#MiddayMusic presents Elliot Gresty (clarinet) and Katie Coventry (mezzo soprano)

This week our Young Artists Elliot Gresty (clarinet) and Katie Coventry (mezzo soprano) performed for #MiddayMusic. You can watch their videos below. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to catch James Davison (jazz trumpet) perform next Monday, and Emily Mitchell (trumpet) perform next Wednesday.  Details of their repertoire can be found in the details section on YouTube.  All of our #MiddayMusic videos can be watched on our exclusive playlist.

Elliot Gresty: Ending the summer on a good note

“It was nice putting on a suit again,” says Elliot following his recent final Masters recital at the RCM. “Normally you’d give your final performance to an audience, but it was great to perform live again, even if the only applause came from the panel of three judges! I’m now looking forward to settling into my new London home and moving forward with my music career.

A couple of other cool things to happen this summer include taking part in an audition for the National Orchestra of France. The performance itself was brief – I had just four minutes to impress the panel behind a protective screen – but I was lucky in that Paris had just begun to lift its lockdown, so I got to visit lots of art galleries without all the usual tourist crowds while I was there.

The other event I’m delighted to have been involved in was a live interview for the Radio 3 In Tune show with Katie Derham, who’s also the face of the BBC Proms. I chose to perform a relaxing drivetime piece: Solo de Concours by Rabaud for the 5 o’clock show, and got to talk about all the great stuff the Musicians’ Company does. (Listen here: the interview begins at around 31′).

For my #MiddayMusic piece I play the Four Characteristic Pieces by the English composer William Hurlstone (1876-1906), a promising talent who sadly died far too young.”

You can find out more about Elliot on the Musicians’ Company young artists page.

 

Katie Coventry: Singing her way across Europe

Scottish Mezzo-Soprano Katie Coventry has been singing her way to socially-distanced audiences across Europe in recent months. “I was in Salzburg for a couple of months for the Salzburg Festival where I sung 2nd Maid in Strauss’ Elektra. It was pretty amazing to be involved in the festival’s 100-year anniversary along with conductor Franz Welser Möst and the Vienna Philharmonic, especially in the current circumstances.

Sadly, being part of the festival meant cancelling my September projects in Scotland because of the introduction of quarantine for arrivals from Austria so I stayed in Salzburg before heading to Vienna. I’m now preparing to start rehearsals for a new production of the Marriage of Figaro at the Theater an der Wien where I’ll play Cherubino.

For my #MiddayMusic concert I’m performing Mendelssohn’s Sechs Lieder Op.63 with soprano Hazel McBain and pianist Eun Jung Lee, two huge talents currently at the Salzburger Landestheater. It’s one of a number of online concerts I’ve given for arts organisations including The Opera Story, for whom I delivered a short song with Alice Privett and Anthony Flaum inspired by lockdown called ‘The One With The Skype Call’.”

You can find out more about Katie on the Musicians’ Company young artists page and at katiecoventry.com