Verdi Requiem soloists and orchestra

The Performers
 

Rachel Nicholls  (Soprano) 

Rachel Nicholls was born in Bedford and in 2013 was awarded an Opera Awards Foundation Bursary to study with Dame Anne Evans. 

Recent and future engagements include Isolde Tristan und Isolde for the Théâtre des Champs Elysées, and for Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Rome, Turin, Karlsruhe, the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra and Grange Park Opera, as well as in concert with the São Paolo Symphony Orchestra; the title role in Elektra for Basel, Münster and Karlsruhe; the title role in Salome for Hanover; Brünnhilde Siegfried in concert with the Hallé (recently released on CD); Brünnhilde Götterdämmerung in Taiwan; Brünnhilde Die Walküre for ENO; Fidelio for Opera North and Lithuanian National Opera; Guinevere in Birtwistle’s Gawain for the BBC Symphony Orchestra; Lady Macbeth Macbeth for Karlsruhe and NI Oper; Senta Der fliegende Holländer for Grange Park Opera and Eva Die Meistersinger for Karlsruhe and ENO. 

She has worked with orchestras throughout Europe and the Far East and in recital at venues including Wigmore Hall, London. Recordings include Siegfried and Elgar’s The Spirit of England with the Hallé and Sir Mark Elder; a wide repertoire with Bach Collegium Japan; Tippett’s Third Symphony for Chandos and his Midsummer Marriage on the LPO’s own label, conducted by Edward Gardner. 

 

Jess Dandy (Contralto) 

Cumbrian-born Jess Dandy is one of the foremost British contraltos of her generation and has been praised for her instrument of velvety plangent timbre. Jess studied Modern and Medieval Languages at Trinity College, Cambridge and the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, and is an alumna and Fellow of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. 

This 2023/24 season Jess sings Elgar’s Sea Pictures with Tokyo Symphony; Mozart’s Requiem with Tampere Philharmonic; Handel’s Messiah with the Hallé, Royal Northern Sinfonia, the Glyndebourne Sinfonia and Il Gardellino; Julia Perry’s Stabat Mater and Bach’s St John Passion with the BBC Philharmonic. Jess will also appear at the London Handel Festival for the Brockes Passion with the English Concert and Handel’s Esther (Mordecai) with the London Handel Orchestra and Singers. 

Recent highlights have included Micah in Handel’s Samson at the BBC Proms with the Academy of Ancient Music; Bach’s Heilig ist Gott with the Dunedin Consort at the BBC Proms; the world premiere of a new opera All Seas by Josephine Stephenson at Opéra Grand Avignon; a new commission Spell of Creation by Alissa Firsova with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra; Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with Salzburg Kulturvereinigung and Bach’s St Matthew Passion with the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Dunedin Consort. 

In 2021, Jess was shortlisted for a Royal Philharmonic Society Award in the category of Young Artist. She is a multi-faceted artist with a keen interest in ecology, body psychology and spirituality. She is the co-founder of SongPath, a mental health initiative creating musical walking trails in nature. With composer Alex Mills, she developed the Music & Being Collective, an open laboratory space exploring music and our sense of self through interdisciplinary dialogue. 

 

Paul Nilon (Tenor) is credited in the programme but was indisposed on the day and did not sing. His place was taken by :- 

Thomas Atkins (Tenor) 

New Zealand tenor Thomas Atkins has attracted serious attention since his studies at the New Zealand School of Music and Guildhall School of Music and Drama, during which he was supported by the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation and the New Zealand Arts Foundation Patronage. Atkins is a former Jerwood Artist, and a 2018 graduate of the Jette Parker Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House. Since then, he has made successful debuts with Bayerische Staatsoper, Opéra de Montpellier, Opera North, Gothenburg Opera, and New Zealand Opera.

Recent performances include Roderigo (Verdi Otello) at Bayerische Staatsoper; Tamino (Mozart The Magic Flute) and Kudrjaš (Janáček Káťa Kabanová) at Glyndebourne; and Rodolfo (Puccini La bohème) at Opera North, Gothenburg Opera, and New Zealand Opera. Away from the opera house, highlights include appearing in the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation Gala at Wigmore Hall, London; his debut on Opera Rara as Empsaele (Donizetti Il Paria) with Sir Mark Elder and the Britten Sinfonia; Beethoven Missa solemnis with Richard Farnes and the BBC Symphony Orchestra; performances at the Yakushiji Otobutai in Japan with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa; and performances of Tippett’s A Child of Our Time, Mozart’s and Verdi’s Requiems, Handel Messiah, Dubois’ Seven Last Words of Christ, and Vaughan Williams’ Mass in G minor.

