The Winkleigh Singers
"A DELIGHTFUL SUMMER CONCERT BY THE WINKLEIGH SINGERS"
Winkleigh Singers St Peter's Church, Barnstaple
Rossini Petite Messe Solennelle, July 2009
with
Donna is currently attending Birkbeck University’s higher education course in concert Singing. A vastly experienced opera soloist, she has performed no less than seven leading Mozart roles in the U.K and across Europe, including Fiordiligi in Cosi Fan Tutte, Countess and Susanna in Marriage of Figaro, Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Pamina and Queen of the night in Magic Flute and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni. Other operatic roles include Eurydice in Orpheus in the Underworld and Lady Billows in Albert Herring, both for Bedfordshire youth opera. Further plans include a series of Christmas concerts with the Luton-based vocal octet ‘Peculi8’ and concerts in London with the ‘Johnny Parry Trio.’ Donna is currently studying with Ameral Gunson. Future plans include Frasquita (Carmen) for Opera Loki in France, Iris (Semele) at Ardingly International Summer School and a tour of Europe with The Johnny Parry Trio.
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Coming from a musical family, Emma began singing as a young girl in her local church choir in Berkshire. She continued to sing at school gaining her Grade 8 examination at the age of 16, and taking part in many school productions. Emma graduated from the Welsh College of Music and Drama with a performance diploma. She studied with Joan Carlyle and has taken part in master classes with Sir George Solti, Joseph Ward and Brigitte Fassbender. She continued her studies with a Post Graduate Diploma from Trinity College of Music, London. Her operatic roles include Carmen, Dorabella, Marcellina, and Pamina. Emma has performed as a soloist throughout the UK and Europe at such venues as Durham Cathedral, Chester Cathedral, Notre Dame, Paris, Germany, Austria and St. James’ Piccadilly. More recently Emma has been recording film sound tracks at Abbey Road studios. Emma’s teaching commitments are divided between a very busy private practice, and a school in Exeter. She lives in North Molton with her husband.
In 2002 he moved to Norwich to study at the University of East Anglia and to take up the post of Tenor Choral Scholar at Norwich Cathedral. Iain has since obtained a BA degree in Music and was awarded the Britten-Pears, Imogen Holst and Roy Walden Scholarships for outstanding performance.
He also studied at UEA with Baritone Geoff Davidson and performed solo lunchtime recitals at the Assembly House in Norwich.
Iain currently trains with Nicholas Powell and sings as a Vicar Choral in Wells Cathedral taking part in recordings, broadcasts and tours overseas with a solo appearance on their most recent Hyperion recording of music by Kenneth Leighton.
Iain’s soloist repertoire is expanding all of the time with recent appearances including Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Nelson Mass, Maunder’s Olivet to Calvary, Stainers Crucifixion, Mozart’s Requiem, Rossinni’s Petite Messe Solinelle, Puccini’s Messe Di Gloria and Bach’s St Matthew Passion, to name but a few, with local choirs and choral societies.
Tom has recently graduated with Honours from Trinity College of Music, where he studied with Peter Knapp, Ameral Gunson and Mary Hill. An experienced oratorio soloist, Tom has recently performed Mozart Requiem at St Martin in the Fields, Nelson Mass, (Haydn) Petit Messe Solennelle (Rossini), Mass of the Children (Rutter), The Passion of the Christ (Handel), Israel in Egypt (Handel), Duruflè Requiem for Trianon Music Group and Christus in the St John Passion (Bach) at the Royal Naval Chapel. He has also featured as The Sailor (Dido & Aeneas – Purcell) with The Good Companions and undertaken the role of Aeneas for the English Sinfonietta. 2008 saw Tom’s European debut as Dr Bartolo (Marriage of Figaro) for Opera Loki in France. He also covered the rôle of Ramphis (Aida) for Midsummer Opera in London. Whilst at Trinity, Tom was a semi-finalist in the Kathleen Ferrier Bursary Competition. Future plans include the role of Michele (il Tabarro) for Midsummer Opera, the role of Arthur in the new opera ‘Jacko’s Hour’ for Opera Engine and as the Baritone soloist for the Trafalgar night celebrations in Greenwich.
