Mar
9
Wed
2016
Opera: Sunderland – The Glass Knight (world premiere) @ Saffron Hall, Essex
Mar 9 @ 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm

Role: The Blacksmith
Saffron Hall, Saffron Walden, Essex

A mysterious knight must save Saffron Walden from a terrible basilisk, but nothing is quite as it seems. Five centuries of local history collide in Saffron Hall and Saffron Walden County’s spectacular new opera production performed with young people from eight schools, alongside professional singers and instrumentalists.
Philip Sunderland musical director
Anna Moorhouse director
Sue Raven choreographer

Mar
10
Thu
2016
Opera: Sunderland – The Glass Knight (world premiere) @ Saffron Hall, Essex
Mar 10 @ 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm

Role: The Blacksmith
Saffron Hall, Saffron Walden, Essex

A mysterious knight must save Saffron Walden from a terrible basilisk, but nothing is quite as it seems. Five centuries of local history collide in Saffron Hall and Saffron Walden County’s spectacular new opera production performed with young people from eight schools, alongside professional singers and instrumentalists.
Philip Sunderland musical director
Anna Moorhouse director
Sue Raven choreographer

Mar
11
Fri
2016
Opera: Sunderland – The Glass Knight (world premiere) @ Saffron Hall, Essex
Mar 11 @ 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm

Role: The Blacksmith
Saffron Hall, Saffron Walden, Essex

A mysterious knight must save Saffron Walden from a terrible basilisk, but nothing is quite as it seems. Five centuries of local history collide in Saffron Hall and Saffron Walden County’s spectacular new opera production performed with young people from eight schools, alongside professional singers and instrumentalists.
Philip Sunderland musical director
Anna Moorhouse director
Sue Raven choreographer

Mar
12
Sat
2016
Opera: Sunderland – The Glass Knight (world premiere) @ Saffron Hall, Essex
Mar 12 @ 1:00 pm – 3:30 pm

Role: The Blacksmith
Saffron Hall, Saffron Walden, Essex

A mysterious knight must save Saffron Walden from a terrible basilisk, but nothing is quite as it seems. Five centuries of local history collide in Saffron Hall and Saffron Walden County’s spectacular new opera production performed with young people from eight schools, alongside professional singers and instrumentalists.
Philip Sunderland musical director
Anna Moorhouse director
Sue Raven choreographer

Mar
19
Sat
2016
Oratorio: Haydn – The Seasons @ St Mary's Church, Chard, Somerset
Mar 19 @ 7:30 pm
Apr
23
Sat
2016
Oratorio: Haydn – The Creation @ St Andrew's Church, Burgess Hill, Suffolk
Apr 23 @ 7:30 pm

Baritone soloist (Archangel Raphael and Adam)
St Andrew’s Church, Burgess Hill, Suffolk

A concert performance of Haydn’s master work, the Creation. Kieran will be singing both the solo baritone roles: Archangel Raphael, and Adam (the first man).
Burgess Hill Choral Society

Apr
28
Thu
2016
Concert: Stravinsky – Pulcinella @ Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall, Royal College of Music
Apr 28 @ 7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
Concert: Stravinsky - Pulcinella @ Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall, Royal College of Music | London | United Kingdom

Baritone soloist
Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall, Royal College of Music, London

Vladimir Jurowski conductor
Katie Coventry mezzo-soprano
Peter Aisher tenor
Kieran Rayner baritone
RCM Symphony Orchestra

R Strauss Le bourgeois gentilhomme op 60
Stravinsky Pulcinella

2016 Rod Williams Memorial Concert

Principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra Vladimir Jurowski returns to the RCM for Stravinsky’s lively ballet music Pulcinella. Featuring the exceptional voices of RCM singers Katie Coventry, Peter Aisher and Kieran Rayner, the RCM Symphony Orchestra brings to life the tale of the eponymous ladies’ man.

Pre-concert talk: Join RCM professor Pande Shahov for an introduction to the evening’s concert at 6.30pm.

This event will be streamed live online at www.rcm.ac.uk/live

May
10
Tue
2016
Oratorio: Bach – Cantata 182, Himmelskönig sei willkommen @ St Paul's Covent Garden, London
May 10 @ 7:30 pm
Oratorio: Bach - Cantata 182, Himmelskönig sei willkommen @ St Paul's Covent Garden, London | London | United Kingdom

Baritone soloist – Bach Cantata 182 Himmelskönig, sei willkommen

Charity Concert in aid of Macmillan: Masterpieces by J. S. Bach
Jesu, meine Freude
Orchestral Suite No.2
Cantata 182 Himmelskönig, sei willkommen

Stephen Jones
 conductor
Timothy Morgan counter-tenor
Joel Williams tenor
Kieran Rayner baritone

