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Honorary Presidents
Sir Thomas Allen Michael Chance CBE Sir Nicholas Hytner Graham Johnson OBE Dame Cleo Laine
Patricia Routledge CBE Professor Robert Saxton Dame Harriet Walter
Registered Charity No. 1106279 www.aofess.org.uk
NEWSLETTER SUMMER 2015
A NOTE FROM THE CHAIR This is my first ‘note’ as your new chair and I am delighted to be faced with this daunting task. I hope to keep everything going to our usual high standards and gradually to see where the AESS is needed by today’s performers. I feel our main aim is to help the next generation both by our own example as performers, teachers and discerning listeners and through the very special competitions we run. I have evidence of this from some of the feedback from competitors. One girl wrote of her experience:
“We had such fun performing today. So many panels say that they are looking for a complete performance but spend the entire time writing notes and buried in scores. It was the most refreshing thing in the world to perform to a panel of smiling faces who seemed interested in sharing what we had curated. A real treat!”
The winner of the Patricia Routledge prize, Rhiannon Llewellyn, was very honest about how she would spend her prize money – “I can now afford to get some professional videos done for promotional material and can pay off some student debts (boring but the alleviated stress of this can never be underestimated, becoming a singer is such an expensive business!).” Since taking office in April, we have held the Courtney Kenny competition, the Patricia Routledge Competition and the Fell Musical Theatre Prize. We had three excellent winners but slightly fewer competitors overall. This year we will aim to get the application forms out in plenty of time for students to prepare. Plans are well ahead for the Junior Prize, final on November 22nd at The Purcell School and the 2016 Courtney Kenny Award, final on March 6th next year at Tonbridge School.
All the finals of our competitions can be attended by AESS members and the public at no cost, so it is like being at a really good (free) song & poetry recital. Do come if you can. Stephen Miles is our new Webmaster and with input from various committee members has done a fantastic job reorganizing our website. It is now easier to join and to get
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relevant competition information. Do take a look. If any of you have suggestions for further improvements these would be most welcome. Don’t forget that you can advertise your own events to all AESS members by contacting Stephen. I did for my recent American Song Recital in West Dulwich and it was lovely to see AESS members there. Plans for our 2016 Unsung Heroines concert are well under way. It will be an all-‐day affair at King Edward’s School, Bath, with a morning Master class by Betty Roe and an afternoon concert of music by several excellent lady composers. Members have offered their services and there is an abundance of repertoire to choose from. It should be a most enjoyable day so do come if you can. Slowly, slowly we see the end of the tunnel regarding the last three volumes of A Century of English Song. At long last Music Sales have admitted that they cannot publish them and we are in the process of getting back all the songs we gave them, plus the licenses they obtained and then we will self-‐publish. I will let you all know the moment they are ready to print!! The AESS is your society. The subscription fee is small, but a vital part of our work to help young performers and to communicate with each other. I welcome any ideas you have to improve and develop the AESS. These can be discussed at our committee and at the AGM and dinner. This will be in April next year. Watch this space. I hope you all have an excellent Summer.
Sarah Leonard, July 2015
NEWS FROM MEMBERS The 2015 London Song Festival takes the form of a Grand Tour of cities that are strongly represented in Song. Five concerts will use words and music to evoke the atmosphere, history and culture of London, Paris, Venice, Seville and New York, presented by the cream of the UK’s young singers. Friday October 30th, 7.30pm -‐ “London, Flower of Cities All” The opening concert celebrates our own beloved city with an eclectic range of songs by composers including Purcell, Butterworth, Britten, Finzi and Walton, with contributions from Eric Satie, Villa Lobos, Charles Ives, Flanders and Swann, Noel Coward and many more. With soprano Rowan Pierce, winner of the London Song Festival’s Schubert Society Singer Prize 2014 and the Van Someren Godfrey English Song Prize at the Royal College of Music, and baritone Nicholas Mogg, a Britten-‐Pears Young Artist studying at the Royal Academy of Music where he is a member of the prestigious Song Circle. Nigel Foster is the pianist. Friday November 6th, 7.30pm -‐ “Paris, City of Love” Luxuriate in the ‘City of Love’ with music by Poulenc, Debussy, Schubert, Kurt Weill, Cole Porter, Ned Rorem, Jerome Kern and many others in the company of soprano Lucy
