JOSEP-RAMON OLIVÉ BARITONE

MARIA OSTROUKHOVA MEZZO-SOPRANO

ALICE PRIVETT SOPRANO

LAURENCE CUMMINGS CONDUCTOR

London Handel OrchestraADRIAN BUTTERFIELD LEADER

SUPPORTED BYFranz and Regina Etz

The Groner TrustThe Michael Oliver TrustMr Michael Normington

The Selma D and Leon Fishbach Memorial Prizes

London Handel Society Ltd

Horton House, 8 Ditton StreetIlminster, Somerset, TA19 0BQ

01460 53500 londonhandelfestival@gmail.com

Handel Singing Competition inaugurated in 2002

Promoted by the London Handel Society LtdCharity no. 269184

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MONDAY 20 APRIL 2015 - 7pm St George’s, Hanover Square St George Street London, W1S 1FX

FINAL

INGRIDA GÁPOVÁ SOPRANO

Aria: Scherza in mar la navicella (Lotario HWV26) Aria: O sleep, why dost thou leave me (Semele HWV58) Aria: Neghittosi or voi che fate? (Ariodante HWV33)

MARIA OSTROUKHOVA MEZZO-SOPRANO

Aria: Nel passar da un laccio all’altro (Giove in Argo HWVA14)Aria: Se in fiorito ameno prato (Giulio Cesare in Egitto HWV17)

SARAH HAYASHI SOPRANO

Cantata: La Lucrezia HWV145

JOSEP-RAMON OLIVÉ BARITONE

Recitative & Aria: Principessa infelice ... Nel mondo e nell’ abisso (Tamerlano HWV18)Vouchsafe, O Lord (Dettingen Te Deum HWV283)Aria: Tu sei il cor di questo core (Giulio Cesare in Egitto HWV17) Aria: Se il mar promette calma (Lotario HWV26)

ALICE PRIVETT SOPRANO

Aria: Morrai sì, l’empia tua testa (Rodelinda HWV19)Aria: Date serta, date flores (Silete venti HWV242)Alleluia

LAURENCE CUMMINGS CONDUCTOR

LONDON HANDEL ORCHESTRA1ST VIOLINS

Adrian Butterfield leaderJean PatersonWilliam ThorpEllen O’Dell2ND VIOLINS

Theresa Caudle Diane MooreStephen Bull Laura Cochrane VIOLAS

Rachel ByrtElitsa Bogdanova

CELLOS

Katherine SharmanMelanie WoodcockBASS

Cecelia Bruggemeyer OBOES

Mark Baigent Hilary StockBASSOON

Nathaniel HarrisonHARPSICHORD

Laurence Cummings

ACCOMPANISTS FOR THE FIRST ROUND AND SEMI-FINAL Luke GreenChad Kelly

Nathaniel ManderAsako Ogawa Heather Tomala

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INGRIDA GÁPOVÁ SOPRANO

Lotario HWV26

Scherza in mar la navicella Mentre ride aura seconda: Ma se poi fiera procella Turba il Ciel, sconvolge l’onda, Va perduta a naufragar.Non così questo mio core Cederà d’un empia sorte Allo sdegno ed al furore, Che per anco in faccia a morte Sa da grande trionfar. Scherza in mar, ecc

Semele HWV58

O sleep, why dost thou leave me,Why thy visionary joys remove?O sleep, again deceive me,To my arms restore my wand’ring love!

Ariodante HWV33

Neghittosi or voi che fate?fulminate, Cieli,omai sul capo all’empio!Fate scempio dell’ingrato,del crudel che m’ha tradita,impunita t’empietà riderànel veder poi fulminato qual che scoglio o qual che tempio. Neghittosi, ecc.

A little boat plays upon the ocean while a favourable breeze blows: but if a fierce tempest suddenlydarkens the sky and whips up the waves, it is doomed to founder.This heart of mine will not yield in the same way to the scorn and fury of an evil fate, for it knows, even in the face of death it will emerge triumphant. A little boat, etc

Slothful ones, what are you doing?Hurl your lightning, heavens,On the head of the evil one. Make havoc of the ingrate,The cruel one who has betrayed me,Unpunished, the impious one will laughSeeing lightning struckSome rock or some temple. Slothful ones, etc.

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MARIA OSTROUKHOVA MEZZO-SOPRANO

Giove in Argo HWVA14

Nel passar da un laccio all’altrosospirar talor si vedeper decoro di sua fede,ingegnosa la beltà.E quel duol sagace e scaltrofa parer che nel suo pettoil piacer d’un nuovo affettosia fatal necessità. Nel passer, ecc.

Giulio Cesare in Egitto HWV17

Se in fiorito ameno prato l’augellin tra fiori e fronde si nasconde, fa più grato il suo cantar. Se così Lidia vezzosa spiega ancor notti canore, più graziosa fa ogni core innamorar. Se in fiorito, ecc.

In passing from one trap to anothersometimes you’ll seefor loyalty’s sake,a fair one reluctantly become artful.And that shrewd and cunning careis a harsh necessity,to make it appear that in her heartshe has the pleasure of a new love. In passing, etc.

If a little birdHides itself among the flowers and leavesOf a pleasant meadow,It makes its song the lovelier.If in the same way the lovely LydiaUnfolds her song by night,Even more gracefullyShe enamours every heart If a little bird, etc.

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SARAH HAYASHI SOPRANO

La Lucrezia HWV145

RecitativoO Numi Eterni! O Stelle, stelle! Che fulminate empi tiranni, Impugnate a’ miei voti Orridi Strali: Voi con fochi tonanti Incenerite il reo Tarquinio e Roma. Dalla superba chioma Omai trabocchi il vacillante alloro S’apra il suolo in voragini Si celi, con memorando esempio Nelle viscere sue l’indegno e l’empio.

AriaGià superbo del mio affanno,Traditor dell’onor mio Parte l’empio, lo sleal. Tu punisci il fiero inganno Del fellon, del mostro rio Giusto Ciel, parca fatal! Già superbo, ecc.

RecitativoMa voi forse nel cielo Per castigo maggior del mio delitto, State oziosi, o provocati Numi: Se son sorde le stele, Se non mi odon le sfere,A voi Tremende Deità, Deità dell’abisso mi volgo A voi, a voi spetta Del tradito onor mio far la vendetta.

AriaIl suol che preme, L’aura che spira L’empio romano S’apra, s’infetti.

RecitativeOh eternal deities, oh stars, stars, who strike down evil tyrants, sieze, at my prayers, your deadly arrows:with thunder and fires turn the wicked Tarquinius and Rome to ashes. Let the uneasy laurels fall from his proud head, and the ground become a chasm to swallow, as an unforgettable example, into its bowels the unworthy evil one.

