An evening song recital with Sarah Fox (Soprano) & Muriel Phillips (Piano)

Programme

Die Forelle           Franz Schubert 

Ganymed    

Auf dem See

La Courte Paille       Francis Poulenc

Jardins sous la pluie    Claude Debussy (Piano solo)

The Salley Gardens      Benjamin Britten 

Early One Morning   

Last Rose of Summer 

The Ash Grove

Autumn Leaves        Mercer/Kosma

Somewhere        Leonard Bernstein

Miss Otis Regrets      Cole Porter

The Tale of the Oyster      Cole Porter

Waltz of my Heart      Ivor Novello

Sarah Fox - Soprano

Born in Yorkshire, Sarah Fox is one of the leading English sopranos of her generation. She was educated at Giggleswick School,London University and the Royal College of Music. A former winner of the Kathleen Ferrier Award and the John Christie Award, she is also an Honorary Fellow of Royal Holloway College, London University. She is equally at home in many musical genres including opera, folksong and musical theatre.

Roles at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, include Micaela in Carmen, Asteria in Tamerlano, Zerlina in Don Giovanni and Woglinde in Der Ring des Nibelungen. Other highlights include Asteria in Munich and Barcelona (opposite Domingo); Zerlina at Glyndebourne and in Cincinnati; Woglinde for Salzburg and Aix-en-Provence Festivals; Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro for Glyndebourne and The Royal Danish Opera; Ilia in Idomeneo with De Vlaamse Opera; and Mimi in La bohéme for Opera North. Other roles include Servilia (La clemenza di Tito) and Ellen Orford (Peter Grimes).

Sarah’s concert career takes her worldwide. Highlights include engagements in Denver, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Minneapolis, New York, San Francisco, Tel Aviv and Tokyo, as well as tours throughout the UK, Europe and Scandinavia. She works with many of the world’s leading orchestras including the Academy of Ancient Music, Berlin Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Symphony, Concerto Cologne, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Gulbenkian Orchestra, the Halle, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Philharmonia and the Vienna Tonkünstler Orchestra with conductors including Elder, Hickox, Mackerras, Manze, Petrenko, Rattle and Tovey. She has appeared several times at the BBC Proms, the Edinburgh Festival and the Three Choirs Festival and is a regular guest with the Classical Opera Company and at London’s Wigmore Hall where she recently performed with Graham Johnson as part of their 120th Anniversary.

Sarah sings frequently with John Wilson and his Orchestra and has performed concerts with Rufus Wainwright throughout Europe and Hong Kong. She is a regular guest on BBC Radio 2’s ‘Friday Night is Music Night’ and was a judge on the second series of BBC TV’s ‘The Choir: Sing While You Work’ with Gareth Malone.

Her discography includes the title role in the world premier recording of Parry’s Judith (Chandos); Aminta in Il re pastore, Poulenc Songs (with Malcolm Martineau), The Cole Porter Songbook and Mahler’s Symphony No.4 (Philharmonia/Mackerras) for Signum Classics; Vaughan Williams’s Symphony No.3 (Halle/Elder) for the Halle label; Vaughan Williams’s Dona nobis pacem (Colorado Symphony Orchestra/Litton) and Poulenc Songs (with Graham Johnson) for Hyperion; Mozart’s Requiem(London Mozart Players/Malcolm Archer) for Convivium; volumes two and three of the complete survey of Sir Hubert Parry’s English Lyrics for Somm; Leighton’s Symphony No.2 (BBC National Orchestra of Wales/Hickox) for Chandos; ‘That’s Entertainment’ (John Wilson Orchestra/Wilson) for EMI Classics; ‘Cole Porter in Hollywood’ (John Wilson Orchestra) for Warner Classics; and Vaughan Williams’s A Sea Symphony (RLPO/Andrew Manze) for Onyx.

Muriel Phillips (Piano)

Muriel began her musical education in Bedford, England. She won a Junior Exhibition at the age of eleven to the Royal College of Music, studying both the Piano and the Violin. She later studied Piano at the Royal Northern College of Music and concurrently took a Music degree at Manchester University (the Joint Course).    On leaving the RNCM, Muriel was awarded the Clifton Helliwell Memorial Prize.  Muriel returned to the Royal College of Music in London as a Postgraduate Accompanist and won several major accompaniment prizes, becoming a Wall Trust Scholar. At the RCM, she gained her ARCM (PG) and was later awarded a ‘Geoffrey Parsons Junior Fellowship in Keyboard Accompaniment’, studying with John Blakely.

She has performed widely as an accompanist in both the UK and abroad.  Concert venues have included London, Italy, Switzerland, Norway, India, Sweden, Egypt, Cyprus and Berlin. Muriel accompanied James Rutherford in their Wigmore Hall debut and has also performed in recitals on cruise ships.  She has performed in the presence of HRH the Prince of Wales on a number of occasions and accompanied singers at a dinner commemorating Placido Domingo’s twenty-five years at the Royal Opera House.  Muriel is in demand as an accompanist for recitals, competitions, choral societies and a wide variety of audition work. She was Head of Piano at Charterhouse School in Surrey and taught Piano at Eton College in Berkshire.  She has also taught and given masterclasses in the USA.

Muriel has been an ABRSM (Associated Board of Royal Schools of Music) Examiner for many years, and her busy examining schedule has included many tours to international venues. She is a Trainer and Moderator, and also undertakes examinations for the Jazz Syllabus and Diploma level candidates.