Artists of Rameau: Castor et Pollux
Cast list
Castor – Rory Carver
Pollux – Jack Lawrence-Jones
Télaïre – Hilary Cronin
Phébé – Galina Averina
Amour, Le grand prêtre – Laurence Kilsby
Vénus, Une suivante d’Hébé – Jenni Harper
Mars, Jupiter – Peter Harvey
With the Rameau Project Orchestra and Schola Cantorum
Conductor – Jonathan Williams
Director – Guido Martin-Brandis
Castor – Rory Carver
Rory Carver is gaining a reputation as a vivid interpreter of opera, oratorio and song repertoire. He was a member of Les Arts Florissants’ young artist programme Le Jardin des Voix, a Garsington Opera Alvarez Young Artist, a competitor in the Wigmore Hall/Independent Opera International Song Competition and a finalist in the Oxford Lieder Young Artist Platform, following his postgraduate studies at the Royal College of Music as a Douglas and Hilda Simmonds scholar. As a featured artist he has sung on some of Europe's finest stages including Theater an der Wien; L'Opéra Royal, Versailles; and Teatro Real, Madrid; and has worked closely with conductors William Christie, Paul Agnew, John Eliot Gardiner, and Lionel Meunier. With a particular interest in the early and middle Baroque periods after performing the title role in Monteverdi's L'Orfeo at the Brighton Early Music Festival, Rory set up the ensemble Dramma per musica with gambist Harry Buckoke and theorbist Jonatan Bougt to further explore early 17th century Italian monody and English cavalier songs, and recently made his recording début as First Augur/Second Priest in John Eccles' Semele with Cambridge Handel Opera Company and the Academy of Ancient Music.
Rory's recent and upcoming engagements include solo recitals programmes of Britten and Vaughan Williams songs; arias in Bach's St John Passion for Oxford Bach Soloists; performances of Purcell's King Arthur in Madrid, Barcelona, and Lyon with Vox Luminis; and Mozart's Requiem with the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra conducted by Paul Agnew.
Having grown up in the city and spending his formative years at The Cherwell School, Rory is grateful for the generous support of Oxfordshire-based charity The Exuberant Trust.
Pollux – Jack Lawrence-Jones
https://www.jacklawrencejones.com/
Télaïre – Hilary Cronin
http://www.hilarycronin-soprano.co.uk/about-hilary/
Winner of both First Prize and the Audience Prize at the 2021 London Handel International Singing Competition, Hilary Cronin studied at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and was a Robinson Hearn, Trinity College London, and Dame Susan Morden Scholar.
Prior to this, Hilary read Music and was a choral scholar at Royal Holloway University of London, where she was awarded The Driver Prize and the Dame Felicity Lott Bursary.
She also studied on British Youth Opera’s 2020/2021 Serena Fenwick Programme.
Operatic engagements have included Grilletta Lo Speziale for Baroquestock Opera, Mother Hansel and Gretel for Silent Opera and British Youth Opera at Opera Holland Park, Second Woman Dido and Aeneas for the New Generation Festival, Céphise Pygmalion for Dunedin Consort and Mrs Waters The Boatswain’s Mate for Spectra Ensemble at Grimeborn Festival. In 2016, Hilary covered the roles of Minerva Ulysses’ Homecoming and Diana La Calisto for English Touring Opera and in 2019 Hilary covered Despina Così fan tutte for Nevill Holt Opera.
Hilary’s concert repertoire includes the major oratorios of J. S. Bach, Handel, Haydn and Mozart, as well as the Requiems of Brahms, Chilcott, Fauré and Rutter and the Stabat Maters of Pergolesi, Poulenc and Scarlatti.
Hilary has worked with several leading ensembles including Arcangelo, The Monteverdi Choir, Dunedin Consort, London Voices, BBC Singers, English Voices and Sansara.
Hilary Cronin’s recent engagements include Bach St Matthew Passion with Gavin Carr and the Bournemouth Symphony Chorus at The Lighthouse, Vaughan Williams Benedicite with Hilary Davan Wetton, City of London Choir and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Cadogan Hall, Handel Saeviat tellus HWV 240 and Silete venti HWV 242 with the London Handel Orchestra at St John’s Smith Square, and Handel Dixit Dominus and Haydn Nelson Mass with Goring Chamber Choir at Douai Abbey.
This autumn, Hilary will sing Poppea in Agrippina and will cover the role of Asteria in Tamerlano for English Touring Opera.
Phébé – Galina Averina
https://englishtouringopera.org.uk/profile/galina-averina
Born in Moscow, Galina Averina graduated from the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts and went on to join the International Opera School of the Royal College of Music, in London.
