{"id":3663,"date":"2017-04-08T14:31:49","date_gmt":"2017-04-08T13:31:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eso.co.uk\/?p=3663"},"modified":"2017-04-08T14:31:49","modified_gmt":"2017-04-08T13:31:49","slug":"soprano-april-fredrick-appointed-as-first-eso-affiliate-artist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/festivalmontpeyroux.com\/eso\/soprano-april-fredrick-appointed-as-first-eso-affiliate-artist\/","title":{"rendered":"Soprano April Fredrick Appointed As First ESO Affiliate Artist"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u00a9www.jr-photos.com.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The ESO (English Symphony Orchestra\/English String Orchestra) have announced the appointment of American-born soprano April Fredrick as the orchestra\u2019s first Affiliate Artist. Fredrick will be one of several leading artists to work with the ESO in long-term partnership as part of the new scheme.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorking in collaboration with our fellow artists has been one of the biggest contributing factors to the ESO\u2019s success over the last few years,\u201d said ESO Artistic Director Kenneth Woods. \u201cWe\u2019ve always believed that it\u2019s better to build strong working relationships with soloists and composers we respect and enjoy working with over time than to simply populate our concerts with a bunch of one-off appearances by artists who, however gifted, never spend enough time with the orchestra to really create a rapport.\u201d<\/p>\n

April Fredrick: \u201cI first heard the ESO\u2019s recordings many years ago as a teenager in Wisconsin, and I was struck then by its passion, flexibility, and precision. As a performer, I have found the orchestra a sheer joy to work, and I am absolutely delighted to have the chance to develop that relationship further. I have also been deeply impressed by the vibrancy and power of its performances, full of an equal depth of thought and feeling, under Kenneth Woods. I am incredibly excited at the prospect of being able to collaborate long-term with such wonderful and dynamic thinkers and musicians to re-imagine old works and models and create new ones that speak afresh to today\u2019s world\u201d.<\/p>\n

Woods also explained that the new scheme is about more than simply inviting the same artists to appear over and over again on concerts. \u201cThe Affiliate Artist scheme is about strategic and creative partnership. It\u2019s about finding artists we can work with to commission new works, develop new projects, reach new audiences and create new recordings.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of Fredrick\u2019s most ambitious projects with the ESO is \u201cThe Hour of Love and Death\u201d- an immersive multi-media staging of Shostakovich\u2019s 14th<\/sup> Symphony in which Fredrick is appearing as soloist alongside current ESO Artist-in-Association Matthew Sharp and serving as Executive Producer. \u201cA large part of my inspiration to create The Hour of Love and Death came from knowing Matthew and April as singers,\u201d said Woods. \u201cIn fact, the very first project April and I did was a performance of Shostakovich 14. I could immediately see that she was one of those rare sopranos who have the voice for this formidable work, but that she also brings communicative gifts, movements skills and theatrical presence to the piece that opened up the possibility of taking this work to a whole different level. The same is true of Matthew Sharp, who also brings vast experience as a theatrical and operatic director to the project. In her capacity as Executive Producer, April has further expanded the project\u2019s creative scope and public engagement. This is exactly the sort of strategic cooperation that I hope the new Affiliate Artist scheme will help us develop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fredrick made her debut with the ESO in the arias from Beethoven\u2019s Incidental Music to Goethe\u2019s Egmont in 2015 and created a nationwide sensation among critics and music lovers when she sang the title role in the world premiere performance and Somm recording of John Joubert\u2019s opera Jane Eyre <\/em>in 2016. More recently, she gave the London premiere of Philip Sawyers\u2019 Songs of Loss and Regret<\/em>, a performance of which Robert Matthew-Walker wrote in Classical Source that \u201ca considerable compliment was paid to the composer by the exceptional April Fredrick who sang superbly throughout without a score. For an artist of this quality to memorise the music is itself an indication of her view of the work\u2019s stature.\u201d Her upcoming ESO projects also include Mahler\u2019s Fourth Symphony with Kenneth Woods in February, 2018.<\/p>\n

Hailed as \u2018astonishing and luminous\u2019 (Bachtrack), soprano\u00a0April Fredrick<\/strong> grew up in rural Wisconsin and trained first as a violinist before studying voice at the University of Northwestern St Paul in Minnesota. She went on to study at the Royal Academy of Music, where she gained an MMus in Vocal Performance and a PhD on the late songs of Ivor Gurney, singing with the Historical Performance department under Laurence Cummings, premiering works by Academy composers, and frequently appearing as part of the Lyric Song Salon.<\/p>\n

