Essential Information
| Type | Events and festivals |
|---|---|
| Location |
Queen's House
|
| Date and Times | Friday 27 September 2024 | 7pm-8.45pm |
| Prices | Adult: £30, Under 16s: £15 | Members / Patrons: £27, Under 16s Members: £13.50 |
| Discount for Members. Not a member? Join now |
Majesty and magnificence combine in this evening of Renaissance and Baroque music.
Inspired by the 17th century setting of the Queen’s House – commissioned by King James I and VI's queen, Anne of Denmark and finished for Queen Henrietta Maria – the concert brings together the talents of soprano Nardus Williams and lutenist Elizabeth Kenny.
Renowned for their lyricism and versatility, the performers will play works by composers including Nicholas Lanier, Pierre Guédron and Robert Johnson.
Expect the setting of the Great Hall to lift these musical masterpieces to new heights.
Tickets include a complimentary glass of Prosecco or soft drink (please specify when booking your ticket). Please note a £3 booking fee applies to all ticket orders.
Event information
Doors open: 6pm
Introduction to the Queen's House and the music by Royal Museums Greenwich curator and musicians: 7pm
Concert starts: 7.20pm
Interval: 7.55pm
Concert resumes: 8.10pm
Concert ends: 8.45pm
Performers
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Nardus Williams, soprano
Winner of the Rising Talent award at the 2022 International Opera Awards, Nardus Williams has established herself as one of the most exciting and versatile young British singers of her generation.
Highlights of the 2023/24 season include a return to Opéra de Rouen Normandie for concert performances of Donna Anna in Don Giovanni and a reprise of the role of Belinda in Errollyn Wallen Dido’s Ghost with Philharmonia Baroque.
The season also sees her make her Berlin Philharmonie debut with the Academy of Ancient Music, perform the world premiere of George Lewis’ The Comet / Poppea, and return to the London Handel Festival singing the title role in Handel's Esther.
She will also perform Bach's St Matthew Passion with The Bach Choir, Handel's Brockes Passion with The English Concert, Fauré's Requiem with Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and release her debut album of Handel's Italian Cantatas for Linn Records, with the Dunedin Consort.
Recent highlights include performing the role of Anne Trulove in The Rake’s Progress for the Glyndebourne Tour, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte for English National Opera, Countess in Le nozze di Figaro for Opera Holland Park, Ciboulette In the Market for Love for the Glyndebourne Tour, and performing in the world premiere of Dido's Ghost - a co-commission with the Dunedin Consort, Mahogany Opera & The Barbican.
On the concert and recital platform, recent recital highlights include Oxford Lieder, Leeds Lieder, Wigmore Hall, St. John’s Smith Square, making her BBC Proms debut with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and returning with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and La Nuova Musica, Handel’s Messiah at King’s Place and performing with English National Opera.
Image: Bertie Watson
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Elizabeth Kenny, lute
Elizabeth Kenny is one of Europe’s leading lute players. Her playing has been described as “incandescent” (Music and Vision), “radical” (The Independent on Sunday) and “indecently beautiful” (Toronto Post).
She has devised several critically acclaimed recordings of solo music from the ML Lute Book, and, with long standing vocal partners, songs by Lawes, Purcell and Dowland. Her most recent solo recording, Ars Longa (Linn Records) was nominated for the 2020 BBC Music Magazine Awards in the Instrumental category.
She has an extensive discography of collaborations with chamber ensembles across Europe and the USA. In 2017 Shakespeare Songs with Ian Bostridge and co-collaborators won the Grammy best solo vocal recital, and the same year viol consort Phantasm and Kenny won the Gramophone Early Music award for their recording of Dowland’s Lachrime.
Kenny founded Theatre of the Ayre in 2007. Their various touring projects have sealed a reputation for an innovative and improvisatory approach to seventeenth-century music. Notable recording projects include John Blow’s Venus and Adonis (Wigmore Live, 2011), The Masque of Moments (Linn, 2017) and 17th Century Playlist, with tenor Ed Lyon (Delphian).
In thirty years of touring Kenny has played with many of the world’s best period instrument groups, including extended spells with Les Arts Florissants and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. She has given premiere performances of solo and chamber pieces by James MacMillan, Benjamin Oliver, Heiner Goebbels, Rachel Stott and Nico Muhly.
Elizabeth Kenny has been professor of Lute at the Royal Academy of Music since 1999, and Dean of Students since 2020. She was Professor of Musical Performance at the University of Southampton, and Director of Performance and Performance Studies at the University of Oxford between 2012 and 2020.
Image: Bertie Watson