Hertfordshire Baroque Soloists
Diane Terry leader | Siu Peasgood flute
Rogers Covey-Crump continuo

May
20
Fri
2016
Opera: Crime & Punishment – RCM Contemporary Operas @ Britten Theatre, Royal College of Music, London
May 20 @ 7:30 pm
Opera: Crime & Punishment - RCM Contemporary Operas @ Britten Theatre, Royal College of Music, London | London | United Kingdom

Benjamien Lycke (music) / Mien Bogaert (words): Stream of Consciousness, Sea of Blood
Role: The President
Alex Paxton (music and words): Bel and the Dragon
Role: The King
Kenichi Ikuno Sekiguchi (music and words): 76 Days
Role: Fear

Lionel Friend coductor
Bill Bankes-Jones director
Sarah Booth designer

Following the success of Hogarth’s Stages in 2014, don’t miss this opportunity to hear a series of six brand-new mini operas created by RCM composers and performed by outstanding RCM singers.

Based on the theme of crime and punishment, marking 150 years since the publication of Dostoyevsky’s famous novel, each opera packs a punch in just fifteen minutes.

We are fortunate to welcome both Bill Bankes-Jones, inspirational founder of Tête à Tête, and Lionel Friend, celebrated conductor and Musical Director of British Youth Opera, to help us bring these daring contemporary new interpretations to life on the Britten Theatre stage.

Produced by the Royal College of Music in association with Tête à Tête

Please note that some of the operas contain adult themes

May
21
Sat
2016
Opera: Crime & Punishment – RCM Contemporary Operas @ Britten Theatre, Royal College of Music, London
May 21 @ 7:30 pm
Opera: Crime & Punishment - RCM Contemporary Operas @ Britten Theatre, Royal College of Music, London | London | United Kingdom

Benjamien Lycke (music) / Mien Bogaert (words): Stream of Consciousness, Sea of Blood
Role: The President
Alex Paxton (music and words): Bel and the Dragon
Role: The King
Kenichi Ikuno Sekiguchi (music and words): 76 Days
Role: Fear

Lionel Friend coductor
Bill Bankes-Jones director
Sarah Booth designer

Following the success of Hogarth’s Stages in 2014, don’t miss this opportunity to hear a series of six brand-new mini operas created by RCM composers and performed by outstanding RCM singers.

Based on the theme of crime and punishment, marking 150 years since the publication of Dostoyevsky’s famous novel, each opera packs a punch in just fifteen minutes.

We are fortunate to welcome both Bill Bankes-Jones, inspirational founder of Tête à Tête, and Lionel Friend, celebrated conductor and Musical Director of British Youth Opera, to help us bring these daring contemporary new interpretations to life on the Britten Theatre stage.

Produced by the Royal College of Music in association with Tête à Tête

Please note that some of the operas contain adult themes

Jun
7
Tue
2016
Final RCM Masters Recital @ Recital Hall, Royal College of Music
Jun 7 @ 5:00 pm – 5:45 pm
Final RCM Masters Recital @ Recital Hall, Royal College of Music | United Kingdom

Please join me for my final Masters of Performance recital at the RCM, the culmination of 2 years of study! Joining me will be the excellent Leanne Singh-Levett (piano) and Laura Balboa (violin). It will be in the Recital Hall, 5pm Tuesday 7 June – as it is an exam, please do arrive a little early if you can.

Alongside some of my current favourite songs and arias, the recital will also feature a piece by RCM composition graduate and fellow Kiwi Andrew Baldwin, a hauntingly beautiful musical setting of a letter home from an ANZAC soldier during World War I. Andrew’s piece was one of the winners of the Gallipoli Songs Competition in 2014, to mark the centenary of WWI – do come along to hear our rendition of it.

Hope to see you there!

Kieran Rayner Baritone
Leanne Singh-Levett Piano
Laura Balboa Garcia Violin

Dreams, Visions, and Restless Nights

Restless, Relentless Lovers
Handel – Tu sei il cor (Giulio Cesare)
Donizetti – Come Paride vezzoso (L’Elisir D’Amore)

Sleep, Perchance to Dream
Trad. – Hine E Hine
Bennett – The Mouse & the Bumblebee

SHORT INTERVAL

Eternal Rest
Andrew Baldwin – Dawn, May 11 1915 (with Laura Balboa, Violin)

Mendelssohn – For the mountains shall depart (Elijah)
Finzi – Channel Firing

Lost in Dreams
Korngold – Mein Sehnen, mein Wähnen (Die Tote Stadt)
Massenet – Vision Fugitive (Hérodiade)

Jul
1
Fri
2016
Concert: Lewes Festival of Song @ St Anne's Church, Lewes, East Sussex
Jul 1 @ 6:00 pm

Repertoire:
Barber – Dover Beach
Butterworth – Love Blows as the Wind Blows
Performed with string quartet

St. Anne’s Church, Lewes, East Sussex

Three singers from the Royal College of Music collaborate with the wonderful string players of Ensemble Reza (www.ensemblereza.com), in a programme of Holst, Vaughan Williams, Barber, Rebecca Clarke and Butterworth, including Dover Beach and On Wenlock Edge.

