Kieran Rayner and pianist Gamal Khamis have been selected for the live rounds of the Wigmore Hall International Song Competition. Out of 177 applications for this prestigious competition, only 27 were selected to compete. The public preliminaries, the semifinals and the final are held 7-11 September – this is the first, preliminary stage.
TUESDAY 3 DECEMBER 2019
Ruskin and Music
In this concert celebrating the English poet and critic John Ruskin, Kieran will sing a variety of pieces, including two new songs written especially for his voice by composer William Marshall.
Michael Berkeley presenter
Jennifer Witton soprano
Jess Dandy contralto
Kieran Rayner baritone
Emily Sun violin
Ashley Fripp piano
7.00pm Princess Alexandra Hall, Over-Seas House
Park Place, St James’s Street, London SW1A 1LR
£20(ROSL Members and Friends of ROSL ARTS £16, Students £5)
In his bicentenary year, the Sage of Coniston is being remembered worldwide for his roles as a social reformer, revered art critic, a gifted artist and champion of Turner and the Pre-Raphaelites, but his interest in music is little known. In this special ROSL event, we will shine a light on this, quoting extensively from Ruskin’s own writings and those of his contemporaries, and illustrating this with music, in the spirit of Michael Berkeley’s popular Radio 3 programme Private Passions. The programme will include a LDSM-commissioned work by William Marshall setting Ruskin’s poetry to music… and music by Ruskin himself, together with Bellini, Berkeley, Mozart, Oakeley, Ravenscroft, Beethoven, Gounod, Corelli and Mendelssohn.
Kieran will sing the baritone solos in the wonderful set of Five Mystical Songs by Vaughan Williams, at St Mary’s Church in central Sloane Square.
Kieran will sing solos in a fun concert of pop hits and opera standards with the Witt Morgan community chorus in Reading.
Featuring:
The pop hit ‘Walking On Sunshine’
‘O Fortuna’ from ‘Carmina Burana’
Scenes from Verdi’s opera ‘Nabucco’
‘Money, Money, Money’ by Abba
The Welsh Hymn ‘Llef’
‘How Great Thou Art’
‘Nun’s Chorus’ by Johann Strauss
‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’ from ‘The Wizard of Oz’
For the first time since lockdown, I’ll be performing live with colleagues this Sunday!! Pianist Gamal Khamis and I have teamed up with Olivia Warburton for the latest part of her Sunday At Six concert series, performed live together and broadcast via Zoom. You’ll be watching us perform live (and socially distanced) from 22 Mansfield Street, a stunning concert room in Marylebone, London. Start time is 6pm UK (alas, 5am for those of you in New Zealand…). Get out your glad rags and join us for an evening of opera and song – all from the comfort of your own home!
To learn more and book, visit oliviawarburton.com/sundayatsix – tickets from only £2.50! Would love to see you there.
AN EVENING OF MUSIC
With Kieran Rayner – Baritone and Gamal Khamis – Piano
Thursday 10 June, 18:00
Keynote Theatre
David Game College, 31 Jewry Street, London EC3N 2ET
FREE ENTRY
Join Kieran and Gamal for a free concert to celebrate the return of live performance in the heart of central London. Featuring songs and arias by Mozart, Bach, Schubert, Tchaikovsky, Donizetti, Debussy and more. Supported by David Game and Opera Box.
Guy Elliott – tenor
Kieran Rayner – baritone
Nigel Foster – piano
David Mildon – speaker
An exploration of the songs and the life of Peter Warlock, real name Philip Heseltine, one of the greatest composers of that incredible flowering of English song that took place in the first half of the twentieth century. This concert combines many of his most beautiful songs with extracts from his letters, read by actor David Mildon, to paint a fascinating portrait of this bon vivant and lover of life and music.
Claire Lees – soprano
Katy Thomson – soprano
Kieran Rayner – baritone
Susanna Stranders – piano
A preview concert to celebrate the launch of VIARDOT200, a festival in Dorset next year celebrating the composer Pauline Viardot.
Lotte Betts-Dean: Mezzo-Soprano
Kieran Rayner: Baritone
Nigel Foster: Piano
A concert exploring the 40-year long relationship between Pauline Viardot, composer and celebrity opera singer whose bicentenary falls in 2021, and the Russian novelist Ivan Turgenev, telling their story through her songs. The programme touches on Viardot’s friendships with Chopin, Liszt, Gounod, Berlioz and Tchaikovsky and shines a light on her extraordinary life at the centre of the international musical world of the 19th century, moving from St Petersburg to Paris, their château at Courtavenel, Baden-Baden and back to France.
The Concert Hall, King’s College School
Southside, Wimbledon Common SW19 4TT
Byrd Lullaby, my sweet little baby
Palestrina Magnificat primi toni
Pärt Magnificat
Scheidt Puer natus in Bethlehem
Flecha Ríu ríu chíu
Arr. Wall Gaudete
Pearsall In dulci jubilo
Joubert Torches
Gjeilo The Coventry Carol
Arr. Wilberg Ding! Dong! Merrily on High
Plus congregational carols for all to join in!
