Performer Profile
Frances Bourne
Frances studied at Trinity College‚ Cambridge and The Royal Academy of Music‚ where she won many of the singing prizes.
Most recent and upcoming engagements include the central role in Rachel Portman’s new piece The Water Diviner’s Tale at the BBC Proms‚ a New Year’s Eve Gala concert with the Manchester Camerata featuring works from The Truth about Love‚ Rosina Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Opera Holland Park‚ Jane in the premiere of Micha Hamel’s Snow White with Nationale Reisopera in Holland‚ Waltraute in their new Ring Cycle‚ Hansel Hansel and Gretel‚ Hermia A Midsummer Night’s Dream‚ Stephano Roméo et Juliette‚ Louhi in Jonathan Dove’s Death on Swan River‚ Kitchen Boy Rusalka and Anna Maria Stuarda for Opera North‚ Fox The Cunning Little Vixen at Grange Park‚ Gymnasiast/Groom/Theater-Garderobiere Lulu in Geneva and Armando Le Grand Macabre at La Monnaie in Brussels.
Other appearances include Sorceress Dido and Aeneas and Puck in Weber’s Oberon under Sir John Eliot Gardiner‚ Junon in Charpentier’s Acteon at Aldeburgh with Emmanuelle Haïm‚ Judith Weir’s The Consolations of Scholarship with Kokoro‚ Handel’s Oreste at the Linbury‚ Covent Garden‚ Irene Tamerlano for the 20th anniversary of the Cambridge Handel Opera Group‚ Cherubino at Grange Park and Pitti Sing The Mikado with Nationale Reisopera.
In great demand on the concert platform Frances Bourne has sung with many of Europe’s leading conductors‚ including Harry Christophers‚ Sir John Eliot Gardiner‚ Emmanuelle Haïm‚ Andrew Manze‚ Sir Neville Marriner‚ Sir Roger Norrington and Trevor Pinnock. Recent oratorio performances include Messiah (Harry Christophers and The Sixteen)‚ Tippett A Child Of Our Time (Huddersfield Choral Society)‚ Pergolesi Stabat Mater (Hanover Band)‚ Mozart C minor mass and Bach B minor mass (Gloucester Cathedral)‚ and Dvorak Stabat Mater (Winchester Cathedral). She has appeared with the Northern Sinfonia‚ Manchester Camerata‚ the City of London Sinfonia‚ and the English Chamber Orchestra and has recently released recordings of Mozart Requiem (European Chamber Orchestra)‚ Copland In the Beginning (Gloucester Cathedral Choir)‚ and Bach Cantata 148 and Puck Oberon both with Gardiner. Her debut solo CD‚ The Truth about Love‚ a collection of cabaret songs by Britten‚ Martinu and Weill‚ has just been released on Sony BMG Masterworks.
A keen recitalist‚ she has performed for New Kent Opera with Gary Cooper‚ at the Buxton Festival with Malcolm Martineau‚ and as artist in residence at the Presteigne Festival. Recent concerts include St Matthew Passion with London Symphony Chorus at the Barbican‚ Mozart C Minor Mass with the Huddersfield Choral Society‚ St John Passion with The Sixteen in Granada and various concerts in the Three Choirs Festival.
