Archived News for August 2011
North Sea Vocal Academy
02 Aug 2011
Every summer, remote north west Denmark becomes a hive of singing activity, as the annual North Sea Vocal Academy takes over the church music school in Vestervig and the farm at nearby Skibstedgaard for a series of week-long courses. Run by the indefatigable Peter Frost, the courses provide young singers and pianists the chance to escape from the hectic flurry of day-to-day professional life, and to focus on specific aspects of their performance and repertoire. As a third-time visitor to the courses, it was a joy to be back, working again with one of the country's very greatest vocal coaches, Audrey Hyland, and working on a diverse range of music with a lovely group of singers (Anna Huntley, Karolina Storm, Anna Louise Costello, Roberto Ortiz, Stuart Jackson, Sam Queen), preparing variously for competitions, auditions, roles and recordings.
Summer festivals
24 Aug 2011
This was a week of festival recitals - starting with the newly-founded Fringe in the Fen on Friday (Liebeslieder Walzer and a range of parlour music, with Runette Botha, Kate Symonds-Joy, Julian Forbes, Sam Queen and Will Vann), and then moving to both Oundle and Buxton Festivals (Brahms, Barber and Britten with Marcus Farnsworth). The week was rounded off with a programme of Scottish songs at the Garrick Club with Katie Bray - great to be back in their continuing series of songs from around the British Isles.