 

Sep
7
Wed
2016
Opera: Williamson – English Eccentrics (British Youth Opera) @ Peacock Theatre
Sep 7 @ 7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
Opera: Williamson - English Eccentrics (British Youth Opera) @ Peacock Theatre | London | United Kingdom

British Youth Opera: English Eccentrics

By Malcolm Williamson
Libretto by Geoffrey Dunn based on the book by Edith Sitwell

Roles: Dr Katterfelto, Lord Rokeby, Alderman Birch, Lord Rothschild, Mr Worrall and Etienne

In this rarely performed chamber piece we meet hermits, quacks, mariners, indefatigable travellers, and men of learning. Peopled with – as the title suggests – the most absurd of English eccentricity, this is a glorious gallery of the extremes of human nature, portrayed with humour, sympathy, knowledge, and love.

Sep
10
Sat
2016
Opera: Williamson – English Eccentrics (British Youth Opera) @ Peacock Theatre
Sep 10 @ 7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
Opera: Williamson - English Eccentrics (British Youth Opera) @ Peacock Theatre | London | United Kingdom

British Youth Opera: English Eccentrics

By Malcolm Williamson
Libretto by Geoffrey Dunn based on the book by Edith Sitwell

Roles: Dr Katterfelto, Lord Rokeby, Alderman Birch, Lord Rothschild, Mr Worrall and Etienne

In this rarely performed chamber piece we meet hermits, quacks, mariners, indefatigable travellers, and men of learning. Peopled with – as the title suggests – the most absurd of English eccentricity, this is a glorious gallery of the extremes of human nature, portrayed with humour, sympathy, knowledge, and love.

Oct
23
Sun
2016
Concert: Oxford Lieder Festival Recital @ The Weston Library: Blackwell Hall
Oct 23 @ 4:15 pm – 4:45 pm
Concert: Oxford Lieder Festival Recital @ The Weston Library: Blackwell Hall | Oxford | England | United Kingdom

Kieran Rayner – Baritone
Lucy Colquhoun – Piano

Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828)
Gesänge des Harfners (D478)
1. Wer sich der Einsamkeit ergibt
2. Wer nie sein Brot mit Tränen aß
3. An die Türen will ich schleichen
Der Musensohn (D764)
Ganymed (D544)
Wanderers Nachtlied II (D768)
Willkommen und Abschied (D767)

 

Kieran and Lucy will perform a recital of Schubert songs with Goethe texts, centred around the moving 3-song cycle Gesänge des Harfners (The Harpist’s songs).

https://www.oxfordlieder.co.uk/event/663

Nov
30
Wed
2016
Opera: Mozart – La Finta Giardinera – RCMIOS @ Royal College of Music
Nov 30 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm

Role: Nardo

The Royal College of Music International Opera School presents Mozart’s early comic opera La finta giardiniera, sung in Italian and conducted by Michael Rosewell.

http://www.rcm.ac.uk/events/seasonhighlights/giardiniera/

Dec
3
Sat
2016
Opera: Mozart – La Finta Giardinera – RCMIOS @ Royal College of Music
Dec 3 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm

Role: Nardo

The Royal College of Music International Opera School presents Mozart’s early comic opera La finta giardiniera, sung in Italian and conducted by Michael Rosewell.

http://www.rcm.ac.uk/events/seasonhighlights/giardiniera/

Dec
10
Sat
2016
Oratorio: Messiah & Serenade to Music (Kingston) @ Kingston Parish Church
Dec 10 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Oratorio: Messiah & Serenade to Music (Kingston) @ Kingston Parish Church | Kingston upon Thames | England | United Kingdom

Thames Philharmonic Choir

Louise Fuller soprano
Rosanna Cooper alto
Thomas Erlank tenor
Kieran Rayner bass

Vaughan Williams: Serenade to Music
Sweelinck: Hodie Christus Natus Est
Bryan Kelly: Abingdon Carols
Gabrieli: Hodie Christus Natus Est
Handel: Christmas music – Messiah

Thames Philharmonic Choir
Thames Festival Orchestra
Conductor: John Bate

Tickets: £20, £16, £5 (restricted view)
Concessions: £18, £14.50

Kingston Parish Church, Market Place, Kingston, KT1 1JP

Dec
17
Sat
2016
Oratorio: Handel – Theodora @ Royal College of Music
Dec 17 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Oratorio: Handel - Theodora @ Royal College of Music | London | England | United Kingdom

7:30pm | 17 December 2016 | Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall

Theodora: Jennifer Coleman
Didymus: Feargal Mostyn-Williams
Irene: Polly Leech
Valens: Kieran Rayner
Septimus: Ben Smith

Join the RCM Oratorio Society for this concert setting of Handel’s Theodora performed with baroque orchestra.

