Biography
Elizabeth Burgess is an accompanist and chamber musician based in London and active throughout the UK. A diverse musician, Elizabeth is also in demand as organist, conductor and répétiteur, and is forging a successful teaching career alongside her performing focus.
She made her Wigmore Hall debut in September with baritone Marcus Farnsworth; together they won the Wigmore Hall Kohn Foundation International Song Competition (extracts of their performance can be seen here) and also the Chelsea Schubert Festival Song Competition. She took part in this year’s Young Songmakers’ Almanac with Graham Johnson at St John’s Smith Square and Britten-Pears Young Artist Scheme in the Aldeburgh Festival, and has been elected a Samling Scholar for 2010.
Born in Sussex, Elizabeth was educated as a music and academic scholar at Uppingham School and spent her Gap Year as Assistant Organist at Winchester College, working also in the music department at The Pilgrims’ School. She then became cathedral Organ Scholar at Christ Church, Oxford – the first time a woman has been appointed to this position – where she read for a music degree, taking up an academic scholarship in her second year and graduating with First Class Honours in June 2005. During her time at Christ Church, Elizabeth gave organ recitals in cathedrals and colleges across the UK, broadcast on national TV and live on BBC Radio 3 and 4, appeared on commercial CD recordings and toured in Europe, USA and New Zealand.
Whilst at Oxford, Elizabeth also performed extensively as a piano recitalist and concerto soloist, playing Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and Beethoven's Third Concerto to acclaim. Finding the dynamic of working with others on music more rewarding, however, she now focuses on chamber music, and is currently working with a range of singers and instrumentalists. In 2007 Elizabeth took up a postgraduate scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music, where she studied piano accompaniment with Michael Dussek, solo piano with Tessa Nicholson, and Lied interpretation with Richard Stokes.
Elizabeth's particular interest, developed during several years working for the Oxford Lieder Festival, lies in the accompaniment of song, and with singers she has participated in masterclasses given by Rudolph Jansen, Jan Philip Schulze, Barbara Bonney, Julius Drake, Robin Bowman, Sarah Walker, Petra Lang, and others. At the Academy, Elizabeth performed with RAM’s prestigious Song Circle, won the accompaniment prizes in both the Major van Someren-Godferey English song competition and the Elena Gerhardt Lieder competition, and was awarded the coveted DipRAM for a particularly high distinction mark in her final recital.
Elizabeth has been privileged to work with a number of the country’s leading singing teachers and vocal coaches, and is increasingly in demand as a coach to singers in her own right. She has also acted extensively as a répétiteur and rehearsal pianist for oratorio and operatic repertoire, has performed as a continuo player with such ensembles as the Britten Sinfonia, London Mozart Players, Rare Theatricall and Solomon Orchestra, and is frequently in demand as an official accompanist for competitions and festivals.
Elizabeth is an experienced choral conductor, working with a range of groups from amateur symphony choruses to professional chamber choirs. During her time at Christ Church, Oxford, Elizabeth took frequent responsibility for training the cathedral choir, conducting cathedral services, and training the boy choristers; she also undertook conducting work for the RSCM and conducted choirs on the BBC’s Songs of Praise. Elizabeth rehearsed the Oxford Bach Choir for a number of years, working alongside Nicholas Cleobury to prepare for a range of concert performances, and has conducted them in concert in the Sheldonian Theatre to considerable acclaim. Elizabeth continues to act as guest conductor to a range of chamber choirs in London, leads residential and single-day workshops for a variety of singers, and is developing a portfolio of Come-and-sing events presenting major choral works where they would not otherwise be performed.
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