23 November 2024, 7.30pm
With international opera stars
ANITA WATSON soprano
CHARNE ROCHFORD tenor
Chester Cathedral
Chester Music Society Choir
Liverpool Sinfonia
Graham Jordan Ellis conductor
Favourite arias and choruses from Wagner, Verdi , Purcell, Gershwin, Mozart, Leoncavallo, Donizetti, Puccini, Bizet.
Including Rigoletto, Nabucco, La Traviata, The Magic Flute...and more
Tickets for this concert: £30 (Nave); £25 (West Steps); £15 (Side Aisles)
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Australian soprano Anita Watson was a member of the Cologne Opera Studio 2006-7 and the Jette Parker Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden from 2007-9.
In 2010 Anita made her house debuts at Teatro La Fenice in Venice and at the Salzburg Festiva. In season 2010-11 she added roles Mimì (La Boheme) and Donna Anna Don Giovanni) to her repertoire. In September 2011 she returned to La Fenice in Venice in the role of Donna Anna, followed by her Opera Australia debut in Sydney in the same role.
She also performed the Strauss Vier letzte Lieder with the Rheinische Philharmonie in Koblenz and the Mariiinsky Orchestra in St Petersburg, Mahler’s 8th Symphony with Sir Mark Elder and recorded “Ariadne auf Naxos” for the Chandos label. In 2011 she performed Beethoven Symphony no. 9 with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
Anita’s oratorio repertoire includes Carmina Burana, Mozart's Requiem, Tippet's A Child of our Time, the Fauré Requiem, Brahms’ Requiem, Verdi Requiem, Poulenc’s Gloria, Mozart's Vesperae Solennes de Confessore, Handel's Messiah, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Howell’s Hymnus Paradisi and Gounod's Redemption amongst others.
Charne Rochford is gaining a reputation as one of Britain’s most promising Heldentenors
His wide range of roles include Siegmund, Tristan, Tannhäuser, Achilles, Cavaradossi, Bacchus and Siegfried.
Recent engagements include Gerontious with the Philharmonia at the Royal Festival Hall and an Opera Gala with the CBSO & CBSO Chorus at Symphony Hall.
Other highlights include Eisenstein (RPO), Lyonel Martha (Volksoper Zürich) Cavaradossi (Mid-Wales Opera) 1st Armed Man (GFO, GTO and ON), Bacchus/ Tenor (The Mastersingers) for ETO he has performed: Adorno Simon Boccanegra, Luigi Il Tabbarro (2014 & revival in 2018) and Achilles in their Olivier award-winning production of Tippett’s King Priam at the ROH, Linbury Theatre. He recently sang the role of Schoolmaster in Cunning Little Vixen (Opera Holland Park)
He is equally experienced on the concert platform. Engagements include: Verdi Requiem and Mahler’s ‘Das Lied von der Erde’. He was a soloist with the LPO in Mahler’s ‘Das Klagende Lied’ and Korngold’s ‘Wunder der Heliana’.
His extensive concert repertoire includes Britten St. Nicolas, Handel Messiah, Elgar Dream of Gerontius, Schönberg Gurre-Lieder, Puccini Messe di Gloria, Beethoven Symphony No.9 and many more.
He made his cinematic debut at the Venice Film Festival as Second Officer in The Magic Flute directed by Kenneth Branagh, conducted by James Conlon.