April 2nd 2010, Good Friday
Amici and OrchestraWest will present Bach’s awesome Mass in B Minor, in St. Mary Magdalene Church, Taunton.
Amici are delighted to have been invited by the Church of St. Mary Magadalene in Taunton for the third year running to perform there on Good Friday. Previously we have performed Mozart and Haydn – this time we are scaling one of the most awesome peaks in the choral repertoire, the mighty Mass in B Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach. This work was composed over a total elapsed time of 17 years, and is both challenging and inspiring.
Amici have presented this work before, in 2004. Then as now, we drew the soloists from the Young Concert Artists’ Trust (YCAT), an organisation which identifies, nurtures and promotes outstanding young classical soloists and chamber ensembles at the outset of their careers. In 2004, we had a new soprano by the name of Elizabeth Watts, who is now world famous and firmly set on the path to international stardom.
The soloists will be Helen Sherman (Mezzo-soprano), Caroline McPhie (Soprano), Rupert Charlesworth (Tenor), and Thomas Faulkner (Bass). Helen and Caroline appear by permission of the Young Concert Artist Trust (YCAT), who manage the nations brightest young talent.
Born in Australia, Helen Sherman studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, graduating in 2006. Following her success in the 2007 Australian Singing Competition she was awarded a scholarship to the Royal Northern College of Music, on the International Artist Diploma scheme. On the concert platform Helen has performed varied works including songs by Karl Weigl, Vaughan Williams Five Tudor Portraits, Mozart’s Requiem, Handel’s Dixit Dominus and Messiah, Bach’s St John Passion and cantatas and masses by Mozart, Scarlatti, Beethoven, Haydn and Bach.
Caroline McPhie recently completed her studies on the Royal Academy Opera course. In 2008 she won First Prize in the Emmy Destinn Awards in Prague. As a soloist Caroline has appeared with the Hallé Orchestra at Bridgewater Hall, the Hanover Band at St. John’s Smith Square and with the Britten-Pears Orchestra at Snape Maltings. An exceptional lieder singer, she has taken part in masterclasses and concerts as a Samling Scholar and on the Britten-Pears Young Artist programme.
Rupert Charlesworth was educated at Blundell’s School, Devon, and completed his BMus Honours Degree at King’s College, London, in 2008. During Rupert’s time at King’s he was a choral scholar in the Chapel Choir. He has also held a choral scholarship at All Saints Fulham.
To date Rupert has sung in a range of Oratorio works including Mozart,Schubert, Bach, Handel, Puccini, Stainer and Beethoven as well as operatic roles. He last appeared with Amici in our 2009 Remembrance Sunday performance of the Mozart C Minor Mass.
Tom Faulkner was a choral scholar at Cambridge, and then in the choir of St. John’s College under David Hill. He worked with the choirs English Voices and Choir of the Enlightenment and with early music consorts such as Stile Antico and The Clerks’ Group. He is now busy as a soloist, and has recently started training at the Royal Academy of Music. Oratorio repertoire ranges from Purcell to Puccini, with a particular focus on Bach.
Forthcoming events include premieres of newly composed songs, appearances in the RAM Kohn foundation Bach Cantata series, and the role of Superintendent Budd in Albert Herring for Royal Academy Opera. Thomas is supported by the Josephine Baker Trust.”
Once more we will be accompanied by OrchestraWest, whose playing has added such lustre to our concerts in the past.
Tickets £15.00 from Taunton Tourist Information 01823 336344 and St. Mary’s Shop.
Amici has joined in partnership with the BBC Performing Arts Fund, a scheme designed to help promote all forms of music and to assist young people to participate. As a result, Amici is offering financial assistance to up to four young singers this year, in the form of help with their tuition fees. The only ‘condition’ is that the recipients undertake to become temporary members of Amici and sing with us in our next two concerts. Two of the places have already been taken up and we are pleased to welcome sopranos Jennifer Atkinson and Kath Carter to our ranks. These two young ladies will be in the chorus for the Good Friday concert and we are delighted to have them with us.