AriaRejoicing in my sorrow,the betrayer of my honour now departs, the evil one, the faithless one. Avenge, righteous heaven, remorseless fate,the vile misdeed of the felon, of the wretched monster. Rejoicing, etc.

RecitativeBut if in heaven, for the greater punishment of my dishonour, you, the invoked gods, remain unmoved; if the stars are deaf,if the heavenly spheres do not hear me, I turn to you, great god, god of the abyss, from you, from you my betrayed honour awaits its revenge.

AriaFor the foul Roman,may the ground upon which he treads open under him, may the air he breathes poison him.

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Se il paso move, Se il guardo gira, Incontri larve, Riune aspeti. Il suol che preme, ecc.

RecitativoAh! che ancor nel abissodormon le furie,i sdegni e le vendette;Giove dunque per me non ha saette,è pietoso l’inferno?Ah! ch’io già sono in odio al Cielo, ah! dite:e se la pena non piomba sul mio capo,a’ miei rimorsi è rimorsoil poter di castigarmi.

AriaQuesti la disperata anima mia puniscan, sì, sìMa il ferro che già intrepido stringo –Alla salma infedel porga la pena.

RecitativoA voi, padre, consorte, a Roma, al mondopresento il mio morir;mi si perdoni il delitto esecrandoond’io macchiai involontaria il nostro onor,un’altra più detestabil colpadi non m’aver uccisapria del misfatta, mi si perdoni.

AriosoGià nel seno cominciaa compir questo ferroi duri uffizii;Sento ch’il cor si scuotepiù dal dolor di questa caduta invendicata,che dal furor della vicina morte.Ma se qui non m’è datocastigar il tiranno, opprimer l’empiocon più barbaro esempio,per ch’ei sen cada estintotringerò a danni suoi mortal saetta,e furibonda e crudanell inferno farò la mia vendetta.

INTERVAL OF 15 MINUTES

As he walks,as he looks around, may he meet only ghosts,and await destruction. For the foul Roman, etc.

RecitativeAh! in the abyssthe furies,rage, and revenge are still asleep;Has Jove no thunderbolts for me?Is hell merciful?Ah! Am I despised in Heaven, ah! tell me:if punishment does not fall upon my head,I feel the remorse, added to my sorrows, of having the power to punish myself.

AriaMay this punish my despairing soul, yes, yes!And may the sword which, without fear, I already hold –Mete out justice to my faithless body.

RecitativeTo you, Father, husband, to Rome, to the world,I offer my death;forgive me for my horrible crimeby which I unwillingly stained our honour;and may another, more heinous crime,that of not killing myselfbefore the misdeed, be forgiven me.

AriosoAlready in my breastthis blade begins to completeits cruel task; I feel that my heart is hurt more deeplyby the pain of unavenged wrong,than by the fury of approaching death.But if it not given to meto punish the tyrant here and nowand treat him with the barbarous cruelty he deserves, I will see to it that he falls dead,I will grasp the deadly dart,and, furious and cruel,I will wreak my vengeance in Hell.

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JOSEP-RAMON OLIVÉ BARITONE

Tamerlano HWV18

Principessa infelice, infido Tamerlano! Questa, questa è la fede che dee un monarca a così illustre erede? Con generoso core vuò mostrargli’l suo errore; corro per rinfacciarlo; ma sogno, o veglio? e così incauto io parlo? Del superbo il furore ecciterò; ma che tem’ io? Si vada a difesa del giusto, s’irriti pure il barbaro regnante; sprezza i gran pergli alma costante.

Nel mondo e nell’ abissoio non paventotutto l’orror che maipossa inventar il ciel, la terra, il mare. No, perdere non vuò giusto contento,Irene, tu vedraiche virtù sol m’è guida, a grande oprare. Nel mondo, ecc.

Dettingen Te Deum HWV283Vouchsafe, O Lord : to keep us this day without sin.O Lord, have mercy upon us : have mercy upon us.O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us :as our trust is in thee.

Unhappy princess,faithless Tamerlano!This, this is the faitha monarch givesto such an illustrious heiress?With a noble heartI want to show him his error;I run to reproach him;but am I dreaming, or awake?do I speak so incautiously?I’ll excite the angerof that haughty one; but what do I fear?I go to defend the right,and if I should annoy the barbarous sovereign,a constant heart despises great dangers.

I don’t fear on earth or in hellall the horrors that could be devised by heaven, earth or sea.No, I don’t want to losefair satisfaction,Irene, you will seethat virtue alone is my guide in these great acts. I don’t fear, etc.

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Giulio Cesare in Egitto HWV17Tu sei il cor di questo core, sei il mio ben, non t’adirar! Per amor io chiedo amore, più da te non vo’ bramar. Tu sei, ecc.

Lotario HWV26Se il mar promette calma, ed il nocchier la sprezza, poi l’onda il vento spezza, ed in periglio è allor d’esservi assorto; così se afflitta è l’alma perché fu avverso il fato, se il vede poi placato, non deve più irritar chi è suo conforto.Se il mar, ecc.

You are the sweetheart of this heart,You are my only love, don’t be angry!In love, I ask for love,I ask no more of you. You are, etc.

When the sea promises to be calm,And the sailor takes it for granted,Then the wind whips up the wavesAnd the boat finds itself in danger.Thus is the soul afflicted,For fate was against it;If it sees it then that fate has been appeased,It must no longer provoke that which is its consolation. When the sea, etc.

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ALICE PRIVETT SOPRANO

Rodelinda HWV19Morrai sì, l’empia tua testa già m’appresta un gradin per gire il trono. Che del mio sposo novello, né più bel dono sò bramar. Morrai, sì, ecc.

Silete venti HWV242Date serta, date flores Me coronent vestri honores, Date palmas nobiles. Surgant venti et beatæ Spirent almae fortunatæ Auras cœli fulgidas. Date serta, ecc.

Alleluja.

You will die, yes; your evil headwill provide me witha step to climb the throne.For from my new husbanda better giftI cannot ask for. You will die, etc.

Offer garlands, offer flowers, Crown me with your honours, Offer the noble palm. Let the winds stir,And let the souls of the blessed ones Breathe in heaven’s glorious atmosphere. Offer garlands, etc

Alleluia.

