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.
Saturday 2nd December 2023
4:30pm at United Reformed Church, Broxbourne
A programme telling the story of Ursula and Ralph’s relationship told through Ralph’s songs and settings of Ursula’s poetry along with Ursula and Ralph’s own words taken from his letters and her biography of him and other sources.
Join DEBUT, creators of Airbnb’s No.1 Music Experience, for their intimate and fun Secret Concert at Brunel Museum’s awe-inspiring Thames Tunnel Shaft with botanical cocktails by Midnight Apothecary.
One of London’s best kept secrets, DEBUT at Brunel Museum offers magnetic performances, time to chat to your favourite musicians and the chance to discover Brunel Museum’s historic Grade II* listed Thames Tunnel Shaft.
Launched in 2017, DEBUT have hosted over 100 sold out shows, showcasing 200+ top level musicians through our intimate and fun Secret Concerts.
Crowned as Airbnb’s No.1 Music Experience and with 400 ★★★★★ reviews, it’s an experience unlike any other.
Join DEBUT, creators of Airbnb’s No.1 Music Experience, for their intimate and fun Secret Concert at the magical Shoreditch Treehouse
One of London’s best kept secrets, DEBUT at Shoreditch Treehouse offers magnetic performances, time to chat to your favourite musicians and the chance to feel at home in the heart of London.
Launched in 2017, DEBUT have hosted over 80 sold out shows at Shoreditch Treehouse (a breathtakingly beautiful bohemian loft space), showcasing 200+ top level musicians through our intimate and fun Secret Concerts.
Crowned as Airbnb’s No.1 Music Experience and with 400 ★★★★★ reviews, it’s an experience unlike any other.
- Whangārei soprano, Sophie Sparrow, for all the concerts
- Cheviot tenor, Harry Grigg, for all the concerts
- Kāpiti baritone, Kieran Rayner, for the Auckland and Wellington concerts
- Australian-Cypriot mezzo, Shakira Tsindos, for all the concerts.
- Whangārei soprano, Sophie Sparrow, for all the concerts
- Cheviot tenor, Harry Grigg, for all the concerts
- Kāpiti baritone, Kieran Rayner, for the Auckland and Wellington concerts
- Australian-Cypriot mezzo, Shakira Tsindos, for all the concerts.
An Amazing Musical Matinee!
While away your Sunday afternoon in the capable hands of the nation’s best loved raconteur, Gyles Brandreth, as he is joined by poet, comedian, songwriter and presenter Pam Ayres MBE.
Gyles Brandreth will compère live musical performances from the imagination of award-winning composer Louis Mander in his impressive catalogue of opera and musical theatre, written in collaboration with Pam Ayres, Stephen Fry and Hinge & Bracket.
Soprano: Jesscia Hopkins; Tenor: Wiliam Diggle; Baritone: Kieran Rayner; Piano: Louis Mander.
What If?
An uplifting and moving concert and play combined, exploring love, loss, war, and women’s suffrage through song – where you, the audience, get to choose the direction of the story.
Kieran Rayner baritone
Gamal Khamis piano
What If? is a play and song recital combined – with a twist. At pivotal moments in the story, the audience votes to decide what the protagonist should do, changing the plot and musical programme.
Set in 1914, What If? features multiple characters acted and sung by Kieran, with piano and sound effects played by Gamal. Our story explores love, loss, friendship, war, and women’s suffrage, all while giving the audience agency over the direction of the narrative.
Whichever paths are picked, we guarantee a fulfilling and uplifting experience: an entertaining script connecting a rich selection of German and English songs, including Schubert, Robert and Clara Schumann, Ethel Smyth, Butterworth, and Finzi, alongside contemporary composers.
Platinum Consort, described by BBC Radio 3 as a ‘vocal supergroup’, returns to Sinfonia Smith Square for their fourth annual performance of Handel’s most beloved masterpiece, Messiah. Conductor Scott Inglis-Kidger uniquely combines Platinum’s top class professional consort singers and choristers, recreating the sound-world of the first performances in Dublin and London. With soloists stepping out from the choir and the period instrument orchestra, Platinum 415, this performance will prove to be the Messiah of the season.
Kieran will sing bass solos and join the ensemble.
“This is singing that brings great pleasure.” – International Record Review
DEBUT’s monthly classical music experience south of the river at Brunel Museum’s historic Grade II* listed Thames Tunnel Shaft. Join us for our much loved Christmas Celebration (early booking recommended, these concerts sell out fast!)
MUSICIANS
Lizzie Holmessoprano, host & founder
Sam Peñaresident pianist & improviser
Kang Yang GuZheng
Eleanor Garside soprano
Meriel Cunningham mezzo soprano
William Diggle – tenor
Kieran Rayner baritone
DEBUT’s monthly classical music experiences at the cosy Shoreditch Treehouse. Join us for our much loved Christmas Celebration (early booking recommended, these concerts sell out fast!)
MUSICIANS
Lizzie Holmessoprano, host & founder
Sam Peñaresident pianist & improviser
Kang Yang GuZheng
Eleanor Garside soprano
Meriel Cunningham mezzo soprano
William Diggle – tenor
Kieran Rayner baritone
DEBUT’s monthly classical music experiences at the cosy Shoreditch Treehouse. Join us for our much loved Christmas Celebration (early booking recommended, these concerts sell out fast!)
MUSICIANS
Lizzie Holmessoprano, host & founder
Sam Peñaresident pianist & improviser
Kang Yang GuZheng
Eleanor Garside soprano
Meriel Cunningham mezzo soprano
William Diggle – tenor
Kieran Rayner baritone
Great Orchestra Experiment 2025
Bookings for the Great Orchestra Experiment 2025 are now open! Join us on an epic musical journey led by the fantastic Robin Hood Youth Orchestra on the 26th March 2025 at the Albert Hall, Nottingham.
Kieran will sing the Lead Judge in the court scene from Aida, leading a chorus of primary school students on a wonderful journey through what will be, for many of them, their first operatic experience.
GOE is an exciting interactive concert for pupils learning an instrument as part of our Whole Class Ensemble (WCE) Programme (usually year 4). This year the event will take place on 26th March 2025 in three separate sessions. If your school has not received an invitation to book yet, please email rebecca.hart@nottinghammusichub.org.uk
Great Orchestra Experiment 2024
1767 city pupils
41 primary schools
3 concerts in one day!
We had an absolutely smashing Great Orchestra Experiment this year, with more students than ever taking part in our live event at the Albert Hall on 20th March 2024. We are so proud of the Robin Hood Youth Orchestra (RHYO) for leading such an inspirational performance for primary school pupils from across Nottingham City. We hope to see many of the primary pupils in RHYO in a few years time!