Join us for Haydn’s radiant masterpiece The Seasons, sung in English and performed in the glorious surroundings of Smith Square Hall, London.
From the freshness of spring to the golden harvest of autumn and the stillness of winter, Haydn’s choral epic brims with joy, humour and drama. Packed with sparkling choruses, lyrical solos and orchestral brilliance, this is a life-affirming celebration of nature and the turning of the year. An unmissable evening of uplifting music in one of London’s most beautiful concert halls.
Soprano – Rowan Pierce
Tenor – Colin Judson
Bass – Morgan Pearse
Rowan Pierce - Soprano
Yorkshire born soprano Rowan Pierce received the President’s Award from HRH The Prince of Wales at RCM in 2017, the First Prize and Song Prize at the Grange Festival International Singing Competition and the Schubert Society singer prize. She was a Rising Star of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and a Harewood Artist at English National Opera.
She has appeared on the concert platform throughout Europe, North and South America with ensembles including the Academy of Ancient Music, Gabrieli Consort, Freiburg Baroque, Scottish Chamber, BBC Scottish Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestras. She made her debuts at the BBC Proms Festival and Wigmore Hall in 2017 and has subsequently returned to both.
Rowan appears frequently at Festivals in the UK and in Europe. Highlights include appearances in the Edinburgh International Festival with the English Concert and the RSNO, collaborations with Sir Thomas Allen and Christopher Glynn at the Ryedale Festival, Dame Anne Murray and Malcolm Martineau at the Oxford Lieder Festival and with Roger Vignoles at the Leeds Lieder Festival. Recent and future concerts include Israel in Egypt with the SCO, Messiah and the Creation with the Hallé, Christmas Oratorio with the Britten Sinfonia and concerts with Les Arts Florissants, Early Opera Company, Music of the Baroque, Irish Baroque and Florilegium.
Opera appearances include Miss Wordsworth / Albert Herring, Princess / L’enfant et les Sortilèges, Drusilla / L’incoronazione di Poppea, Susanna / Le nozze di Figaro, Belinda / Dido and Aeneas, Tiny / Paul Bunyan, and Papiria / Lucio Papirio Dittatore. Recent and future engagements include Oberto / Alcina (Glyndebourne Festival), Papagena (The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden) and Dede / A Quiet Place (Linbury at Covent Garden), Quivera / The Indian Queen (Opera de Lille, Opera du Caen and Opera du Luxembourg) under Emmanuelle Haim, Oberto (Staatstheater Stuttgart), Barbarina (Grange Festival, ENO and Nevill Holt Opera) and Galatea (Vache Baroque Festival).
Rowan’s discography includes Purcell ‘The Cares of Lovers (Lynn), Vaughan Williams Sinfonia Antartica with the RLPO (Onyx), King Arthur with the Gabrieli Consort (Signum), Acis and Galatea with the Early Opera Company (Chandos), Schubert Lieder with Roderick Williams and Christopher Glynn (Hyperion) and future releases include a disc of song by Roderick Williams on the Champs Hill label.
Colin Judson - Tenor
A frequent soloist at many of Europe’s major opera houses including the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Opera de Paris, Teatro dell’Opera in Rome and English National Opera, Colin Judson has established himself as one of the most sought-after character tenors of his generation.
Current and future engagements include a return to Royal Opera House as Spoletta Tosca , Goro Madama Butterfly and Don Basilio Le nozze di Figaro, Monostatos Die Zauberflöte and Snout A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Opera North, Bardolpho Falstaff for Glyndebourne Festival, Mime Siegfried for the London Opera Company and Steuermann in Der Fliegende Höllander for Opera Holland Park.
Other recent appearances include Monostatos Die Zauberflöte at Royal Opera House, Old Prisoner From the House of the Dead at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Funeral Director A Quiet Place for Opéra National de Paris, Don Basilio and Don Curzio Le nozze di Figaro with Glyndebourne Festival and Mime in Wagner’s Siegfried for the Grimeborn Opera Festival.