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PROGRAMME NOTE

On 2 December 1729 the first performance of Handel’s opera Lotario took place at the King’s Theatre, with Anna Maria Strada del Pò in the role of Adelaide, widow of Lotario (the son of the Duke of Arles). Berengario, Duke of Spoleto who led Italy jointly with Lotario had become jealous, and poisoned his co-ruler; Adelaide rules in Lotario’s stead. Lest the plot seem too simple, another Lotario appears on the scene, this one a German king who is trying to invade Italy. Intrigue abounds, especially as Berengario’s son is in love with Adelaide, but his mother Matilde has other ideas, and the defiant Adelaide suffers many privations at her hands, enduring also the treachery of Berengario, and the revelation that the German Lotario (a figure based on King Otho of Germany, better known as the leading figure in Handel’s 1723 opera Ottone) is also in love with her. Adelaide’s aria ‘Scherza in mar la navicella‘ concludes the first act of Lotario, ending a dramatic scene with the jealous Matilde: Adelaide uses the metaphor of a small boat caught in a tempest to show that her valiant heart will not be crushed by the machinations of her rivals. Nautical metaphors must have appealed to Handel’s librettist, Giacomo Rossi, as the image of the heart as a vessel in peril on the sea also occurs in the aria ‘Se il mar promette calma’, the aria Clodomiro (one of Berengario’s soldiers) sings at the end of a dramatic scene with Adelaide in Act I. An oddity in a cast of Italian principals, the creator of Clodomiro was a German bass called Johann Gottfried Riemschneider who had known Handel since the composer’s days in Halle. The Daily Journal reported that Handel had engaged this bass ‘from Hamburgh’ as there was ‘none worth engaging in Italy’. However, another of Handel’s librettists, Paulo Rolli, commented acidly that Riemschneider sang ‘sweetly in his throat and nose, pronounces Italian in the Teutonic manner, acts like a sucking-pig, and looks more like a valet than anything.’ Lotario was not a successful opera, running for only ten performances owing to the ‘vile taste of the town’, and a revival of the more popular Giulio Cesare followed on its heels. This popular work, with a libretto by Nicola Francesco Haym, had its first performance on 20 February 1724, with Giuseppe Maria

Boschi as Achilla. Boschi and Handel had a long association: Boschi had sung the role of Pallas in Handel’s Agrippina during its triumphant season at Venice’s Teatro di San Giovanni Crisostomo in 1709, and although he performed in London c. 1710, he spent the next decade working in Italy and Dresden before becoming an important part of Handel’s Royal Academy of Music. ‘Tu sei il cor di questo core’ comes from the final scene of Act I, in which Achilla attempts to woo Cornelia, widow of Pompey, despite the challenge posed by her stepson Sesto. Words and music work against each other, as the domineering character’s stentorian vocal lines and some-what dogmatic utterances belie his ardent words. Later, Giulio Cesare sings the rhapsodic ‘Se in fiorito, ameno prato’, an ecstatic duet with a sparkling violin to represent the ‘little bird’. The ‘Lidia’ of whom Cesare sings is in fact Cleopatra, who had arranged to appear as ‘Virtue’ in an allegorical pageant for Cesare’s bene-fit. ‘Se in fiorito’ gives the singer licence to embellish the vocal line with every possible rhetorical device for conveying passionate ardour and the infinite variety of this aria must have delighted Handel’s audience in 1724. The cantata La Lucrezia dates from the young Handel’s time in Italy, where he threw himself into mastering the genre which was a substitute for opera after it was prohibited by papal decree in Rome. Instead, the dramatic cantata for solo voice and continuo or orchestra with pastoral or mythological libretti flourished. The intimate solo cantata had been evolving as a special art-form in the seventeenth century, and when Handel arrived in Rome early in 1707 he quickly became familiar with the nuances of the style. His excoriating La Lucrezia brings to life the humiliation and despair of Lucretia – an honourable Roman matron – who had the misfortune to be raped by Tarquinius. Rather than bringing shame upon her husband Collinatus, Lucretia chooses to kill herself but vows that her ghost or shade will hound Tarquinius. The continuo line in La Lucrezia is a crucial counterpoint to Lucretia’s emotions, demonstrating how much power Handel could create with a deceptively ‘simple’ texture. Another independent work for solo voice, but this time with orchestra, is the motet

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Silete venti. Whilst its date is uncertain, the type of manuscript paper Handel used suggests he wrote the piece in c. 1724, possibly for Cardinal Colonna of Rome. Unlike the viscerally Italianate liturgical music Handel wrote in the first decade of the eighteenth century, Silete venti seems tempered by the changing style of his first London years. The aria ‘Date serta’ – which refers to the palm fronds (symbolising victory and goodness) associated with Jesus Christ – is in three sections, each of surpassing beauty and virtuosity. The concluding ‘Alleluia’ is an exuberant gigue. In contrast ‘Vouchsafe, O Lord’ from Handel’s ‘Dettingen’ Te Deum represents the composer’s masterly fusion of Italian and Germanic sacred styles with the music of the Anglican tradition. Handel’s Te Deum of 1743 (which he began composing on 17 July) marked a defeat of the French by the massed allies of Austria (Britain, Hanover, Hesse) on June 27. King George II led the troops into battle, which was a decisive victory in this eight-year conflict. Whilst the Te Deum itself sometimes allows ceremonial bombast to outweigh the musically sublime, this brief air for bass is a moment of simple, ardent intercession. The Te Deum was performed for the first time in a service of thanksgiving for the King’s safety in the Chapel Royal of St James’s Palace on 26 September 1743. 1743 was also the year in which Handel wrote his mythological oratorio Semele for the Lenten concerts at the Covent Garden Theatre. The Old Testament was the typical source of oratorio texts, but the perform- ance of scriptural works in theatres rather than churches upset some pious comment- ators:

‘An Oratorio either is an Act of Religion or it is not; if it is, I ask if the Playhouse is a fit Temple to perform it in or a Company of Players fit Ministers of God’s Word . . . In the other Case, it is not perform’d as an Act of Religion, but for Diversion and Amusement only (and indeed I believe few or none go to an Oratorio out of Devotion)’.

We can only imagine the reaction of ‘Philalethes’ (the author of this polemic in the Universal Spectator of 19 March 1743) upon discovering the subject of the first of Handel’s ‘two New Performances’ for the 1744 oratorio season – The Story of Semele.

