Hark Sweet Music: Handel’s Water Music and Purcell’s Fairy Queen.
NZ Barok has three Auckland concerts coming up this May featuring two of the most beloved musical treasures from the Baroque in all their glory on baroque instruments, Handel’s Water Music and Purcell’s Fairy Queen. The orchestra comprises leading baroque specialists from all over New Zealand performing with instruments and playing styles of the time, breathing fresh life and vitality into baroque and classical masterpieces.
There will be a theatrical element to their performance of the music from Purcell’s sparkling Fairy Queen semi-opera. Violinist and NZ Barok’s co-artistic director Miranda Hutton has carefully selected parts of the work to produce what she describes as a spectacular and unique performance including music, singing, and spoken elements. Along with the NZ Barok strings, there will be recorders, trumpets, a bassoon, percussion, narrator Erin Atchison and talented New Zealand soprano Jayne Tankersley will join NZ Barok singing Purcell’s famous “Let me weep” alongside other evocative Purcell arias.
NZ Barok thanks Pub Charity, Four Winds Foundation, The Violin Workshop, Dame Jenny Gibbs and NZ Barok Supporters for their generous support of these concerts.
“… authentic, classy and spirited performances… I certainly look forward to any future opportunities to hear NZ Barok.” – Tony Ryan, RNZ Concert
“NZ Barok are a revelation… the distinctive sound of their authentic instruments in perfect balance.” – Theatre Review
Introducing Greta Claringbould, soprano soloist for NZ Barok's Midwinter Christmas Concert by Candlight, Saturday 28 June, 7.30pm, St Luke’s Church, Remuera, Auckland.
Greta Claringbould (nee Mark) is a Baroque soprano who performs with purity, warmth and precision. Born in New Zealand but now based near Canberra, Australia, she has carved a niche into the world of Baroque music, beguiling audiences with her natural execution of florid coloratura and expressive vocal timbre.
Growing up on a sheep and cattle farm near Cambridge, Greta’s cherished memories of her first musical experiences, shared nigh on three decades ago, are with Helen and Catherine Polglase at the Waikato Secondary School's Orchestra. Despite an initial focus on playing strings, Catherine vividly remembers Greta "always singing"!
A late bloomer in voice, before evolving into a celebrated soprano, Greta first gained a BMUS (Hons) in performance Viola and was a professional orchestral violist, also leading the Violas in the New Zealand National Youth Orchestra. At the same time she sang with the Wellington Cathedral Choir and later took on the noble task of shaping young voices as Director of Canberra Children's Choir. However eventually Greta's lifelong enduring love of singing saw her retrain as a soprano and pursue a career in Baroque voice. Greta attributes her string background as advantageous to mastering phrasing, coloratura and a sense of holistic, cohesive ensemble as a vocalist.
Passion and aptitude for Baroque music has guided Greta to the position of principal Soprano Soloist with Canberra Bach Ensemble and a founding member of Ad hoc Baroque, a trio dedicated to performing esoteric Baroque chamber works. In 2017 the trio gave the antipodean premiere of Brunetti's 1764 Stabat Mater reviving a once forgotten masterpiece.
Greta’s performances have also taken her to prestigious local and international festivals including Europe where she has sung works by Bach, Handel and Pergolesi et al. Whether she’s soaring through the pages of Bach’s Magnificat or rendering Handel’s Messiah to life, she does so with a unique pure tone.
When not enchanting audiences, Greta shares her expertise as a private vocal coach, helping aspiring singers develop their own voice and style. With a career that blends virtuosity, passion, and a deep love for Baroque music, Greta Claringbould continues to be a shining and rising vocal artist in the baroque music world.
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