The charismatic and versatile lyric soprano performs Shakespeare Songs and arias for voice and piano, with Jan Rautio and Charne Rochford.

Programme:

Amy Beach - Three Shakespeare Songs - voice

Prokofiev - Juliette as a young girl from pieces from Romeo & Juliette - Piano

Borja Mariño - World Premiere - A Prayer for a Goddess

Prokofiev - Montagues and Capulets from pieces from Romeo & Juliette - Piano

Verdi - Otello with tenor Charne Rochford

First act duet - Gia nella notte densa - with Nadine Benjamin and Charne Rochford

Third act aria - Dio mi potevi scagliar - Charne Rochford

Fourth act - Willow Song and Ave Maria - Nadine Benjamin

British lyric soprano Nadine Benjamin is a charismatic and versatile artist who is in increasing demand on both the operatic stage and the concert platform. She is also developing renown as a recitalist, particularly associated with Verdi, Strauss and contemporary American song.

Nadine made her Royal Opera House debut in 2020 as a soprano soloist in A New Dark Age, with works by Missy Mazzoli, Anna Meredith and Anna Thorvaldsdottir and her Glyndebourne Festival Opera debut in August 2021 in the title role in Luisa Miller. From 2018 to 2020, Nadine was an ENO Harewood Artist and made her debut with the Company as Clara (Porgy and Bess), followed by Musetta (La bohème), Laura (Luisa Miller) and Gerhilde (The Valkyrie) for ENO.

In concert, Nadine has performed Strauss’ Four Last Songs, Verdi’s Requiem, Poulenc’s Gloria, Berg’s Seven Early Songs, Dvorak’s Stabat Mater, Schubert’s Mass no. 5 and the soprano solos in Handel’s Messiah, Eternal Source of Light Divine and Mahler’s Symphony no. 4. Further performances include Barber’s Knoxville – Summer of 1915, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle, Dvorak’s Te Deum and Mendelssohn’s Elijah.

Nadine made her debut at the BBC Proms in 2019 as the soprano soloist in Vaughan Williams’ ‘Serenade to Music’ under the baton of Martyn Brabbins. She has performed frequently with Britain’s Chineke! Orchestra as well as Warwickshire SO, Norfolk SO, West London Sinfonia and The Waynflete Singers. Nadine has given numerous private recitals, most notably at the Palazzo Doria Pamphilj in Rome, and is known for her recitals at St Paul’s Church, Covent Garden.

An Ambassador for London Music Masters, Nadine was “highly commended” at the 2016 Aviva ‘Women of the Future Awards’ and invited to both Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street in recognition of her work as a mentor and singer. Nadine was made an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2021.

Nadine will be accompanied by Jan Rautio. Jan Rautio was born in Russia, grew up in London and was a scholar at both the Royal College of Music and at the Royal Academy of Music. His work as a pianist, composer and conductor has taken him to many performance venues across the UK, Europe, Russia and the USA. He has given numerous live broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 together with the Rautio Piano Trio, having established a reputation as a critically acclaimed chamber musician with the latter. In 2017 he was made Associate of the Royal Academy of Music for his services to music life in the UK.