Semele’s languorous, sensuous air ‘O sleep, why dost thou leave me’ comes from Act II of the work: unaware that jealous Juno is planning a terrible revenge, she lies sleeping in her palace (dreaming of Jupiter), fanned by the silky wings of zephyrs at the behest of Cupid. However, in the next scene, she is rewarded by a visit from Jupiter. Jove’s amorous exploits are also the focus of Handel’s pasticcio Giove in Argo, in which the deity pursues the nymph Calisto, and Isis (future consort of Osiris), whilst in disguise. The mezzo-soprano Costanza Posterla took the role of Isis for the first performance on 1 May 1739 and as with so many Handel arias, the words and the music tell different stories: the radiant ecstasy of the music here in ‘Nel passar’ is at odds with the cynicism of Isis’s words. The aria is also an elaborated version of the luminous ‘As with rosy steps the morn’ from Handel’s Theodora, and indeed Giove in Argo is a clever assembly of much pre-existing music to a libretto by Antonio Maria Lucchini. Many of Handel’s operas are set in exotic climes: Argos, Rome, Constantinople, Aetolia, or Persia, and involve enchanted islands or mythological figures. Ariodante is set in Scotland. However, the anonymous libretto is based upon Antonio Salvi’s Ginevra, principessa di Scozia, which was derived from Ariosto’s Orlando furioso, and perhaps for the Florence-based Salvi Scotland seemed to be a suitably exotic location for a story of intrigue and tortured passions. From the beginning, its atmosphere of mystery is entirely approp- riate to the eeriness of its setting in Edinburgh: ‘Neghittosi or voi che fate?’ is a darkly magnificent aria for Dalinda (a servant of Ginevra) in which she calls for lightning bolts, represented by jagged string figurations, to strike her perfidious enemies. Vengeance, deception, and unrequited passion – three of the most frequently recurring themes in Handel’s operas – also unite arias from Handel’s three most intense dramatic works: Rodelinda (1725), Tamerlano (1724) and Almira (1705). ‘Principessa infelice’, part of a great scena for Boschi in the role of Leone in Tamerlano introduces other complex emotions – tenderness and pity – and the magnificence of ‘Nel mondo e nell’abisso’ is often over-looked in the general preoccupation with Handel’s music for high male voices. Similarly, Rodelinda’s kaleidoscopic

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‘Morrai, si’ is an exquisite short aria for one of Handel’s most noble heroines. She is tempted to sacrifice herself by marrying Grimoaldo, her husband’s usurper, so that she can avenge her husband; ‘Morrai, si’ is dignified and lyrical, but the glistening musical textures evoking Rodelinda’s strength and resolve are at odds with the grisly text. The first Rodelinda, on 13 February 1725, was the celebrated Francesca Cuzzoni, one of Handel’s great stars, and it is easy to hear how Handel wrote for her ‘clear soprano, pure intonation, and beautiful trillo’, while the ‘tenderness [with which] she won the hearts of her listeners’ was a crucial quality for the dignified, sympathetic Rodelinda.

Programme note © Corrina Connor 2015

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BIOGRAPHIES FINALISTS INGRIDA GÁPOVÁ, SOPRANO, was born in Slovakia. Her musical education began at the age of six, with piano studies. In 1993 she took part in the Slovak folk-song competition, being awarded second prize. Her education continued at the Conserv- atory in Zilina (Slovakia) in the vocal class, and then at the Music Academy in Banska Bystrica. Then she pursued postgraduate studies at the Vocal and Acting Academy of Music with F Nowowiejskiego in Bydgoszcz in Professor Hanna Michalak’s singing class. Despite her young age she has a broad repertoire in oratorios, cantatas and song cycles. At National Theatre Warsaw she performed the main role (SHE) in the world premiere of the opera The Sudden Rain by A Nowak, Xenia in Mussorgsky’s Borys Godunov and Barbarina in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro.

She performs regularly in the principal opera houses in Poland. For Opera Baltic (Gdansk) she has sung the roles of Pamina, Susanna and Barbarina in Die Zauberflöte and Le nozze di Figaro, Micaëla in Carmen by Bizet and Annina in La Traviata by Verdi. At Opera Nova Bydgoszcz, she has sung Gretel from Humperdinck’s Hansel und Gretel, Hanna from Moniuszko’s Haunted Manor and Belinda in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas.

In 2013 she won third prize in the opera category and five special prizes (among them the best Mozart interpretation) at the Antonín Dvořák International Competition in Karlovy Vary (Czech Republic)

In the contemporary music field Ingrida performed the world premiere of Spoon River by the composer Nowak and the multimedia artist Dudek, a work commiss- ioned by the Warsaw Autumn Festival to open its 56th edition in 2013. She collab-orates with the Spanish Ensemble Taller Atlántico Contemporáneo (TAC), perform- ing at the Semana de Música Religiosa de Cuenca and the Festival Internacional de Música y Danza de Granada singing the world premiere of Cinco Guerreros by Sebastián Mariné.

She recorded with Goldberg Baroque Ensemble the world premieres Christmas Cantatas of 18th century Gdansk (2010), Lent Cantatas of 18th century Gdansk (2011) and Johann Balthasar Christian Freisslich’s Passio Christi (2012) released by Sarton records. This last work was nominated for the Fryderyk Music awards 2013 in Poland. SARAH HAYASHI, SOPRANO, has sung roles including Fire, Princess, and the Nightingale in Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortileges, Belinda in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Miss Ellen in Delibes’s Lakmé, Euridice in Offenbach’s Orphée aux Enfers, and most recently, Despina in Mozart’s Così fan tutte. She recently covered the role of Erste Knabe in the Royal College of Music International Opera School’s production of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte.

In 2008, Sarah won the Maryland Distinguished Scholar in the Arts Award. She is also the recipient of the 2012 Evergreen House Foundation Scholarship. She was inducted into the Pi Kappa Lamda music honor society in 2013.

Sarah completed her four-year studies at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore receiving both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Vocal Performance. She is currently pursuing a Master of Perform- ance at the Royal College of Music in London with Janis Kelly and Andrew Robinson, supported by a Charles Branchini Award and the Josephine Baker Trust.

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MARIA OSTROUKHOVA MEZZO-SOPRANO Born in 1991 Maria was introduced to professional musical eduction at the age of 6. She studied in Moscow Gnessins’ College of Music as a pianist until 2009 when she graduated magna cum laude. In the same year she enrolled at Tchaikovsky’s Moscow State Conservatoire where she studied for 3 years as a pianist, harpsichord-ist and fortepianist. In 2012 she was accept-ed into Royal College of Music as a scholar where she currently studies on the MPerf course with Nick Sears and Simon Lepper. She is an HF Music Scholar supported by Theo-Max van der Beugel Award. Among the roles she has sung are: Carilda Arianna in Creta, Angelina La Cenerentola (RCMIOS), Die Dritte Dame Die Zauberflöte, Ottavia, and Fortuna L’Incoronazione di Poppea, Maman/ La Tasse Chinoise/ La Libellule L’Enfant et les Sortileges. ALICE PRIVETT SOPRANO

Alice Privett graduated from the opera course at the Royal Academy of Music in 2014, where she was generously supported by the Winifred Disney and Jennifer Vyvyan Awards and was a Sickle Foundation Scholar; she now continues her studies with Elizabeth Ritchie. Her oratorio work includes Handel’s Messiah at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Israel in Egypt with the Huddersfield Choral Society, Bach’s B Minor Mass and Tippett’s A Child of our Time. Operatic roles include Poppea L’Incoronaz- ione di Poppea (Longborough Festival Opera Young Artists/ The Complete Singer), First Bridesmaid/ cover of Susanna Le nozze di Figaro (BYO), Despina (Hampstead Garden Opera), Papagena for Longborough Festival Opera, Pamina for LFO on tour/ The Complete Singer, cover Nanetta for Iford Arts, Baronessa Irene and Ginevra Ariodante for RAO, Carolina The Secret Marriage for British Youth Opera, Nerone L’Incoronazione di Poppea at the Aldeburgh Festival with Richard Egarr, Nedda I Pagliacci for Woodhouse Opera, and Gretel Hänsel und Gretel for West Green Opera.

