Name: Sing Into Spring
Start: 2022-03-13T18:00:00Z
End: 2022-03-13T20:30:00Z
Location: St Mildreds Parish Church, Croydon

Sing Into Spring

BBCF

An evening of Operatic Arias, Duets and Quartets.

St Mildreds Parish Church, Croydon

Free entry (optional donation)Door open 17:30Concert starts: 18;00Concert ends: 19:45 (incl 15 min interval)We ask people to wear a mask for the comfort of othersPerformers:

Natasha Agarwal is a British Indian soprano from Liverpool. She trained at the Royal Academy of Music and was a Serena Fenwick Young Artist with British Youth Opera. Awards include the David Clover Singers’ Platform Recital Prize, North London Festival Recital Prize, Liverpool’s Voice of the Year and runner-up in the Lesley Garrett Opera Prize. She is currently performing in the chorus and covering Frasquita in Opera North’s Carmen. Previous roles include Sukanya’s Friend Sukanya (London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall), Lapák The Cunning Little Vixen (Opera Holland Park), Selena Apollo’s Mission (Tête à Tête Festival), Carolina Il Matrimonio Segreto and Nerina La Fedeltà Premiata (Royal Opera House Mumbai), Susanna Le nozze di Figaro and Hanna Glawari The Merry Widow (Opera Warwick). Concert highlights include Messiah (Ripon Cathedral), Carmina Burana (Coventry Cathedral), St.Matthew Passion (Royal Academy of Music) and song recitals at the Italian Cultural Institute and Leeds Lieder Festival. During lockdown, she performed for several online platforms including Bitesize Proms and was a guest soloist for Welsh National Opera’s Creating Change film series. She also sang outside her building every Thursday evening to support the NHS and uplift the neighbours!Natasha is passionate about using music as a means to help others. She has done several charity concerts in India and has taken part in community projects with English National Opera, Royal London Hospital and the City Lit Percussion Orchestra for adults with learning disabilities. A versatile artist, Natasha made her Off-West End acting debut in Northern Comedy Theatre’s Doing Shakespeare last year. She is also a trained dancer in styles including ballet, tap, contemporary and classical Indian dance. She was a senior associate of the Royal Ballet School and Northern Ballet Academy and was All England Young Dancer of the Year in 2013..Natasha returns to Opera Holland Park this summer in the role of Frasquita Carmen and makes her main stage role debuts with Welsh National Opera and Waterperry Opera Festival. Website: <a href="http://www.natashaagarwal.co.uk" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">www.natashaagarwal.co.uk</a>

British mezzo-soprano Julia Daramy-Williams is a graduate of the Alexander Gibson Opera School of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS), under the guidance of Stephen Robertson, Elizabeth McCormack and Kathleen McKellar Ferguson.Following the completion of her Conservatoire training, Julia joined the Ensemble of Porgy and Bess formed by English National Opera (ENO) and in collaboration with Dutch National Opera. The critically acclaimed performances of Gershwin’s Opera won the Ensemble the South Bank Sky Arts Opera Award and an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera. Julia subsequently returned to ENO for two seasons, under the Chorus Fellowship.In recent operatic engagements, Julia gave her house debut as Strawberry Woman (Porgy and Bess) at Grange Park Opera. Previously, she has performed the roles of Young Woman (The Day After), Second Young Nun (The Fiery Angel) Fourth Maid (Elektra), Miss Austin (The Elephant Angel), Iseut (Le vin herbé) and Giunone (Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria).As a keen interpreter of modern works, Julia notably created the role of Flopsy in Andrew Gant’s opera for children "Tod!", and gave the world première of The Flannan Isle, a work for voice, brass ensemble and organ by celebrated trumpet player John Wallace. Most recently, Julia has collaborated with composer Shirley Thompson, performing songs from Women of the Windrush. Other notable concert engagements include Ravel’s Shéhérazade under the baton of Rory Macdonald with RCS Symphony Orchestra. Julia is represented by Pegasus Opera Talent.