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Knight, a 2013 International Opera Awards Foundation winner and winner of the Philip and Dorothy Green Award for Young Concert Artists from Making Music, baritone Huw Montague Rendall, rising star at the Royal College of Music, and pianist Nigel Foster. Friday November 13th, 7.30pm -‐ “Venice -‐ La Serenissima” A recital by two members of the prestigious Oxford Lieder Festival Young Artist Platform, soprano Lucy Hall and pianist Gavin Roberts. Lucy trained at the National Opera Studio and Gavin is the Director of Song In The City. Come and lose yourself in the Incomparable atmosphere and romanticism of this unique city, with songs by composers from Germany, France, Spain and England, who have all been inspired by the magic of Venice. Friday November 20th, 7.30pm -‐ “New York, The City That Never Sleeps” A special appearance by mezzo-‐soprano Kristin Dauphinais, who is travelling to London from the University of Arizona School of Music to present this portrait of New York. Songs serious and light by Lee Hoiby, Ned Rorem, John Duke, Geoffrey Wright, Benjamin Britten, Vernon Duke, Rodgers and Hart and many more will transport you across the Atlantic to bring to London the buzz and excitement of the city that never sleeps. Friday November 27th, 7.30pm -‐ “Seville, City of Towers” Two rising young Spanish singers will bring the sultry heat of Seville to London. Soprano Lorena Paz Nieto is studying at the Royal Academy of Music and has sung at Wigmore Hall, at the City of London Festival and on BBC Radio 3, baritone Josep-‐Ramon Olivé, rising star at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama has sung at the Teatro Real in Madrid and the Capella Real de Catalunya. Nigel Foster is the pianist for this concert. There will be two master-‐classes this year; one devoted to English Song and one to Lieder, each associated with a prize consisting of £500 and the opportunity to sing with The London Song Festival in future years. Saturday November 14th, 2pm and 6pm Lieder Master-‐Class and Schubert Society Prize Competition, donated by the Schubert Society of Britain, with tenor Nicky Spence. Saturday November 21st, 2pm and 6pm English Song Master-‐Class and British Music Society Art Song Competition, donated by the British Music Society, with mezzo-‐soprano Susan Bickley. All concerts and master-‐classes take place at the church of St Mary Magdalene Munster Square, London NW1 3PH, just five minutes’ walk from Great Portland Street and Warren Street tube stations. Wine will be served at all the concerts and we look forward to welcoming you to the 2015 London Song Festival. Tickets are £15 and £12, available from www.londonsongfestival.org and on the door.
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Music at Ansells Farm Ten years ago we began giving Song masterclasses at our home in the beautiful Essex-‐Suffolk border country. I’ve travelled such a lot over the years, and we live in such an idyllic setting that we thought it would be a good idea to invite people to come to us for a change. The pattern during that time has been that a maximum of eight participants come here for a day to work with me on songs related to a chosen theme, and incidentally to enjoy the countryside and the remarkable food which my wife Melinda prepares. The material which people choose to sing covers a wide range of periods, languages and styles, with English song as only one part of the mix. We welcome all who are interested in the song repertoire, be they amateurs, teachers, students or professionals. We are fortunate in having a wonderful old Suffolk barn; it can hold an audience of 85, which perfectly suits the spirit of friendly informal music-‐making we enjoy. So since 2009 we’ve expanded the day-‐long workshops (which still continue very successfully and regularly throughout the year) to involve a whole weekend at the end of June, with three concerts in the barn. These are open to the public, and have quickly become an immensely popular fixture in the musical calendar of our part of East Anglia. We still have eight participants who work on their chosen repertoire of songs, and especially focus on putting together and presenting a short programme; but the weekend begins on the Friday evening when everyone gets together for supper and the first of the concerts. This first concert always consists of a varied and entertaining programme of words and music which I devise, each year on a different theme, performed by me and a distinguished guest presenter. This year eminent actor Julian Glover joined me for a sea-‐themed evening entitled ‘Full Fathom Five’. Other years have seen us welcome actors Prunella Scales and Timothy West, garden historian Caroline Holmes and renowned soprano Patricia Rozario for programmes covering topics from wine, travel and the world of flowers and plants, to the animal kingdom. Participants can stay either with us or nearby, and on the Saturday there is an intensive whole day of teaching. Then on the Saturday evening there’s another concert – this year we enjoyed Crispian Steele-‐Perkins regaling us with his bag of trumpet tricks, while last year we had acclaimed chamber ensemble The Fibonacci Sequence – and on the Sunday a further morning of teaching. At teatime on the Sunday the students perform to a public audience some of the items they’ve been working on, followed by a relaxed open-‐air tea party before everyone goes home. New repertoire is explored, new friends are made and confidence and accomplishment honed and polished. The success of this formula has been extraordinary – we’re already planning next year’s weekend! I thought the AESS might be interested to know about this venture to bring the performance of song and the spoken word to an enthusiastic and receptive audience here in the depths of the countryside, and that it’s proving so successful. If anyone would like to know more about our workshops, or be put on the mailing list for details of concerts, do contact me at www.stephenvarcoe.co.uk or email [email protected]