She has had the benefit of working with Elijah Moshinsky, Sarah Walker, Eugene Asti at Wigmore Hall and Iain Burnside (in the premiere of his play Unknown Doors in the Barbican Pit Theatre). She has also partici-pated in masterclasses with Rudolph Piernay at the Mozarteum (Salzburg), Joan Dornemann as part of the IVAI programme

in Tel Aviv, and Dawn Upshaw as a Britten- Pears Young Artist at Aldeburgh. Alice was part of the Academy Song Circle, and was awarded the Concert Recital Diploma and the Tracey Chadwell Memorial Prize at the GSMD for work in contemporary song. In competition she has won the First Prize in the Susan Longfield Award, in the Royal Overseas League with the ensemble ‘Cries of London’, and the Joan Chissell Schumann Lieder prize at the RAM. Recent song recitals include a selection of Birtwistle songs aired on BBC Radio 3 as part of the Proms, and a recital of Schoenberg and Berg songs at Kings Place, London. In 2016 she will sing Strauss’s Vier Letzte Lieder at the Amersham Festival; upcoming roles include Gretel (Pimlott Foundation) and Romilda Serse for Longborough Festival Opera. In 2014 Alice was the recipient of the Helen Clarke Award from Garsington Opera, and this year she receives the Leonard Ingrams Award for exceptional promise. JOSEP-RAMON OLIVÉ BARITONE

Born in Barcelona in 1988, Josep-Ramon Olivé started his musical studies at the Escolania of Montserrat. He completed his bachelor’s degrees in Choral Conducting (2010) and Singing (2012). After achieving a Singing Masters at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in June 2014, he was selected to take part in the prestigious Opera Course at the Guildhall School where he is currently studying with Professor Rudolf Piernay and with the support of the Amar-Franses Foster-Jenkins Trust and the Sheila White Bequest.

From 2010, Josep-Ramon collaborated regularly with orchestras such as the Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès, the Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, the Orquestra Barroca Catalana, the Orquestra Nacional de Cambra de Andorra, Al Ayre Español and the Brussels Philharmonic. New recent venues include the Palau de la Música Catalana, the Auditorio Nacional of Madrid, the Auditorio Manuel de Falla of Granada, the Gran Teatre del Liceu of Barcelona, the Teatre de la Faràndula of Sabadell, the Avignon Opera, the Vichy Opera and the Barbican Hall in London, amongst others. Such professional activity has allowed him to work under the baton of great conductors such as Jordi Savall, Eduardo López Banzo, Johan Duijck, Sigiswald Kujken, Rubén Gimeno, Dominic Wheeler, Xavier Puig or Lluís Vilamajó.In 2013 he won the Second Prize at the

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20th International Singing Competition of Mâcon, the Paul Hamburger Prize and the Second Prize at the 7th International Singing Competition of Balaguer. He has recorded for Alia-Vox, Columna Música, Phaedra and Musièpoca labels, as well as participating in renowned young singers’ academies such as the Académie Baroque Européenne d’Ambronay and the Proyecto Pedagógico of the Teatro Real of Madrid. He is a current member of the Capella Reial de Catalunya conducted by Jordi Savall.

_____________________________________ ADJUDICATORS EDWARD BLAKEMAN is a commissioning and programme Editor at BBC Radio 3, where his responsibilities include the planning and administration of the BBC Proms. He previously co-ordinated the prize-winning Sounding the Century project for Radio 3 and produced a wide range of music features, documentaries, live relays and recordings of orchestral concerts and operas.

Before joining the BBC, he was a freelance flute player, writer and presenter. He studied at Lancaster and Birmingham Universities and in Paris on scholarships from the British Council and the CNRS. He held a research fellowship at the Royal Northern College of Music and was Head of the Wind Department at the London College of Music. He is a trustee of the Royal Philharmonic Society and the Britten-Pears Foundation, editor of various music editions, and author of two recent books: Taffanel - Genius of the Flute (OUP) and The Faber Pocket Guide to Handel. CATHERINE DENLEY studied at Trinity College of Music from the age of seventeen, winning prizes there for Lieder and French Song but also developing a lasting passion for the Early Music repertoire and an aptitude for contemporary works. After a brief time in the BBC Singers she embarked on a very successful solo career which has taken her all over the world and has now spanned almost 40 years. At home she has worked with all the major British orchestras as well as most of the principal Early Music ensembles - her repertoire is varied and extensive. She has made many appearances on the operatic stage, mostly in England and Germany, in Handel and Monteverdi roles - though she did also sing Olga in Eugene

Onegin under the baton of Rostropovich - but most of her career has been in the oratorio field. As a soloist, Catherine has over sixty recordings to her credit: she is particularly renowned for her Bach, Handel, Monteverdi and Vivaldi performances, some of which have won international awards. Now as a teacher, Catherine enjoys working with a huge range of ages and abilities, from complete beginners to professional singers and actors. She is in demand as an external assessor in the singing departments of the British conservatoires. Still having itchy feet, she now travels the world as an examiner for Trinity College London which brings her almost back to where she started! Recent trips have included Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, India, South Africa, Egypt and Indonesia. Bass baritone MICHAEL GEORGE began his musical life as a chorister at King’s College Cambridge. Later he studied at the Royal College of Music where he was a major prize winner. His career has included performances with all the leading orchestras in Britain and in many international festivals. Conductors he has worked with include Marriner, Eliot Gardiner, Norrington, Mackerras, Christophers, Pinnock, Handley, Sanderling, Zinman, Muti, Elder and Nagano. His recordings include most of Handel’s oratorios, The Dream of Gerontius, Creation, Bach’s Passions, Cantatas, Missa solemnis, Ninth Symphony, the complete songs, odes and church anthems of Purcell, contributions to six volumes of Graham Johnson’s Schubert Series, Gurney’s songs, Finzi’s Let Us Garlands Bring and Zelenka’s Lamentations. He has worked at ENO, Scottish Opera and Buxton Opera and toured various baroque opera projects with Philip Pickett and Jonathan Miller in Europe, Mexico and China. In 2014 he was involved in productions of Purcell’s Faerie Queen in Mexico. IAN PARTRIDGE has an international reputation as a concert singer and recitalist. His wide repertoire encompassed the music of Monteverdi, Bach and Handel, Elizabethan lute songs, German, French and English songs and first performances of new works. Ian’s phenomenal list of recordings includes Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin (first choice in BBC Radio 3’s Building a

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Library), Schumann’s Dichterliebe and Liederkreis Opus 39, and Britten’s Serenade, Vaughan Williams’s On Wenlock Edge and Warlock’s The Curlew. He sang the Evangelist in Bach’s St John Passion and was the tenor soloist in the complete set of Handel’s Chandos Anthems recorded with The Sixteen, conducted by Harry Chris-tophers. Ian has also enjoyed taking masterclasses on Lieder, English Song and EarlyMusic. He retired from public performance in 2008 but remains a professor at the Royal Academy of Music. He was awarded the CBE in 1992 for services to music. 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.

