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"Gurney's influences and inspirations"
Taking inspiration from living composer Ian Venables's cycle The Pine Boughs Past Music Op.39, British pianist Claire Habbershaw curates and musical directs a multimedia recital of Ivor Gurney's music, settings of his poetry and his influences and inspirations. She will perform alongside British mezzo soprano Rachel Roper. This concert is generously sponsored by Action Dry Emergency Services. With special thanks for the generous support from The Ivor Gurney Society All ticket proceeds will go to Barts Charity. ProgrammeIan Venables My Heart Makes Song On Lonely Roads
Ivor Gurney On The Downs Gerald Finzi Only The Wanderer Ivor Gurney The Cloths of Heaven Ian Venables Soft Rain Ivor Gurney Snow Ivor Gurney Thou Didst Delight My Eyes Charles Stanford Tears Ian Venables The Wind Ivor Gurney In Flanders Gerald Finzi Channel Firing Ralph Vaughan Williams Whither Must I Wander Edward Elgar The Poet's Life Ivor Gurney An Epitaph Herbert Howells The Restful Branches Ian Venables Midnight Lamentation Ivor Gurney By a Bierside Ian Venables In Memoriam: Ivor Gurney |
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Claire Habbershaw
Claire Habbershaw is an award winning British pianist and musical director, who specialises in vocal repertoire. She is an experienced vocal coach and an increasingly sought after international recitalist, concert curator and recording artist. She has given/curated recitals at notable venues in the UK as well as abroad, including St James' Piccadilly, 1901 Arts Club, Faversham Assembly Rooms, Mansion House (performing for the Lord Mayor of London), Milton Court Concert Hall, PoundArts, Holy Trinity Sloane Square, Waltham Abbey, Farnham Maltings, Southwark Cathedral, St Stephen Walbrook, Old Royal Naval College Chapel & the Painted Hall in Greenwich, Blackheath Halls, Brentwood Cathedral, and many other historic churches in and around London/the UK.
She was awarded the Founders Prize for Piano Accompaniment and the Raymond Russell Prize for harpsichord. She has performed "Out of Winter" for Jonathan Dove, as part of his 60th birthday celebrations. Claire has performed alongside world renowned tenor Charles Castronovo, for instance in major international music festival Midsummer Vilnius and Divas&Scholars. She recently played alongside Catronovo in Sainte-Chappelle for the Paris Opera Festival and received the following review from Olyrix magazine: "Habbershaw delivers an accompaniment full of finesse, knowing how to enhance the impetuosity of the tunes interpreted without going beyond the percussive dimension of her instrument". She recorded the songs of Tosti alongside Castronovo for global label Delos, due for release in 2023. Claire will perform with soprano Susanna McCrae as part of Jersey Festival of Words in September 2023 and will bring their original "Words of Women" programme to venues across the UK over 2023/24. Claire studied as a Guildhall Scholar at Guildhall School of Music and Drama and held the position of Junior Fellow there, where she is now a staff pianist for the music and drama departments. She previously studied as a Trinity London Scholar at Trinity Laban, where she won every duo Song prize available at the institution. At Guildhall, she won the Chartered Surveyors Prize. Furthermore, she was a recipient of the British Clavichord Society scholarship for lessons and is an experienced continuo player. She has curated projects for Guildhall and Trinity Laban, as well as being engaged as a musical director/arranger for productions at Guildhall, most recently "Our Town" written by Thornton Wilder and directed by John Haidar, which received four star reviews. |
Rachel Roper
Rachel is studying on the Opera Course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama under the tutelage of John Llewelyn Evans. She is the recipient of the Marianne Falk Award and was recently awarded the MOCSA Young Welsh Singer of the Year 2022.
She was awarded the Joyce Budd Second Prize at the Kathleen Ferrier Society Bursary for Young Singers in October 2018 and is featured on Dave Bilborough’s most recent album Hidden Kingdom, as part of the London Signature Singers. She also performs regularly around Europe as part of the Philharmonia Chorus. In August 2019, she sang the role of the Angel in the premiere of Bob Chilcott’s A Christmas Oratorio which was recorded for BBC Radio 3. Rachel has enjoyed singing in masterclasses with various notable musicians including; Stephen Varcoe, Kamal Khan, Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Sarah Walker and Roderick Williams. She was an Associate Artist for Nevill Holt Opera for their 2022 season, and she has performed in a number operatic productions, including the Guildhall School of Music and Drama’s 2019 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Britten (Chorus Fairy), Die Zauberflöte for Bloomsbury Opera (Dritte Knabe), La Boheme for Nevill Holt Opera (Chorus) and L’incoronazione di Poppea by Monteverdi, in which she performed the role of Ottavia. She also covered the roles of Telemarketer in I’m Cleaning I’m Cleaning and Elise in The Apothecary for the GSMD Quintuple bill in June 2021. In August 2022, she performed the role of Mistress Ford in Sir John in Love by Ralph Vaughan-Williams for British Youth Opera, and in January 2023 created the role of Jewish Child in the world premiere of A Child in Striped Pyjamas by Noah Max. Most recently she performed the roles of Jade Boucher in Dead Man Walking by Jake Heggie and Berthe in Blond Eckbert by Judith Weir for GSMD. She has recently performed the roles of Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Giunone in La Calisto, Ruggiero in Alcina, Witch 2 in Dido and Aeneas, Dorabella in Cosi Fan Tutte, Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, Nancy in Albert Herring, Chérubin in Chérubin, Zweite Dame in Die Zauberflöte, Stařenka in Jenůfa, Anna in Maria Stuarda, Romeo in I Capuleti e Montecchi, and Sesto in La Clemenza di Tito for Opera Scenes at the Guildhall School. Previous concert engagements include; Beethoven’s Symphony No.9, Handel's Messiah, Mozart's C minor Mass, Matthews' Stars, Jenkins’ The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace, Rossini's Petit Messe Sollenelle and Haydn’s Nelson Mass, Mozart's Coronation Mass and Vivaldi’s Gloria. |