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Tea With… Songs from the Shows
Wed 30 September, 4pm
You are not too late to book an E-ticket for this event, or a tea – to be delivered directly to your door – to accompany it.
The response to our last tea was so tremendous that we thought we would do another one, but this time it will be beamed directly from the Ramsey Room at Clonter into your sitting room, and both singers, and pianist, will be in the same place at the same time!
All participants in this project are old friends of Clonter. Catrin Woodruff not only took part in the Education Workshops and Friends Evening in 2017, the Masterclasses in 2019, she also performed in the last tea before Lockdown, so some of you will have met her already. Mark Nathan also took part in the Education programme and Friends Evening in 2018, captivating the audience with his portrayal of Sweeney Todd.
We are delighted to unite them both with the incomparable support of Mr Robin Humphreys at the piano.
If you are not able to see the show at 4pm on 30th September, the show will be available until 7th October.
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Tea With… Songs from the Shows – Promo
(To book an E-ticket for this show, please scroll down.)
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Mark Nathan – Baritone
Mark Nathan was a 2019-20 Scottish Opera Emerging Artist. This season, he was invited to sing Starveling A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Mr Goldbury Utopia LTD and Giuseppe The Gondoliers for them. In May 2019, Mark sang the role of Joseph de Rocher in the staged UK premiere of Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking for which he received outstanding critical acclaim. Opera Magazine wrote “Mark Nathan had the right blend of meanness and machismo for Joe, a role that showed off his handsome baritone and equally handsome pectorals”.Bachtrack described his performance as “Barnstorming…his full baritone giving an edge of dangerous unpredictability”. He went on to cover the role at Welsh National Opera and Israeli Opera. Mark’s previous operatic roles include title-role Don Giovanni and Marcello La bohème with Opera Loki; Papageno Die Zauberflöte with Hampstead Garden Opera; Rabotnik The Fiery Angel with Scottish Opera; Joseph de Rocher Dead Man Walking, Le Directeur Les Mamelles de Tirésias, Death Savitri at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Mark studied at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s Alexander Gibson Opera School with Scott Johnson, having graduated with distinction from a vocal Master’s at London’s Royal College of Music where he studied with Roderick Earle, Peter Savidge and Tim Evans-Jones. He has also studied and taken masterclasses with notable singers such as Simon Keenlyside, Rosalind Plowright, John Tomlinson and Susan Bullock. Mark is also a keen lyricist. His debut musical, Riptide: The Slasher Musical, garnered an award from the Musical Theatre Network, after a successful Edinburgh Fringe run in 2014. Since then he has written several other musicals. He has also written a collection of children’s poems: Riddle Me This, which has been set to music by Ronald Corp for the New London Children’s Choir.
Full Biog – https://www.mark-nathan.com
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Catrin Woodruff – Soprano
Sussex-based Welsh soprano Catrin Woodruff has recently completed her studies at The Alexander Gibson Opera School at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where she studied with Wilma MacDougall and was a grateful recipient of funding from the RCS Trust, The Countess of Munster Trust and the Sir James Caird Travelling Scholarship Trust. She previously studied at the Royal Northern College of Music and the University of York. Catrin is a Samling Artist. Operatic roles include Belinda Dido and Aeneas, Thérèse Les Mamelles de Tirésias (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland), Eltruda The Masque of Alfred, Beatrice Much Ado About Nothing (Northern Opera Group), Carolina Il Matrimonio Segreto, Elvira L’Italiana in Algeri (Pop-up Opera), Susanna Le Nozze di Figaro (Opera dei Lumi), Dido Dido & Aeneas (Brighton Early Music Festival), and Kate Pinkerton Madama Butterfly (Bergen National Opera). Catrin was the winner of the Norma Grieg French Song Prize at the RCS in 2018 and was runner-up at Llangollen Musical Eisteddfod International Voice of the Future 2017. Equally at home on the concert platform, recent oratorio engagements include Britten’s War Requiem at York Minster, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle with the Liverpool Welsh Choral Society, Haydn’s Nelson Mass with RCS Voices, Vaughan Williams’ Sea Symphony with Eastbourne Choral Society and Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with Thomas Coats Memorial Choral Society. Catrin appeared with Edvard Grieg Kor in a recent tour of Peter Grimes with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra under Ed Gardner, which has also been recorded for release on the Chandos label in 2020. Forthcoming engagements include an online recital for Lewes Festival of Song, Cupid Venus & Adonis for Mid Wales Opera and Procris Céphale et Procris for Ensemble OrQuesta.
Full Biog – https://www.catrinwoodruff.com
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Robin Humphreys – Accompanist
Robin Humphreys is a graduate of the University of Birmingham and a holder of the prestigious Diploma in Professional Performance from the Royal Northern College of Music, where he studied piano accompaniment with David Lloyd. Appearing in concert both as a soloist and an accompanist for over 35 years, he now pursues a successful career as an accompanist and répétiteur, the breadth of his repertoire being reflected in television and radio broadcasts ranging from BBC Radio 3 to Emmerdale! At the RNCM, Robin is a senior music coach within the School of Vocal Studies, for whom he was also chief répétiteur on the majority of college productions from the late 1990s until 2013. He has appeared with the Manchester Camerata in the world premiere of “A Feast of Fables” by Paul Reade, has been Musical Director for Feelgood Theatre Productions and, from 1990-2000, Opera & Concert Productions (Worldwide) Ltd with whom he toured throughout the Gulf, the Indian sub-continent and the Far East. Robin has a particularly close association with Clonter Opera Theatre in Cheshire, where he regularly works as Assistant Musical Director and accompanist. He is also an accompanist member of the British & International Federation of Festivals.
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‘Pay What You Feel’ Policy
Having presented our digital outreach programme for free thus far, sadly as this situation has gone on much longer than we thought, we now feel that we must adopt a mechanism that is helping keep the prospect of theatres reopening globally a possibility, and that is to ask that any future content is purchased on a ‘Pay What You Feel’ basis.
E-Tickets £5, £10, £20, FREE for Friends and Patrons of Clonter
Become a Friend – https://www.clonter.org/support-us/become-a-friend/
There is no booking fee applicable for these events.
The link to the performance will be detailed on your ticket, which will be emailed to you.
This event will be available until Wednesday 7th October.
In addition, a tea is available to be delivered to your door, to accompany your viewing of this event. To book a tea, please call the Box Office on 01260 224 514 on Wednesdays or Fridays, 10am – 4pm, or email boxoffice@clonter.org by Friday 25th September.
Menu – https://www.clonter.org/tea-with-songs-from-the-shows-menu/
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