Catherine appears with the Three Choirs, Edinburgh and Aldeburgh festivals, and also at the BBC Proms, where she was a memorable soloist in the 1995 Last Night. She has performed in concert with Leonard Slatkin, Bernard Haitink, Sir Andrew Davis, Sir Colin Davis, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Roger Norring-ton, Edward Gardner and Zubin Mehta. Her numerous recordings include Samson with Harry Christophers, The Dream of Gerontius with Vernon Handley for EMI, Mozart’s Vespers with Trevor Pinnock for DG, Peter Grimes with the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Colin Davis, and Graham Johnson’s Complete Schubert Edition for Hyperion.

Catherine sang Erda and Waltraute in Valencia and Florence with Zubin Mehta and appeared at the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Sosostris in The Midsummer Marriage. She made her debut for the Teatro alla Scala as Mrs Sedley in Peter Grimes, and for the Metropolitan Opera as Adelaide in Arabella. She is a regular guest of the English National Opera, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and the Bavarian State Opera, Munich, and has also worked with the Scottish Opera, the Welsh National Opera, Opera North, the Salzburg Festival, the Netherlands Opera and the Bordeaux Opera.

Upcoming concert engagements include the Toronto Symphony Orchestra with Peter Oundjian and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra with Sir Andrew Davis. Catherine returns to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden to sing her first Mary in Der Fliegende Höllander, and makes her debut for the Glyndebourne Festival with Rape of Lucretia. _____________________________________ ANN ALLEN As well as playing baroque oboe and shawm, Ann Allen also works as an opera director and has created a new style of atmosph- erically presented concerts. She studied at Manchester University, Royal Academy of Music and the Schola Cantorum and now freelances with leading ensembles and orchestras throughout Europe including Academy of Ancient Music, Ad Fontes and L’arpa Festante. She recently appeared at the Coliseum in Dr Dee, the rock opera by Damon Albarn, and has performed at the Globe Theatre in the award winning version of Richard III. She set up the medieval group Mediva while at the RAM, which went on to reach the finals of several prestigious competitions as well as recording three CDs. She also directs the baroque ensemble Il Bacio and jointly runs the double reed ensemble Syrinx. After her musical training, her love of the stage inspired her to direct several operas in the UK and Switzerland and set up her own festival mixing early music with modern music and presenting it in new and unusual ways. This festival Nox Illuminata has been running for seven years in Basel, Switzerland, as well as four years in St Pölten, Austria and three years as the concert series Illuminationen at the Burghof Lörrach, Germany. ADRIAN BUTTERFIELD Adrian Butterfield is a violinist, director and conductor who specialises in performing music from 1600-1900 on period instruments. He is Musical Director of the Tilford Bach Society and Associate Director of the London Handel Festival and regularly directs the London Handel Orchestra and Players as well as working as a guest soloist and director in Europe and North America.

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The London Handel Players perform regularly at Wigmore Hall and throughout Europe and North America and their Handel recordings have received glowing reviews. The Revolutionary Drawing Room specialises in classical and romantic music on period instruments and has also performed in North America and Europe. A new recording of quartets by Haydn, Mozart, Vanhal and Dittersdorf has been released by RDR to coincide with their 25th anniversary in 2015. Other recent CD releases include Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet with Colin Lawson on Clarinet Classics and Geminiani’s Op 1 Sonatas (SOMM) by LHP in 2012. Adrian’s world premiere complete recordings of Leclair’s Books 1 and 2 violin sonatas were released in 2009 and 2013 on Naxos Records. He works annually with the Southbank Sinfonia, is Professor of Baroque Violin at the Royal College of Music in London, gives masterclasses in Europe and North America and teaches on the Aestas Musica International Summer School of Baroque Music and Dance in Croatia. Recent highlights have included conducting the LHO in Bach’s B Minor Mass, St John Passion and Magnificat at Tilford and Handel’s Israel in Egypt at St George’s, Hanover Square and La Resurrezione at Wigmore Hall, directing the London Mozart Players in Bach and Mendelssohn and appearing on Croatian Television with LHP as well as at the Brighton, Gregynog, King’s Lynn and Buxton Festivals. Plans for the 2014/15 season include LHP’s debut at Carnegie Hall and the Halle Handel Festival in Germany. Adrian will appear again with the Croatian Baroque Ensemble in Zagreb and direct a programme of Leclair and Locatelli at the Greenwich Early Music Festival. RDR’s 25th anniversary celebrations will open with concerts for the Tilford Bach Society and at St John’s, Smith Square. Adrian will also direct one singer per part performances of the St Matthew Passion at the Tilford Bach Festival and at St John’s, Smith Square in June with the LHO. LAURENCE CUMMINGS Laurence Cummings is one of Britain’s most exciting and versatile exponents of historical performance both as conductor and harpsichord player. He has been

Artistic Director of the London Handel Festival since 1999 and of the Internationale Händel-Festspiele Göttingen since 2012, as well as acting as Music Director for Orquestra Barocca Casa da Musica Porto and as a trustee of Handel House London. He has conducted productions for English National Opera, Opera North, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Gothenburg Opera, Opernhaus Zürich, Opera de Lyon, Garsington Opera, English Touring Opera and at the Linbury Theatre Covent Garden. He regularly conducts The English Concert and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlighten-ment and has worked with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Ulster Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Bourne-mouth Symphony, Hallé, Britten Sinfonia, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Handel and Haydn Society (Boston), St Paul Chamber Orchestra (Minnesota), Wiener Akademie, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Musikcollegium Winterthur, Jerusalem Symphony and Basel Chamber Orchestra. His numerous recordings include the first recording of Handel’s newly discovered Gloria with Emma Kirkby, and Handel Arias with Angelika Kirchschlager and the Basel Chamber Orchestra for Sony BMG. Future highlights include King Arthur for Zurich Opera, Saul for Glyndebourne on Tour and his debut with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington DC. Following a period in the Arts Council Art Department, CATHERINE HODGSON trained as a bookbinder, specialising in repair and modern design binding. Once her three children were at school she joined the staff of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, from where she moved to the administrative staff of the Royal College of Music. In 1999, Denys Darlow invited her to take on the organisation of the London Handel Festival which he founded in 1978. She runs the administration from her office in Ilminster, Somerset where she also set up Concerts in the West in 2006, an annual series of concerts for young professional musicians and spanning three counties. PETER JONES was born in Pontlottyn, South Wales. After leaving university he studied singing privately with Ivor Evans. His singing repertoire concentrated on Handel, Bach, Haydn and Mozart. He was encouraged to

