A rising opera star is returning home to North Wales to perform at the launch at a top music festival.
Soprano Erin Rossington, from Llanfair Talhaiarn, in Conwy, will be performing on the opening night of the Wales International Piano Festival at Bangor University’s Neuadd Powis at 7.45pm on Thursday, October 16.
The celebrated singer, currently working with English National Opera in its London production of Carmen, will join world-renowned pianist Iwan Llewelyn-Jones, violinist Sara Trickey and cellist Rosie Biss for a showcase of French chamber music.
The concert will feature groundbreaking piano trios by Gabriel Fauré and Maurice Ravel alongside beautiful art songs and operatic arias by Pauline Viardot, Cécile Chaminade and Georges Bizet.
Erin said: “I’m really looking forward to being part of the concert. I’ll be singing pieces that are new to me — I haven’t sung anything by Cécile Chaminade before.
“With ‘English National Opera, I’ll be covering the role of Micaela from ‘Carmen’ which I sang at Buxton last year so I’ll be singing one of the arias from the opera on the night, and that’ll be lovely.
“I’ll also be singing a song by Pauline Viardot, a French mezzo-soprano and composer of Spanish descent. She wrote many songs and arranged some of them to Chopin’s Mazurkas and the I’ll be singing is called Aime Moi, or Love Me.
“It’s an interesting song which I first sung in an opera where I played the Ugly Step-sister at the Guildhall two or three years ago.”
Erin graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) and earned her postgraduate degree on the opera course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.
She was an Associate Artist last year at the Welsh National Opera (WNO) and during the season performed Cercatrice in Suor Angelica and Contessa in Le Nozze di Figaro. She also performed in the Opera Favourites and New Year Viennese concerts alongside the WNO Orchestra.
A regular on the competition platform she won Pendine International Voice of the Future at Llangollen International Eisteddfod and the prestigious Elizabeth Harwood Memorial Prize at the RNCM in 2019, and the W Towyn Roberts Scholarship at the National Eisteddfod two years ago.
Iwan Llewelyn-Jones, the Wales International Piano Festival’s Artistic Director, said: “For the first time one of our concerts is being staged at Bangor University’s iconic Neuadd Powis and it’s magnificent Steinway piano. It was acquired three or four years ago and it really is a very special instrument.
“The audience will have an opportunity way to hear some beautiful compositions by 19th century French composers and we’re very lucky to be able to call on the talents of Sara Trickey, who hails from Cardiff and works regularly with Rosie Biss, who is the principal cellist with Welsh National Opera’s orchestra.
“As a trio we will be playing an incredible piece by Ravel that was composed in 1914. It creates the sound of full orchestra for just three instruments – full of joy, fun, beauty and imagination. It’s edge of your seat music.
“Another highlight will be the work by Fauré who transformed the world famous Conservatoire in Paris from a place that offered dry, lacklustre education to a college that offered opportunities for all. His trio, one of his last works, is a very intense piece that draws you in.”
Following the concert at Bangor University the remainder of the festival will be staged at Galeri Caernarfon. The second day is a community themed day with an emphasis on popular music.
During the evening, the festival commission and education project ‘Madam Wen’ will be performed.
Scripted and narrated by Manon Wyn Williams and music composed by Guto Pryderi Puw the project commemorates the novel Madam Wen (White Lady) written by William David Owen.
The novel, published in 1925, tells the story of a female heroine, not dissimilar to the character of Robin Hood that lived on Anglesey in the late 19th century.
The concert features Côr Ysgol Gynradd Bodedern, Dewi Elis Jones on percussion, pianists Elain Rhys Jones and Angharad Wyn Jones and soprano Glesni Rhys Jones.
The remaining days of the festival are devoted to the three competitions. There are sections for pianists under 18 and those over 18 but under 26 and an accompanists prize which is open to all ages.
Workshops and masterclasses are also planned and on Saturday evening jazz pianist Gwilym Simcock will stage a solo concert.
Staging the festival has been made possible thanks to the support of funders, including Cymdeithas Elusennol Ynys Môn, Tŷ Cerdd, Colwinston Trust, Vaughan Williams Foundation, The Foyle Foundation, Gaynor Cemlyn Jones Trust, the Pendine Park care organisation via Pendine Arts and Community Trust and many individual and business sponsors as well as the annual revenue funding Canolfan Gerdd William Mathias receives from the Arts Council of Wales towards core costs.
More details about the festival online at www.pianofestival.co.uk Tickets are available from the Galeri Caernarfon website www.galericaernarfon.com or the Ticket Office on 01286 685222.