Prior to arriving in London in 2014, she was a member of the soloists’ ensemble at the Perm State Opera Theatre, with roles including Brigitta Iolanta, Frasquita Carmen, Kseniya Boris Godunov, Noemi Cendrillon, Ersilia Le astuzie femminili, and Charmion Cleopatre.
She made her international debut in 2013 at the Dubrovnik Summer Festival (Così fan tutte), and in the same year took part in the Les Azuriales Opera Festival in Nice, where she won the Haidee Saretski Prize at their Young Artists’ Competition.
Her other roles include Atalanta Serse, Iphise in Rameau’s Dardanus, Ilia Idomeneo and Lauretta Gianni Schicchi for English Touring Opera, the title role in Partenope for Iford Arts, Pamina The Magic Flute, Susanna The Marriage of Figaro,and, more recently, Mimi La Boheme for Mid Wales Opera, Adele Die Fledermaus for Diva Opera and West Green House Opera, and Oscar Un ballo in maschera also for West Green House. She also took part in a Mozart residency at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. As her voice continues to evolve, she is now beginning to look at roles such as Fiordiligi Cosi fan tutte.
In competition, she was one of the finalists in the prestigious Francisco Viñas Competition at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, and was awarded 6th Prize as well as the prestigious Audience Prize. She also won the 2015 Bampton Classical Opera Young Singers’ Competition took 2nd Prize in the 2016 Handel Competition in London.
Galina is a member of the Samling Artist Programme, and was a member of the Wales International Academy of Voice, mentored by Dennis O’Neill. She also generously acknowledges the support she received via an Independent Opera Voice Scholarship, Les Azuriales Opera Trust and from the Kiri Te Kanawa UK Foundation. After masterclasses with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, she appeared in a recital next to her at Cadogan Hall in London.
In autumn 2020, Galina sang Marzelline Fidelio in concert performances with Garsington Opera and the Philharmonia (also broadcast on BBC Radio 3). Last Summer, she sang her role debut as Magda La Rondine for West Green House Opera, and she returns there later this year to sing The Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro.
Amour, Le grand prêtre – Laurence Kilsby
https://twitter.com/laurence_kilsby
Vénus, Une suivante d’Hébé – Jenni Harper
Jenni Harper completed the Artist Masters course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2015, for which she was awarded a Distinction. She is a Britten-Pears Young Artist and studies singing with Kate Paterson.
Jenni recently performed the role of Euridice for I Fagiolini and Music and Theatre For All’s production of Monteverdi’s Orfeo. She also performed the roles of Euridice, La Musica and Speranza for Brighton Early Music Festival’s production of Monteverdi’s Orfeo, directed by Thomas Guthrie.
Concert highlights include singing solos for Mozart’s Requiem and Vesperae Solennes de Confessore with the London Mozart Players; Bach’s Magnificat with the Academy of Ancient Music; Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle with Potters Bar Choral Society; Bach’s B Minor Mass with East Grinstead Choral Society; Mozart’s Vesperae de Dominica and Haydn’s Nelson Mass with the London Pro Arte Choir and Bach’s Weinachts Oratorium with the Croydon Bach Choir and Eclectic Voices.
She recorded a solo CD 'The Mystery of Christmas: Greek Kalanda' with newly composed music by the Greek-Cypriot composer Cilia Petridou, which was released in November 2018. She is a soloist on the St Albans Cathedral Girls Choir CD of music by Michael Haydn, released in December 2020.
Jenni is a founder member of the ensemble Ceruleo, with whom she performs solos and duets interwoven with spoken texts to create innovative dramatic performances. Ceruleo were selected for the Young Artist Scheme at the Brighton Early Music Festival 2015-16 and have performed as part of the London Festival of Baroque Music at St John's Smith Square as well as singing live on BBC Radio 3's 'In Tune'. They created an immersive operatic experience, ‘The Rival Queens’ with Thomas Guthrie for Handel and Hendrix in London, which they premiered in July 2017. Their latest project is Burying the Dead, a newly commissioned show about the composer Henry Purcell, which toured around several UK festivals in 2018-20 including the Buxton International Festival and Baroque at the Edge at LSO St Luke’s. Ceruleo have just recorded their first CD, 'Love Restor'd', featuring music by Purcell and his contemporaries, which will be released in Autumn 2022.
Jenni is very grateful for the support of the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers, the Katy Choules Memorial Trust and The Guildhall Trust.
Mars, Jupiter – Peter Harvey
Conductor – Jonathan Williams
Director – Guido Martin-Brandis