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develop his interest in score editing and engraving by the late Denys Darlow. He has prepared editions of Handel’s operas and other works for the London Handel Festival, the Göttingen Handel Festival, English Touring Opera, the Buxton Festival, The Sixteen, The Early Opera Company, Garsing-ton Opera, Bampton Classical Opera and the London Mozart Players, among others. He collaborated with the late Anthony Hicks on several editions, notably Saul. He is currently preparing Agrippina for Iford Opera. Peter has provided translations for the annual opera collaboration between the London Handel Festival and the Royal College of Music for several years, and has prepared the translations for this year’s Handel Singing Competition. He has entered into an agreement with ChesterNovello to market his Handel editions. CORRINA CONNOR Corrina Connor is currently a PhD student at Oxford Brookes University, where her research focuses on the performance of masculinity in Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus and other operettas. Corrina studied at Victoria University of Wellington, before completing an MPhil in musicology and performance at Oxford University where she received college and university music awards. She wrote her Master’s thesis on the performance of Pelham Humfrey’s penitential anthems and has presented research papers at several international conferences. As a cellist, Corrina has been a frequent participant in the Baroque Orchestra course at Dartington International Summer School, as well as a Chamber Music Associate at the Summer School. She has performed at the London Handel Festival with Trinity Laban Baroque Orchestra, and worked with Solomon’s Knot and the Amadè Players. Since 2012 Corrina has worked regularly as a musician with the award-winning show Austentatious at the Edinburgh Fringe and during their highly successful UK tours in 2014 and 2015. The LONDON HANDEL ORCHESTRA, The London Handel Orchestra, which is made up of some of London’s finest professional baroque players and is directed by Adrian Butterfield and Laurence Cummings, was formed in 1981 by Denys Darlow to perform at the annual London Handel Festival. It has

gained an excellent reputation for historically-informed performance and contributed greatly to the revival of interest in Handel’s music over that period. The Orchestra performs through- out the Festival at venues including Handel’s church, St George’s, Hanover Square, the Royal College of Music and Wigmore Hall. It also gives concerts at venues throughout the country outside the Festival period and has appeared at the Chelsea, Windsor, Tilford Bach, Three Choirs and Oslo Church Music Festivals and at the Barber Institute as well as for the opening of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in April 2002 in St George’s Chapel, Windsor.

Recordings include Handel’s Aminta e Fillide and The Triumph of Time and Truth (Hyperion) and the premiere of Handel’s opera Silla (Somm), conducted by Denys Darlow. The first recording of the 1732 version of the oratorio Esther, conducted by Laurence Cummings, appeared in December 2007 and was Editor’s Choice in Gramophone Magazine and a live recording of Joshua was released in 2009.

Recent concerts include performances of Handel’s La Resurrezione at Wigmore Hall, Bach’s St John Passion, B minor Mass, Magnificat and cantatas at the Tilford Bach Festival and appearances at a number of cathedrals around the UK. In June 2015 Adrian Butterfield will direct performances of Bach’s St Matthew Passion at Tilford and at St John’s, Smith Square ST GEORGE’S CHURCH, HANOVER SQUARESt George Street, London, W1S 1FX St George’s was built between 1721 and 1724 to the design of John James, one of Christopher Wren’s assistants, as one of fifty churches for the Cities of London and Westminster by Act of Parliament in 1711. It cost just £10,000 (about £850,000 in today’s terms). During two and a half centuries St George’s has been a centre of musical activities from the time of Thomas Roseingrave, appointed the church’s first organist in 1725, to our own day and the present musical director, Simon Williams. In 1978 the then organist, Denys Darlow, founded the London Handel Festival. The

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church was built when Handel was in his thirties. In 1723 he rented a house nearby in Brook Street and remained there until his death in 1759. He was often to be seen in the church, especially in his later years, and this makes St George’s a particularly appropriate venue for the London Handel Festival.

The past five years have seen an extraordinary period of restoration and renewal at St George’s. In 2010 we undertook the comprehensive repair and refurbishment of the interior of the church and in 2012 we installed a brand new organ. The process of planning, crafting, and then installing a first class organ (by Richards Fowkes & Company of Tennessee) took a full four years and after its dedication to the glory of God and a superb inaugural recital in October 2012, those now coming to the church as worshippers or concert-goers are able to hear the results of our labours for themselves. In January 2013 St George’s and its sister church, the Grosvenor Chapel, launched a combined weekly lunchtime recital series known as Mayfair Organ Concerts. We are delighted that the 2015 London Handel Festival will once more incorporate recitals in this series into its own programme. Later in the year a series devoted to the complete organ works of Handel’s great contemporary, JS Bach, will be presented here.

But the work of St George’s is not all musical! The renovation of the church’s interior five years ago was far from being just cosmetic. The cable laying involved in re-wiring the building brought us into close contact with our Undercroft, the use of which has until now been confined to storage. And yet there beneath our feet is a useable ‘space’ with a floor area greater than the church’s. It is too soon at this stage to offer more than a teaser on the subject. Suffice it to say, plans are being hatched . . . In the 2013 & 2014 Festival Programmes we appealed to patrons for assistance with sponsoring our food coupon scheme to feed hungry and homeless people in the area and the response has been gratifying. Instead of the small amounts of cash we used to give such people when they came knocking at our door, we now offer a coupon redeem-able for food to the value of £2.00 at the Cabman’s Shelter in Hanover Square. This scheme has now been running for three

years but the demand is still such that available funding is only sufficient to allow us to provide coupons for part of each week. A further £180 a week (£9,360 a year) is needed if we are to offer such help every day.