Stephen Varcoe
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Unsung Heroes in Bath September 27th is the date and Bath the venue for the next AESS event celebrating Unsung Heroes-‐ except that this time it is ‘HEROINES!’ who are the focus of the day. In a day-‐long event at King Edward’s School, North Road, Bath, we will explore the music of women composers. There will be a masterclass in the morning for young singers featuring the songs of Betty Roe and the afternoon will be devoted to composers of the nineteenth and early twentieth century including Amy Woodforde Finden, Amy Horrocks Maude Valerie White ,Liza Lehmann and Rebecca Clarke. Members and their pupils are invited to perform. We already have several singers for the afternoon concert but would welcome more. You may offer two or three songs of your choice. If you would like to take part but do not have appropriate songs we can provide suggestions. A tenor would be particularly welcome as this might enable a performance of quartets. Three accompanists have offered their services to any singer who needs them. The programme also has room for speakers of poetry and narration. We currently have two places left in the morning masterclass on Betty Roe songs. Applicants should preferably be between ages 13 and 18. If you would like to take part in any way, and for audience tickets, please contact Patricia Williams on [email protected] or tel: 07793825150.
Patricia Williams Trinity Laban Opera We have just completed, on July 4th, a wonderful run of Britten’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Olivia Fuchs and conducted by Diego Masson. Diego had previously admitted to not liking much of Britten but we have opened his mind and he loved it, finding subtle orchestral colours and giving our students every possible support. We don’t have a dedicated opera course, so our entire department can audition and we cast a terrific company, whose performances (both casts) were strong and characterful and the setting in a 70s club was beautifully lit by Ben Ormerod. A company was formed and friendships and memories will long remain with all of them. I am proud to lead the department and thrilled with the performances in Blackheath Halls – really only 10 minutes from London Bridge – so not outside the London we know and love!
Linda Hirst
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COMPETITIONS
Patricia Routledge National English Song Competition 2015
This year’s competition took place on 13th May at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in Greenwich. Five excellent singers competed in this final round. The third prize went to David Jones, Baritone, for his programme of “Shakespeare on love” songs and sonnets. The second prize was won by Richard Moore, Bass-‐baritone, for his performance of songs and poems from Moeran’s Islands. The first prize was well won by soprano Rhiannon Llewellyn for her exciting programme of “Siren song” which she presented with verve and panache! Rhiannon and pianist Peter Foggitt gave a warm and imaginative performance, with part of the spoken programme given by Peter much to the delight of the audience. The Accompanist’s prize was awarded to Peter Foggitt. Ms Routledge presented the prizes emphasising that sometimes to produce a good performance an element of risk is desirable! She also commented to the Chairman afterwards that she was delighted that there were so many talented youngsters about.
Carol English The Fell Prize for Music Theatre 2015 On Sunday June 7th, the AESS, in association with the Toni V Fell Musical Charitable Trust, held the Fell Prize for Musical Theatre at the Sylvia Young Theatre School in London. There were only ten entrants this year and one person didn’t arrive, so we heard nine competitors. They came from a range of colleges including Mountview, Millennium, RCM, RAM, Trinity Laban, RWCM&D and E.15. The standard was quite variable and it was interesting how the acting and singing was integrated better from the Musical Theatre Schools but that the overall singing standard was higher from the Conservatoires. Each learnt from the other. The excellent judges were AESS member Rosamund Shelley and Michael Dore. Both are experienced actors, musical theatre and classical singers and were generous in their praise and encouragement in their summing up. Michael pointed out that he didn’t want to “see” people’s techniques but that this should be integrated into the performance. The outstanding winner of the £1000 prize was Christopher McGuigan from the Royal Academy of Music’s Musical Theatre course. He integrated the song Not My Father’s Son from Kinky Boots seamlessly with Paul’s monologue from A Chorus Line and moved everyone in the room. Several students commented on how much they had learnt by just being there and listening to the other performers and I hope that next year we get more competitors to join in and make it even more exciting.
