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Born in Manchester into a family of musicians, mezzo-soprano Clare Wilkinson read Classics with a choral scholarship at Trinity College, Cambridge before moving on to Trinity College of Music, London to study voice with Hazel Wood.
Clare Wilkinson now enjoys a busy concert career with many distinguished conductors and ensembles. In particular, she has performed in many of the world’s major concert venues, from the Hong Kong Cultural Center to the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and the Royal Albert Hall, with Sir John Eliot Gardiner and The English Baroque Soloists. With them she has sung J.S. Bach’s alto cantata BWV 170 (Vergnügte Ruh), St Matthew Passion (BWV 244), St John Passion (BWV 245), Magnificat (BWV 243) and B Minor Mass (BWV 232) and Johann Christian Bach’s alto lament Ach, daß ich Wassers gnug hätte, Georg Frideric Handel’s Dixit Dominus and Purcell’s The Tempest. The Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248) is to follow later this year.
Other Baroque highlights include: G.F. Handel’s Messiah with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/Laurence Cummings at the Lincoln Center and the Royal Festival Hall; J.S. Bach’s St John Passion (BWV 245) at Sheffield City Hall with the Manchester Camerata/Nicolas Kraemer; J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248) at the Theatre des Champs Elysées, Paris, with Les Talens Lyriques/Christophe Rousset; the St John Passion (BWV 245) at the Köln Philharmonie with the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln/Markus Stenz; J.S. Bach’s B Minor Mass (BWV 232) and St Matthew Passion (BWV 244) with the Swedish Baroque Orchestra in Sweden and Norway; the St Matthew Passion (BWV 244) with The Dunedin Consort/John Butt and with Florilegium/David Hill; and Antonio Vivaldi’s cantata Cessate, omai cessate and J.S. Bach's cantata BWV 54 (Wiederstehe doch der Sünde) under the direction of Margaret Faultless.
Having given her first concert with Musica Antiqua of London at the age of seventeen, Clare Wilkinson is equally at home with viols. She performs around the UK and Europe with The Rose Consort of Viols; a CD, "Four Gentlemen of the Chapel Royal", has recently been released. She also sings with Fretwork in a repertoire that includes both early and contemporary music; Duncan Druce and John Joubert have both been commissioned to write song cycles for them. A wide ranging CD, "The Silken Tent", will be launched at the Wigmore Hall in February 2009.
Clare Wilkinson also enjoys stage work; she is a member of I Fagiolini (winners of The Royal Philharmonic Society Ensemble Award 2006), and with them has been part of John La Bouchardière’s ground-breaking ‘secret theatre’ opera project The Full Monteverdi (now out on DVD, trailer at youtube.com) which clocked up nearly 90 performances, including a run at the Lincoln Center, New York; also the newly commissioned opera The Birds by Ed Hughes and the group's trademark staged madrigal comedies. With John Eliot Gardiner she has sung Second Witch in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Zinnia in Chabrier’s L’Etoile. With Laurence Cummings she sang Galatea in the London Handel Festival‘s 2008 production of Aci, Galatea e Polifemo. Clare was recently named in Opera Now's Who's Hot listing. A new theatre project with John la Bouchardière, based around Dowland songs, is planned for 2009, alongside Fretwork and two dancers.
Other future engagements include the B minor Mass (BWV 232) at the Kennedy Center, Washington DC, the Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248) with the English Baroque Soloists/John Eliot Gardiner, G.F. Handel's Messiah with The English Concert/Harry Bicket, J.S. Bach's St Matthew Passion (BWV 244) at the Bridgewater Hall with the Manchester Camerata/Nicholas Kraemer and also at the Sage Gateshead and Guildford Cathedral, a tour and recording of the St Matthew Passion (BWV 244) with the Purcell Quartet, two USA tours, an Israel tour and numerous concerts with Fretwork, and many varied projects with I Fagiolini, from Luciano Berio to Byrd. See the Schedule page on her website for more details.
Clare Wilkinson features on numerous recordings. Newly released "Four Gentlemen of the Chapel Royal" with The Rose Consort of Viols has received excellent reviews in Gramophone and International Record Review. Before this came a Gramophone Award-winning Messiah and critically acclaimed St Matthew Passion (BWV 244), both with the Dunedin Consort/John Butt. "Fire and Ice" and "A Songbook for Isabella", both with Musica Antiqua of London. She has recorded Josquin chansons with Andrew Lawrence-King (harp) and Verdelot chansons with Lynda Sayce (lute), both under the banner of Alamire/David Skinner. Recordings due for release in 2008-9 include "Cruel Amour" (airs by Sebastien le Camus) with the Maresienne Consort, "The Silken Tent", a mixed recital disk with Fretwork and J.C. Bach’s alto lament Ach, daß ich Wassers gnug hätte for John Eliot Gardiner/English Baroque Soloists. |