If you feel you can help us, please contact St George’s Parish Administrator on 020 7629 0874 or stephen.wikner@stgeorgeshanoversquare.org Further information about St George’s may be found onwww.stgeorgeshanoversquare.org

_____________________________________ HSC ACCOMPANISTS LUKE GREEN Luke Green was catapulted into the world of international music making by conductor Ivor Bolton, following studies at London’s Royal Academy of Music. He has performed frequently at the Salzburg Festival, the Opera Houses of the Bayerisches Staatsoper in Munich, Amsterdam, Strasbourg, Zürich and Glyndebourne; future engagements include the Teatro Real in Madrid, and the Frankfurt Opera. Luke has a particular affinity with the voice and has coached both students and professionals alike in music stretching from the beginning of opera, to Rossini, Donizetti and even Verdi; and anything in between. He has recently embarked on a recording project to present the music of Dr Maurice Greene, an English baroque composer contemporary with Handel, to a wider audience. CHAD KELLY Chad Kelly enjoys a rich and diverse career as a performer and director, spanning almost all genres of music, from historically- informed performance and chamber music to Opera and Musical Theatre. He is currently the Lucille Graham fellow at the Royal Academy of Music, where he is an Assistant Conductor and Répétiteur for Royal Academy Opera. He is also Director of Music at the historic church of St Anne’s, Kew Green. Chad is Lector in Music at Trinity College, Cambridge, supervising under-graduates on the Music Tripos. He is also co-founder and Artistic Director of the period-instrument ensemble Ars Eloquentiae. From a young age, NATHANIEL MANDER has nurtured a dynamic passion for the

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harpsichord and its rich and varied repertoire. He is winner of the 10th Broadwood solo harpsichord competition and graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in 2011 with first class honours. In 2009 he moved to London to take up a place at the Royal Academy of Music and began his studies with Carole Cerasi. His time at the Academy included winning the Early Music Prize three years consec-utively, as well as the Harold Samuel Bach Solo Keyboard Prize. In 2010 he won first prize for the Early Keyboard Ensemble Competition at Fenton House with his group, Ensemble Caravaggio and in 2011 he was also awarded a prize at the first international Competition for Harpsichord ‘G Gambi’ in Pesaro, Italy. Nathaniel gave his debut London recital for the British Harpsi-chord Society at Handel House in 2010. Nathaniel is an active solo performer, continuo player and chamber musician, and performances have taken him all over Europe and to the USA in recent years with his Wigmore Hall concerto debut in 2012. He has given recitals at the Handel House Museum, Mandeville Place, Fenton House, Finchcocks, the Cobbe Collection of Early Keyboards at Hatchlands, the Russell Collection in Edinburgh, St Martin-in-the- Fields, Wigmore Hall, Kings Place, the Tudeley Festival, the International Handel Festival in Göttingen, the London Handel Festival, the Spitalfields Winter Festival, Raynham Hall and the Bach Steinitz festival. In 2014-15 Nathaniel will hold the Linda Hill Junior Fellowship in Harpsichord/ Continuo at the Royal College of Music. ASAKO OGAWA Asako is a Japanese born harpsichordist who regularly performs both as a soloist and as a continuo player and is also in demand as a baroque repertoire coach especially in vocal repertoire.

Her career as a historical keyboard player developed with her taking up the harpsi-chord in 2006 while already performing as an established collaborative pianist. She formed an immediate and deep feeling for the instrument, and received scholarships to take part in the Aestas Musica International Baroque Course in Croatia and the Darting-ton International Summer School. Asako obtained her postgraduate diploma in Early Music at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2006 then awarded a fellowship in the following year. She was awarded the

Accompanist’s Prize in the London Handel Singing Competition 2007, and performed with the winners of the competition for the Brighton Early Music festival, broadcast on BBC Radio 3. Since then, she has been working as an official accompanist for the HSC. She was also one of the finalists in the Broadwood Early Keyboard Ensemble Competition. Asako was also selected to participate in public masterclasses with Ton Koopman, Colin Tilney, and Bob van Asperen. This spring, her baroque ensemble LUX has performed to much acclaim at the Georgian Concert Society’s prestigious Concert Series, Edinburgh followed by concerts in Tokyo and Chiba, Japan.

She studied harpsichord with Nicholas Parle, James Johnstone, and Laurence Cummings. Currently Asako is a baroque repertoire coach at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. HEATHER TOMALA Combining interests in early music, musical theatre and languages, Heather leads a fulfilling career as an audition and rehearsal pianist, continuo player and musical director. Répétiteur work includes the Southbank Centre, Classical Opera Company, Orchestra of the Age of Enlight-enment, Monteverdi Choir & Orchestra, Trafalgar Sinfonia, London conservatoires, and numerous choirs and instrumental ensembles. This year she will accompany the inaugural Bel Canto Summer School in Dublin.

Heather has coached for Dartington International Summer School, London Mahler Orchestra and small London opera companies. She is a member of Junior Guildhall School’s Musical Awareness staff (also directing their Baroque Ensemble for five years), Keyboard skills & Musician-ship tutor at the National Opera Studio, Répétiteur and Musicianship leader for Ingenium Academy Summer School, and Theory & Aural tutor for St. Paul’s School. Off duty Heather is a Director of the Lucille Graham Trust, and a dedicated member of the Delaney Academy of Irish Dance. _____________________________________

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PREVIOUS WINNERS

2002 ANDREW KENNEDY tenor2003 ELIZABETH ATHERTON soprano2004 ANGHARAD GRUFFYDD JONES soprano2005 FFLUR WYN soprano2006 NATHAN VALE tenor2007 DEREK WELTON baritone2008 ERICA ELOFF soprano2009 RUBY HUGHES soprano2010 SOPHIE JUNKER soprano2011 STEFANIE TRUE soprano2012 ANNA STARUSHKEVYCH mezzo-soprano 2013 RUPERT CHARLESWORTH tenor 2014 EWA GUBAŃSKA mezzo-soprano

FIRST ROUND23, 24, 25 FebruaryCraxton Studios, 14 Kidderpore Avenue, NW3 7SU

SEMI-FINAL9 AprilSt George’s Church, Hanover Square St George Street, London, W1S 1FX PRIZES First: Regina Etz Prize - £5000 Second: Michael Oliver Prize - £2000 Audience: Michael Normington Prize - £300 The Selma D and Leon Fishbach Memorial Prizes for Finalists - £300 each

LAURENCE CUMMINGS Musical Director ADRIAN BUTTERFIELD Associate DirectorCATHERINE HODGSON Festival Director RICHARD HOPKIN Chairman of the LHS ANN ALLEN & SUSAN PALMER & YVONNE EDDY HSC AdministratorsANNE-MARIE NORMAN Orchestra ManagerPETER JONES Music preparation CORRINA CONNOR Programme note CLAIRE HAMMETT HarpischordsLATASHA LAMB Box Office ManagerLUKE GREEN, CHAD KELLY, NATHANIEL MANDER, ASAKO OGAWA, HEATHER TOMALA Accompanists

Photo: Ewa Gubańska- Winner in 2014 (Chris Christodoulou)