Ralph Vaughan Williams – Fantasia on Christmas Carols
Benjamin Britten – Ceremony of Carols
Jonathan Dove – I am the Day
Gerald Finzi – In terra pax
Amy Carson – Soprano
James Geidt – Baritone
Hugh Webb – Harp
Musica Tamesis Orchestra
Amy Carson - Soprano
Born in Bristol, Amy was the youngest of the first girl choristers at Salisbury Cathedral. Since graduating from Trinity College Cambridge, Amy went on to study at the Royal Academy of Music. She has appeared as a soloist in venues such as the Royal Albert Hall, Versailles, and the Concertgebouw (Monteverdi Choir), Champs Élysées and Wigmore Hall (Early Opera Company), the Barbican (Bach’s Matthew Passion), and St John’s Smith Square (La Nuova Musica and Gabrieli Consort). She features on recordings with Solomon’s Knot (Sony), London Mozart Players (Convivium), and on Nick Cave’s album Carnage.
Highlights of Amy’s career include: Pamina (in a film of Mozart’s The Magic Flute directed by Kenneth Branagh); Title Role in The Cumnor Affair (Tête à Tête Opera); Musetta in La Boheme (conducted by Nick Collon); The Spirit in Dido and Aeneas (alongside Magdalena Kožená); and Newspaper Seller and Strolling Girl in Death in Venice (The Queen Elizabeth Hall conducted by Richard Hickox).
Amy enjoys performing throughout the South West and has recently established a vocal ensemble The Echoing Air in her home town Bruton. With The Echoing Air, Amy has performed the title roles and co-directed Handel’s Acis and Galatea and Purcell’s Fairy Queen. She recently appeared as Second Woman in Somerset Opera’s production of Dido and Aeneas in Taunton Museum and as soloist in Matthew Coleridge’s Requiem in Gloucester Cathedral.
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.