Join Australians Lotte Betts-Dean – a versatile mezzo soprano whose performance experience includes contemporary repertoire, early music, art song and opera – and Royal Academy of Music alumnus, pianist Joseph Havlat, as well as award-winning New Zealand baritone Kieran Rayner on Friday 11 February 2022 from 6pm to 7pm.
The programme will feature works by British, Australian and NZ composers and is part of the FANZA Festival to complement the 2021/2022 Season of Culture celebrating the cultural relationship between Australia and the UK.
The venue, St Mary-at-Hill Church, has a beautiful interior designed by Sir Christopher Wren and is a popular venue for concerts and recitals. Doors will open at 5.30pm and the ticket price of £25 includes a glass of wine afterwards. [Special price tickets for young adults and under-25s.]
There are many good restaurants within walking distance of the Church for those who wish to make a night of it.
Sit in on an exciting coaching session focusing on French Song.
Named as Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 2011, pianist Susan Manoff is currently a professor at the Paris Conservatoire. She is devoted to the relationship between singer, pianist, composer and poet. For this masterclass she will be joined by singers and pianists from the 2021-22 cohort of Britten Pears Young Artists.
Sit in on an exciting coaching session focusing on French Song.
Named as Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 2011, pianist Susan Manoff is currently a professor at the Paris Conservatoire. She is devoted to the relationship between singer, pianist, composer and poet. For this masterclass she will be joined by singers and pianists from the 2021-22 cohort of Britten Pears Young Artists.
Outstanding singers and pianists from the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme give an end of course recital, following an intensive course of coaching and public masterclasses with Susan Manoff.
The VIARDOT200 festival in Dorset is a celebration of the bicentenary of 19th Century composer (and glamorous singer!) Pauline Viardot. The weekend festival will feature Viardot’s Cendrillon (Cinderella) in which Kieran plays Cinderella’s father Baron Duphol, plus a concert of art songs written or inspired by Viardot.
At the end of the festival, Kieran will play Hero in the premiere of young composer Zygmund de Somogyi’s chamber opera hikikomori!, an exciting new work exploring love, loss and the boundaries between fantasy and reality.
Where: Oborne, Dorset
When: Cendrillon: 2 April
Art song concert: 3 April
hikikomori! : 4 April
Booking details and further information to be announced soon.
A story-led song recital with a twist: the audience chooses the direction of the narrative.
Baritone (and scriptwriter) Kieran Rayner, mezzo-soprano Lotte Betts Dean and pianist Bradley Wood present a vocal recital where the audience decides the direction of the narrative, influencing which songs are performed. Featuring potential song repertoire ranging from Schubert, Poulenc and Finzi to new works.
Kieran reprises one of his favourite song cycles with orchestra, Mahler’s heartbreaking Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer). With the Lambeth Orchestra conducted by Peter Selwyn, at All Saints Church, West Dulwich.
Concert also features:
LISZT: Les Preludes
MAHLER: Blumine
STRAUSS: Tod und Verklärung
To celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Emmy Destinn Foundation Under the auspices of HE Mrs. Marie Chatardová, Czech Ambassador to the UK.
Featuring brilliant young artists, the winners of our biennial competition The Emmy Destinn Young Singers Awards performing arias by Janáček, Dvořák, Smetana, Mozart and Puccini.
They will be accompanied by accomplished pianists Raya Kostova, Panaretos Kyriatzidis and Max Bilbe, winners of the Lady Grenfell-Baines Accompanist’s Prize.
The concert will also feature talented Czech violinist Leona Gogolicynová, accompanied by celebrated pianist Anthony Hewitt, and renowned Swedish trumpeter Magnus Johansson who performed at the inaugural Emmy Destinn Foundation concert in 1997
The evening will be presented by voice over actress and narrator Veronika Hyks
The Foundation is dedicated to upholding the legacy of Emmy Destinn, the greatest Czech diva, by supporting talented young singers and preserving the traditional cultural link between Britain and Czech Republic, as well as cultivating awareness of Czech repertoire’s great riches.
Featuring arias and scenes from operas by:
Leoš Janáček
Antonín Dvořák
Bedřich Smetana
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Giacomo Puccini
Josef Suk
As winner of the 2022 Sing Finzi competition, Kieran will perform Finzi’s major song cycle Before and After Summer, a collection of Hardy poems centring around love, loss and reminiscence, as well as an exciting Judith Weir cycle The Voice of Desire. Joined by Krystal Tunnicliffe on the piano, and Sing Finzi runner-up Siân Dicker.
St Laurence’s Church
Siân Dicker soprano
Kieran Rayner baritone
Krystal Tunnicliffe piano
Gerald Finzi Til Earth outwears
Judith Weir The Voice of Desire
Edward Rushton From Katherine Mansfield’s Diary (Premiere)
Gerald Finzi Before and after Summer
This is the preview showing of an exciting new musical by Sam Peña, One Shoe of Each Colour, which explores identity, growth and change. More details to follow.