Sarah Leonard
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The Courtney Kenny Award – March 15th 2015 The final of the sixth Courtney Kenny Award was held in the Recital Room at Tonbridge School on the afternoon of Sunday 15th March. The panel of judges comprised Courtney Kenny, Sarah Leonard, Jane Roberson and Stephen Varcoe. The winner of the £1000 first prize was Charlotte Yeoman, a student of Marilyn Rees at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. The runner-‐up was Milly Forrest, who studies with Kathleen Livingstone at the Royal Academy of Music. Also from the Royal Academy was the third place winner, Hannah Poulsom, a student of Elizabeth Ritchie. Milly and Hannah won £500 each as did the winning accompanist, Melina Karagiannis. Thanks are due to the panel of judges and those who selected the six finalists at the preliminary round, Tonbridge Services for their help with the final, Judy and Mike Hildesley for the loan of their house for the preliminary round and Stephen Miles for his co-‐ordination of the competition. Chairman of the AESS, Graham Trew, in charge of events on the day, thanked Courtney Kenny, especially, for his continued sponsorship of the competition.
OTHER NEWS There will be one East Anglia Music School weekend for singers and accompanists this year on the weekend of August 28th -‐ 31st at the University of East Anglia in the Drama Studio. The tutors for workshops and individual sessions will be Teresa Cahill, Mark Wildman and Susie Allen. Michael Pilkington and Jeffrey Davies will also be teaching some classes. Full details are on the website: www.operadacamera.co.uk, together with application forms and other information. And on an historical note:
The Association of English Singers and Speakers (AESS) was formed in 1913 by the eminent laryngologist, Dr W. A. Aikin, to further study in the principles of phonology as expounded in his book, 'The Voice'. The AESS at this time was an all-‐male society of well-‐known singers and teachers who met regularly to dine and discuss matters of vocal and professional interest. Two of the original members were Harry Plunket Greene, a singer famed for his English oratorio interpretations, and William Shakespeare, a leading singing teacher at the Royal Academy of Music. During the 1920s, the Society initiated publication of 'Fifty Modern English Songs', the first ever collection of songs by contemporary British composers. Sir Percy Buck and Sir Henry Wood, among others, served as Presidents and after the war the AESS opened its doors to include the speech and drama professions. In 1969 women were at last admitted to its membership!
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1989 saw the AESS Constitution revised, its purpose redefined as being 'to encourage communication of English words in speech and song with clarity, understanding and imagination'. The AESS has now achieved charitable status. In 1982 the then chairman, Catherine Lambert, inaugurated the AESS English Song Prize which is still an annual event. It is the only vocal competition that combines a ‘themed' recital of English Song, poetry and spoken introductions. Niven Miller during his chairmanship until 2004, when he was forced to resign due to ill health, worked tirelessly to resurrect the somewhat shaky fortunes of the Association. It was he, together with his committee, who achieved Charitable Status for the AESS and he also used his experience and contacts to find sponsors for the ‘English Song Prize’. From 1999 – 2002 the competition was sponsored by the Concordia Foundation, founded by the international soprano, Gillian Humphreys, OBE. In 2003 the distinguished actor and singer, Patricia Routledge, CBE, one of our honorary presidents, graciously enquired as to whether she could be of any assistance. Miss Routledge has kindly sponsored the Song Prize to this day, which now bears her name. In 2003, the AESS and the British and International Federation of Festivals began the National Junior English Song Competition funded from a master class given at the Wigmore Hall by Thomas Hampson, the American baritone. Mr. Hampson continued support for a restructured Junior Recital Competition run solely by the AESS, until 2006. In 2007, the name of the competition was changed to 'The Catherine Lambert Junior Recital Prize' as Catherine has offered sponsorship indefinitely. At the same time, Coral Gould, MBE, offered to fund a third prize for the competition. Marian Lines offered an anonymous donation for a speech award for the junior competition. After her death, this prize was named the ‘Marian Lines’ prize and has been generously continued by Marian’s husband, Graham. Mark Wildman briefly held the Chair after Niven’s resignation and I was elected to the position in 2005. Niven was asked if he would become an Honorary President, to which he agreed. The first priority was to elect a complete committee of officers and trustees and begin a membership drive. The AESS Constitution needed to be finally formulated and ratified by the Charities Commission and this was done. I also asked a friend to set up an AESS website, which has recently been updated. An email group of AESS members was formed so that regular information could be sent to virtually all members immediately. This meant that members, although separated geographically, could all feel part of the Association. I spent some time contacting all the past winners of the English Song Prize, some proving most elusive, and offering them all Honorary Membership. All were found eventually and many are happy to sit on adjudication panels and to support the AESS when their professional work allows. Two of the Association’s Honorary Presidents were impossible to contact and so I asked Sir Nicholas Hytner and later, Dame Harriet Walter, if they would become Presidents, to which they kindly agreed.