Beatrice Nicholas is a captivating Pianist whose performances are full of imagination, freedom and beauty. She plays solo repertoire ranging from Bach to the present day and has performed in the UK's leading venues. Her music engagements take her around the UK, Germany, Poland, Thailand and the Czech Republic. Notable venues have included the Royal Festival Hall, Royal Opera House, London Coliseum, Berlin Konzerthaus, Sadler's Wells Theater, Leeds Town Hall and Snape Maltings.As well as being a solo artist, Beatrice enjoys collaborative work with a variety of opera singers and instrumentalists. She has strong links to the world of dance and has played for the Birmingham Royal Ballet, Royal Ballet and for the English National Ballet companies. Beatrice is also a composer and arranger who has received commissions from the Creative Minds Festival, Nottingham Chamber Music Festival, Dark Design Graphics Company and been showcased by the Black British Classical Foundation as a featured composer for Black History Month 2021.Beatrice, born in England, was admitted to the Junior Department of the Royal College of Music at fourteen years old. She studied solo piano with Danielle Salamon, composition with David Sutton Anderson and received additional teaching from composer Paul Patterson at the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain Composer’s Course. During her time at the Junior Department Beatrice won the institution’s major prizes for piano and represented the Department as a composer. At eighteen years Beatrice went to the Royal Academy of Music, studying piano with Patsy Toh, composition with Elena Langer, and won the Royal Academy of Music’s Eric Brough Memorial Prize for Piano. She continued her training with concert pianists Michael Endres and Susanne Gruetzman at the Hanns Eisler Music Academy in Berlin. Beatrice believes that music is a powerful tool of communication and enjoys using it to lift and engage the human heart.

South African baritone Chuma Sijeqa is a Young Artist on the Jette Parker Young Artist Programme.Sijeqa, born in Tembisa, Johannesburg studied in the Vocal Arts Department of Tshwane University of Technnology with Pierre du Toit. At university he sang in many opera productions, his roles including Don Magnifico (La Cenerentola), Sir John Falstaff (Falstaff) and Don Alfonso (Così fan tutte). He also sang in masterclasses with Barbara Hill Moore, Kamal Khan and Arjan Tien. He joined Gauteng Opera in 2017, appearing in a wide range of productions and events, in roles including Gasparo (Rita) and Schaunard (La bohème).Sijeqa won Second Prize in the Voices of South Africa International Singing Competition (2018), which enabled him to attend masterclasses with Elaine Kidd and David Gowland of The Royal Opera’s Jette Parker Young Artists Programme, and with David Cowan of Opera North. As part of his prize he participated in the Les Azuriales Opera Festival in Nice (2018), where he won the Joseph Karaviotis Prize in the vocal competition. In 2019 He then furthered his studies at Guildhall School of Music and Drama doing Artist Masters in Opera Course. In summer of 2021 he did the role of Harasta in Cunning Little vixen with Opera Holland Park and after was part of the double bill by Pegasus Opera where he did the role of the father in The Prodigal son and landlord in Passion, Poison and Patrification.

South African born tenor Thando Mjandana is a graduate from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama’s prestigious Opera Course where his studies were generously supported by Lesley Ferguson and the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust. His future engagements involve singing Nemorino The Elixir of Love for Waterperry Opera as well as returning to the Royal Opera House as part of the Jette Parker Programme for the 2021/2022 season.His singing began in church and in local school choirs before studying at the University of Cape Town Opera School and became a member of Cape Town Opera, performing roles including Don Basilio Le nozze di Figaro, Le Remandado Carmen, Tamino Die Zauberflöte, Borsa Rigoletto and Pedrillo Die Entfürung. At the Guildhall School, he performed the role of Beppe Rita, Renzo The Little Green Swallow, Francois The Apothecary, Historicus Judicum Salmonis and Ixion Orphée descendant aux enfers. His scenes roles include Don Ottavio Don Giovanni, Des Grieux Manon (Massenet), Conte Almaviva Il Viaggio a Reims and Tom Rakewell The Rake’s Progress.Thando went on to make his ENO debut as Nelson and Crabman in the Olivier Award-winning co-production of Porgy and Bess in 2018/19 with the Dutch National Opera and the Metropolitan Opera, New York; Thando went on to make his DNO debut as Nelson when the production went to Amsterdam. In 2019, Thando was a Jette Parker Link Artist with the Royal Opera House and made his debut as Count Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia in their summer scenes performance. Other performances for the Royal Opera House include Odoardo Ariodante."

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Sing Into Spring

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