Thomas Atkins was a finalist in the Guildhall School of Music & Drama ‘Gold Medal’ in 2015, and is the recipient of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama Award, the Sheila Prior Prize, the Phoebe Patrick Award, and the Vianden International Music Summer School Award—all from the 2012 IFAC Australian Singing Competition.

Further recent appearances include Roderigo in Amélie Niermeyer’s production of Otello at Bayerische Staatsoper; his company debut at Opéra National de Paris as Der Steuermann Der fliegende Holländer; and the Israeli Opera and Opera Holland Park as Lensky Eugene Onegin; Tamino in a semi-staged production of Die Zauberflöte at Glyndebourne and as Kudrjaš in a new production of Katya Kabanova, directed by Damiano Michieletto for the festival; Rodolfo La bohème with Opera North, Gothenburg Opera and New Zealand Opera; Lysander A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Opéra de Montpellier and Gastone La Traviata at the Royal Opera House. 

 

James Platt (Bass) 

British bass James Platt was educated at Chetham’s School of Music and went on to study at the Royal Academy of Music and the Opera Course of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He was a member of the Jette Parker Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden from 2014-2016. 

Engagements in James’ 2023/24 season include Verdi’s Requiem with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and David Hill; Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 13 with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Ryan Bancroft; Mozart’s Requiem with the Orchestra of the Welsh National Opera; Haydn’s Die Schöpfung with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Daniel Hyde, and Die Jahreszeiten with the Tapiola Sinfonietta and Matthew Halls. On the opera stage he sings Il Commendatore Don Giovanni in his debut for the Opéra de Lille and Sarastro Die Zauberflöte in a return to the Glyndebourne Festival. 

Recent highlights have included Sarastro Die Zauberflöte and Il Re Aida for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Bottom in new productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Deutsche Oper, Berlin and the Grange Festival; and Trulove The Rake’s Progress for the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. 

His concert appearances include Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Edward Gardner at the BBC Proms; Zacharie in Meyerbeer’s La Prophète with the LSO and Sir Mark Elder at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence; Hunding in concert performances of Die Walküre with the Philharmonie Zuidnederland; Il Re in a European tour of Ariodante; Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with Les Musiciens du Louvre, and Shostakovich’s Four Romances on Poems by Pushkin with the Hallé Orchestra and Sir Mark Elder. 

 

The Orchestra

A History of Chelsea Opera Group Orchestra 

Chelsea Opera Group Orchestra’s association with Salisbury Musical Society started over 40 years ago. It was in December 1977 that they performed Elgar’s The Kingdom under the baton of Richard Seal, and most years since they have accompanied the choir in one or two of its three annual concerts. The link between the two organisations was forged by two brothers, Graham and Denis Daniels, the former a member of SMS, the latter of COG. SMS owes them a huge debt of gratitude. 

COG, as its name suggests, was founded to accompany opera. Early in 1950, two young musical enthusiasts, David Cairns (now a leading music critic and biographer of Berlioz) and Stephen Gray (later to become general manager of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra), persuaded a twenty-two-year-old clarinettist called Colin Davis to put on a concert performance of Mozart’s Don Giovanni in the Holywell Music Room, Oxford. Thus, the Chelsea Opera Group was born, so called because both its co-founders were then living in Chelsea. Since its foundation COG has led the way in performing concert opera, reviving unjustifiably neglected works and lesser-known versions of familiar favourites. Many of the works rediscovered by COG are now in the repertoires of professional opera houses. 

COG has provided invaluable experience for conductors and singers at the beginning of their careers, as well as the opportunity for talented amateur musicians to experience opera at a very high standard. Among other well-known conductors who appeared with COG early in their careers are Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Mark Elder and Sir Roger Norrington. Dame Kiri te Kanawa, Sir Willard White, Sarah Walker, Sir John Tomlinson, Robert Lloyd and Jill Gomez are among the singers who were to become familiar to all opera lovers.