The narrative of this 1750 oratorio follows the journey of one Christian woman’s path to martyrdom, and her quest for virtue in a time of Roman tyranny. Moved by her purity, the Roman soldier Didymus falls in love with Theodora, and betrays his own people trying to save her.

This compelling tale is one of Handel’s finest works – the composer himself ranked the final chorus of Act II ‘He saw the lovely youth’ far beyond The Messiah‘s famous ‘Hallelujah’. Do not miss what promises to be an evening of beautiful music and moving drama.

Image credit: Laura Loach

Jan
21
Sat
2017
Oratorio: Haydn – Creation @ Chichester Cathedral
Jan 21 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm

The Chichester Singers

Haydn – Creation

Conductor: Jonathan Wilcocks

Jan
27
Fri
2017
RCMIOS Opera Scenes @ Royal College of Music
Jan 27 @ 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm

Britten Theatre, Royal College of Music

Director: John Copley
Conductor: Christopher Middleton

A selection of scenes from Britten operas, featuring the students of the RCM International Opera School.

Kieran will feature in one scene:
Britten: Albert Herring – Extract from Act II ” You oughtn’t to whistle, I told you that, Sid!”
Sid: Kieran Rayner
Nancy: Ashlyn Timms
Albert: Richard Pinkstone

Mar
20
Mon
2017
Handel: Faramondo @ Royal College of Music
Mar 20 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm

The London Handel Festival in conjunction with the Royal College of Music International Opera School present Handel’s early opera, Faramondo. Kieran will play Gustavo, the main baritone role.

Britten Theatre, Royal College of Music, London
Conductor: Laurence Cummings
Director: William Relton

Mar
23
Thu
2017
Handel: Faramondo @ Royal College of Music
Mar 23 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm

The London Handel Festival in conjunction with the Royal College of Music International Opera School present Handel’s early opera, Faramondo. Kieran will play Gustavo, the main baritone role.

Britten Theatre, Royal College of Music, London
Conductor: Laurence Cummings
Director: William Relton

Mar
31
Fri
2017
Oratorio: Bach – St Matthew Passion @ Southwark Cathedral
Mar 31 @ 7:00 pm – 9:30 pm

JS Bach – St Matthew Passion

31 March 2017, 7.00pm

Southwark Cathedral

Nonsuch Singers are thrilled to be performing JS Bach’s sacred oratorio, the St Matthew Passion, this season.

 

The concert celebrates the 40th anniversary of the founding of the choir, and will take place at Southwark Cathedral on Friday 31 March 2017, conducted by Nonsuch Singers’ Musical Director, Tom Bullard.

 

It features Nicholas Mulroy as the Evangelist, as well as soloists Kieran Rayner, Anna Cavaliero, Timothy Morgan, and Julien van Mallaerts.

 

The ripieno choir is provided by Eltham College Boys’ Choir, and the Nonsuch Baroque Players, led by Lucy Russell and drawn from the finest professional Baroque players of this repertoire, rounds out the musical cast.

Apr
1
Sat
2017
Handel: Messiah @ Burgess Hill
Apr 1 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm

Burgess Hill Choral Society

Kieran will sing the baritone solos in Handel’s masterpiece, The Messiah.

United Reformed Church
Junction Road
Burgess Hill
West Sussex
RH15 0JS

May
1
Mon
2017
Oratorio: Orff – Carmina Burana @ Mayfield, East Sussex
May 1 @ 7:00 pm – 9:30 pm

COME AND SING – ORFF’S CARMINA BURANA

SOLOISTS:
Josephine Goddard – Soprano
Richard Pinkstone – Tenor
Kieran Rayner – Baritone

Mayfield Festival Choir invite you to a day of medieval debauchery as seen through the eyes of the Turbulent Thirties.

This event marks the 80th anniversary of the first performance of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana. The music of this scenic cantata is known just as well for its accompaniment of the 1970s Old Spice advertisement (the octogenarian Orff must have been so proud!) as for its many appearances in concert halls around the world. The 11th-13th century poems are about wealth, eating, drinking, gambling, and lust – timeless subjects indeed. The virtuoso choir writing is complemented by three solo voices, all of whom push the envelope with their peculiarly high vocal ranges. And in this performance, the 1956 instrumentation will be used: authorized by the composer, in this version two pianos are joined by six percussionists. The sounds are raw and orgiastic; the percussive sound of the grand pianos is matched by six percussionists playing for all they’re worth: an electrifying soundworld that is both primitive and sophisticated at the same time.