Other appearances have included the multiple roles of Youth, Hotel Porter and Guest Death in Venice, Pang Turandot, Snout A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Kunz Vogelgesang Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Night Porter Death in Venice at the Royal Opera House, Vogelgesang Die Meistersinger, Gamekeeper Rusalka, Bardolfo Falstaff, Squeak Billy Budd and the Schoolmaster Cunning Little Vixen with the Glyndebourne Festival, Spoletta Tosca, Don Basilio Le nozze di Figaro and High Priest of Amon Akhnaten for English National Opera, Flute A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Opera North, Mime Siegfried for Longborough Opera Festival, Opéra National du Rhin, Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, Lisbon, Laca Jenůfa for Pacific Opera Victoria, Dr Caius Falstaff for Garsington Opera, Bob Boles Peter Grimes for Bergen National Opera and Pedrillo Die Entführung aus dem Serail for Cologne Opera. He’s worked with Teatro Real Madrid, Der Nationale Opera Amsterdam, Opera de Lyon, Scottish Opera, Edinburgh Festival, Finnish National Opera and Oper Köln. Judson works extensively in contemporary opera, credits including creating the role of Andrew in Harrison Birtwistle’s The Last Supper and performing in Richard Thomas’s ‘Kombat Opera’ series for the BBC.
His acclaimed portrayal of the role of Sellem The Rake’s Progress has taken him from Caen, Reims, Limoges, Luxembourg Opéra de Rouen Normandie, Scottish Opera to Turin’s Teatro Regio. He performed the role of Kuzka Khovanshchina with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Monostatos Die Zauberflöte and Goro Madama Butterfly both with Opéra de Toulon.
Colin Judson studied at the Guildhall School of Music and made his first professional appearances with British Youth Opera and English Touring Opera.
Morgan Pearse - Baritone
Morgan Pearse is one of the most exciting baritones of his generation. He studied at the Royal College of Music where he won the Lies Askonas Prize and Gold Medal at the Royal Over Seas League Competition. He was a member of the Houston Grand Opera Studio and subsequently made his UK debut at ENO singing Figaro / Barber of Seville. Recent and future opera highlights include Figaro / Le nozze di Figaro, Papageno / Die Zauberflöte and Araspe / Tolomeo (Staatstheater Karlsruhe), Sid / Albert Herring (Buxton Festival), Belcore / L’Elisir d’Amore and Figaro / Barbiere (New Zealand Opera and the State Opera of South Australia), Enrico / Lucia di Lammermoor (SOSA) and Opera Holland Park, Ned Keene / Peter Grimes (Auckland Philharmonia), Figaro / nozze (Opernhaus Zurich), baritone in Idalma (Innsbruck Festival of Early Music), La Serva Padrona with Pinchgut Opera, Papageno (Russian National Orchestra), Achilla/Giulio Cesare on tour with the English Concert and Scarpia / Tosca for Opera Holland Park. Concert highlights include a solo recital at Wigmore Hall, concerts with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, English Concert, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, Gabrieli Consort, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Academy of Ancient Music, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, King’s College Choir Cambridge, Bach with the Adelaide Symphony, Messiah with the Melbourne Symphony, RSNO, London Handel Festival and the Sydney Philharmonic Orchestra.
Howard Ionascu - Conductor
After a degree in music at Manchester University, Howard’s diverse career began as a professional singer in Wells Cathedral Choir, performing on many recordings, broadcasts and international tours.
Choral conducting began in 1997 when he founded The Laudate Choir, which continues to perform regularly in venues across the south east of England. Howard is also Musical Director of the Exeter Philharmonic Choir.
Past conducting roles have included Bournemouth Sinfonietta Choir, Finchley Children’s Music Group Trebles Choir and The Esterhazy Singers of London. Howard is also in regular demand as a guest rehearsal conductor, and in recent years has worked with Choir of the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich, Orlando Chamber Choir, City of London Choir, Rodolfus Choir, Guildford Choral Society, Winchester Philharmonic Choir and on Eton Choral Courses.
Howard has conducted a number of the leading UK orchestras and ensembles, including Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, London Mozart Players, English Chamber Orchestra, City of London Sinfonia, New London Orchestra and Onyx Brass.
Howard has a long association with music education, having led departments at some of the UK’s finest educational establishments and directed the choirs at Winchester College, King’s Canterbury and Junior Royal Academy of Music.