Graham Trew
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The AESS Today The Association of English Singers and Speakers is in very good health today thanks to the enormous hard and consistent work Graham Trew has put into it for the last ten years. We all wish him a well-‐deserved and happy retirement from the chairmanship, and as a member he will still be keeping a beady eye on all that goes on. One of my first jobs as the new chair will be to finish the publication of the last three volumes of ‘A Century of English Song’ started by John Bishop over 20 years ago. The first seven volumes, published originally by Thames, are available through Music Sales but after having copies of the last three volumes for over two years, they have finally come back to us to say they will not publish them after all. We are in the process of collecting back all the material given to them plus the copyrights they managed to obtain so that we can go forward. We will self-‐publish under the AESS, using as much of the original artwork as possible. It won’t take us long to get them printed once we are ready! My ultimate hope is to get all ten published by the AESS as the first seven are in short supply. Why is the AESS important today? The main reason is that we run four excellent competitions for young singers, ages ranging from 13 to 32. Committee members, Jean Hornbuckle and Jane Roberson with Jeanette Ager of the Toni V Fell Trust, started the fourth competition, the Musical Theatre prize in 2013. It is a shared venture with The Tony V Fell Musical Charitable Trust and took place in 2015 on Sunday June 7th at the Sylvia Young Theatre School. We felt that there were not many music theatre competitions compared with the classical singing world, and yet so many youngsters want to train for musical theatre. Our prizes are unique because of the spoken element, which is now judged to have an equal importance to the singing. We all feel that both spoken communication and sung communication are so intertwined. As each year progresses, students are getting better at delivering their poems and prose and this enlivens their singing. Accompanists also compete for prize money within the senior competitions. I will make sure all four competitions keep going for many years to come. Entrants must be pupils of AESS members or approved of by an AESS member. As many of the music colleges are members their students can automatically enter. Alternatively, I believe that a student who wants to enter can join the AESS at the student rate for that purpose. The competition finals are open to the public and are advertised on our website. It is worth becoming a member of the AESS to enter your students for the competitions alone. The joining fee is very modest. Other benefits include the possibility of advertising ones concerts of English Song through the AESS website, and of taking part in occasional concerts of English Song through our ‘ Unsung Heroes’ series. The AESS also organises other events to promote its educational aims, including workshops and master classes given by experts in the field of English poetry and song and through members’ concerts.
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Our ‘Unsung Heroes’ series, organized by Patricia Williams, has proved a big success. Last June we gave a concert at The Birley Centre, Eastbourne, featuring the songs of Michael Head and there is one planned for September this year in Bath, featuring women composers. We also sponsor The London Song Festival, The English Song Festival and Songs in the City, as they all contain much English Song, and there is an ongoing AESS cup and prize. We are always open to new ideas and welcome new members who, like us, want to promote good sung and spoken English. We need judges for our competitions and the occasional committee member. The highlight of the year is our annual dinner, held at the Royal Overseas League in London following the AGM. This year Courtney Kenny gave enchanting entertainment and our speaker was honorary president Sir Thomas Allen, who delighted us with tales from his career. Do consider joining us. For more information, visit our website at: www.aofess.org.uk
Sarah Leonard AESS Website The original designer and webmaster of the AESS Website, Matthew Dickins, has relinquished his duties and handed them on to yours truly. I am sure all members are grateful for his work on behalf of the association in disseminating news of events and giving the AESS an online profile. We wish him well for the future.
The Word Press platform which carries the website is free (there are hosting charges with other companies) and so there are limitations but I hope that it is clear and user friendly. Please do have a look at it and make your views known. It can also be viewed on smart phones.
It is hoped that a new email-‐shot system will also be in place to send out emails from the AESS. Visit: http://www.aofess.org.uk
Stephen Miles
The Tony V Fell Music Theatre Awards 2015 The nine competitors with judges, Rosamund Shelley and Michael Dore
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The worthy winner, Christopher McGuigan, with the judges
The Patricia Routledge National English Song Competition 2015
David Jones, Rhiannon Llewellyn, Patricia Routledge, Sarah Leonard, Richard Moore
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David Jones, Rhiannon Llewellyn, Patricia Routledge, Richard Moore
The Courtney Kenny Award
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Weihao Fu, Natsumi Ikenaga, Christopher Ma, Charlotte Yeoman, Gabija Butkute, Hannah Poulsom, Eleanor Broomfield, Maire Carrol, Abilgail broughton, Alastair Chivers, Milly Forrest, Melina Karagianni
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Stephen Varcoe, Jane Roberson, Sarah Leonard, Charlotte Yeoman, Hannah Poulsom, Milly Forrest, Melina Karagianni, Courtney Kenny
