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The English mezzo-soprano, Helen Charlston, began singing as a chorister and subsequently head chorister of the St Albans Abbey Girls Choir, under Simon Johnson. She went on to study music at Trinity College, Cambridge, University of Cambridge where she held a choral scholarship for three years (2011-2014). She was a scholar on the Pembroke College Lieder Scheme, led by pianist Joseph Middleton, through which she received coaching from Roderick Williams, Joan Rogers and Sarah Connolly.
Now in demand as a soloist, Helen Charlston n appears regularly with orchestras and choirs worldwide. Engagements this year include W.A. Mozart's Requiem at the Three Choirs Festival (Philharmonia Orchestra/Simon Halsey), J.S. Bach's Matthew Passion (BWV 244) (Gabrieli Consort & Players/Paul McCreesh), J.S. Bach's Magnificat in D (BWV 243) (Auckland Philharmonia/Stephen Layton) and performances of George Frideric Handel's Messiah with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. She has sung at venues and festivals across the world including Festival de Pâques (Aix-en-Provence), Spitalfields Summer Festival, Ordway Centre for the Performing Arts (Minnesota) and Frankfurt Cathedral. She has been heard live on BBC Radio 3 in concert broadcasts, including Benjamin Britten's A Ceremony of Carols from St John’s Smith Square Christmas Festival, and as a guest on In Tune.
On the stage, roles have included Olga in Eugene Onegin, Florence Pike in B. Britten's Albert Herring, Ino in Semele, Sara in Tobias and the Angel (Dove) and Dinah in Leonard Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti. She created the role of Dido in the premiere of a new chamber opera based on Virgil’s writings about Dido: Dido is Dead, by young composer Rhiannon Randle. Her recital programmes have included Robert Schumann's Frauenliebe und –leben, B. Britten's Charm of Lullabies and Alban Berg's Sieben früher lieder as well as songs by Strauss, Johannes Brahms, Gabriel Fauré and Ravel.
Helen Charlston is also an experienced consort singer, appearing with many of the UK’s finest vocal ensembles including Polyphony (Director: Stephen Layton), Gabrieli Consort (Director: Paul McCreesh), London Choral Sinfonia and her own Amici Voices, which she founded in 2012. |