Anita read music at the University of Birmingham, graduating with first class honours in 1996 and winning the Arnold Goldsborough Prize for her final solo piano recital. The University awarded her the Barber Scholarship to continue her studies at the Royal Academy of Music, where her principal tutors were Geoffrey Pratley and Vanessa Latarche. She currently studies with the renowned Russian pianist Dina Parakhina.
For the past four years, Anita has been Head of Keyboard at Sherborne School for Girls. She has recently left this post to concentrate on her performing career, and splits her week between London and Somerset. In the West Country, she performs with Spectra Musica and is the rehearsal pianist for the Wincanton Choral Society and the Somerset Chamber Choir. She continues teaching part-time at Sherborne, as well as at Charterhouse and Eton College.
As well as working as an accompanist and teacher, Anita particularly enjoys solo recitals. In recent years she has performed in many prestigious venues, including Birmingham Symphony Hall, Snape Maltings, the Royal Albert Hall and the Royal Festival Hall.
A former pupil of Tiffin Boys' School, Kingston, Andrew Daldorph graduated with a first class honours degree in music from the University of Southampton in 1993. He then took up the post of Organ Scholar at Guildford Cathedral and subsequently gained Fellowship of the Royal College of Organists. Andrew took lessons from some of the world's most eminent organists, including Peter Hurford, David Hill, David Sanger and Dame Gillian Weir, and on the harpsichord, he studied with Robert Woolley. He frequently gives recitals and has played for services and concerts in cathedrals and concert halls throughout the country.
He is the conductor of both the Exeter Chamber Choir and the East Devon Choral Society. Recent performances include Bach's B Minor Mass in September 2007 in Exeter Cathedral, Mozart's Requiem, Bach's Magnificat and Orff's Carmina Burana.
Andrew has arranged a great deal of music and is commissioned regularly to compose original pieces – mostly choral or jazz. His new work – Songs of Hope and Creation – is a modern oratorio and had its première in the spring 2008, receiving a standing ovation. A performance of the piece in Exeter Cathedral is planned for 31st October 2009 with his two Devon-based choirs.
Andrew teaches piano and organ privately and at Exeter School. To relax, Andrew enjoys playing jazz piano with his trio at functions across the UK and abroad.
St Peter's Church in Barnstaple was the venue for a delightful summer concert from the Winkleigh Singers.
The programme was entirely made up of music by Rossini and showed his versatility as a composer, only briefly touching on the comic operatic style for which he is perhaps best known.
The first half opened with a spectacular organ arrangement of the William Tell overture, deftly played by Andrew Daldorph. There followed several choral pieces sung by the Winkleigh Singers and the evening's soloists. The final piece was a hugely entertaining rendition of the well-known cat duet, performed with suitably feline venom by soprano Donna Loomans and mezzo Emma Tonkins.
The main work of the evening, which took up the whole of the second half, was the Petite Messe Solennelle. This is a salon piece, to the accompaniment of piano and harmonium, which, as a setting of the mass, is neither petite nor very solemn. Rossini himself is said to have questioned whether it was "sacred music or damned music" that he had written.
The Winkleigh Singers, conducted by Roland Smith, created a mood that was suitably serious, yet full of joy. Anita d'Attellis played the piano part with great skill, supported by Andrew Daldorph on harmonium. The soloists were consistently strong and their voices were well balanced in their ensemble sections. In addition to those already mentioned were tenor Iain Milne and bass Tom Stoddart. In particular, the tenor solo, Domine Deus, was sung with great feeling and Emma Tonkins' powerful solo in the final Agnus Dei brought the work to a satisfyingly peaceful end.
Throughout the concert, Roland Smith was a subtle and unobtrusive conductor, who was always in control. Roland is the founder and director of the Winkleigh Singers, who are celebrating their first 25 years this year. After this level of performance, we can only look forward to the next 25 years.
Lesley Dalladay, North Devon Journal, Wednesday, August 19, 2009