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Her first two discs on the SOMM label, of Barber\u00a0Knoxville: Summer of 1915<\/em>\u00a0and Copland\u00a08 Songs of Emily Dickinson\u00a0<\/em>with the Orchestra of the Swan and\u00a0Earth\u2019s Call<\/em>, John Ireland songs with pianist Mark Bebbington, have been described as full of \u2018humane and vulnerable\u2019, with \u2018creamy timbre and velvet strength\u2019, (MusicWeb), where \u2018not the slightest distance can be felt between her and the texts\u2019 (Gramophone).<\/p>\n

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Other recent performances include Barber\u00a0Knoxville: Summer of 1915<\/em>\u00a0with the Cheltenham Symphony Orchestra, Mahler\u00a0Symphony 4<\/em>\u00a0with the Warsaw Philharmonic, the world premiere of Philip Saywer\u2019s\u00a0Songs of Loss and Regret<\/em>\u00a0with the English Symphony Orchestra (forthcoming on Nimbus Records) in Hereford Cathedral, and Strauss\u2019s\u00a0Vier Letzte Lieder<\/em>\u00a0with the Blackburn Symphony Orchestra.<\/p>\n

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Upcoming work includes, Brahms Requiem <\/em>and Strauss\u2019\u00a0Vier Letzte Lieder<\/em>\u00a0with the Nottingham Harmonic Society and the world premiere of a new song-cycle by David Matthews.<\/p>\n

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What the press are saying about April Fredrick- soprano<\/p>\n

\u2018a\u00a0lyrically\u00a0gleaming\u00a0soprano<\/strong>, soaring rapturously on Joubert\u2019s singer-friendly lines.\u2019\u00a0John Allison, DailyTelegraph<\/u><\/p>\n

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\u2018a perfectly-formed voice, fearless in melisma, bright at the top and reflective in descent<\/strong>. She really did embody Charlotte Bronte’s heroine<\/strong>.\u2019\u00a0Christopher Morley,\u00a0Birmingham Post<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u2018<\/em>Fredrick was an outstanding Jane – independent, fiery, poetic<\/strong>‘\u00a0Rob Barnett,\u00a0<\/u>MusicWeb International<\/u><\/em><\/p>\n

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\u2018A splendid, strong-willed Jane\u2026terrific dramatic sense, reflected both visually and vocally\u2026 utterly riveting\u2026passion and utter conviction\u2026quite fabulous, variable voice, powerful and expressive right across the range<\/strong>\u2019\u00a0Roderic Dunnett, Music and Vision<\/u><\/p>\n

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\u2018April Fredrick gleams in the title role\u2019\u00a0Erica Jeal,\u00a0<\/u>The Guardian<\/u><\/em><\/p>\n

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\u2018April Fredrick\u00a0captured the development of the character well<\/strong>, and made all the words tell.\u00a0Her voice is warm and attractive across a wide range<\/strong>\u00a0and the resolve of the character shone through’.\u00a0Alexander Campbell, Classical Source<\/u>
\n\u2018This was a marathon for April Fredrick<\/strong>, the soprano who took the role of Jane,\u00a0but she finished as strongly as she started<\/strong>. It was her show on the platform and rightly so: not only vocally, but visually too, how you might imagine Bront\u00eb\u2019s heroine to be, she was\u00a0an ideal Jane<\/strong>\u00a0(but far from Bront\u00eb\u2019s \u2018plain\u2019 Jane)…These are her strengths, essential in an opera singer \u2013 characterization abilities allied to a solid register<\/strong>.\u2019\u00a0Geoff Read, Seen and Heard International<\/u><\/p>\n

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‘The American soprano April Fredrick was simply breathtaking as Jane<\/strong>;\u00a0intonation, phrasing and sheer musical understanding demonstrated that she is a soprano of whom there is nothing to suggest she will not pursue a <\/strong>leading international career<\/strong>.\u2019\u00a0Robert Matthew-Walker,<\/strong>\u00a0Musical Opinion<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Contact:
\nFor any media enquiries, interview and image requests, please contact Melanne Mueller, melanne@musiccointernational.com, +44 (0) 20 8698 6933 or +1 917 907 2785<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The ESO (English Symphony Orchestra\/English String Orchestra) have announced the appointment of American-born soprano April Fredrick as the orchestra\u2019s first Affiliate Artist. Fredrick will be one of several leading artists to work with the ESO in long-term partnership as part of the new scheme. \u201cWorking in collaboration with our fellow artists has been one of … <\/p>\n

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