Biography
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Years Active
2003 – present (21 years)
Alisdair Hogarth - director/piano
Anna Leese - soprano
Jennifer Johnston - mezzo soprano
Tim Mead - countertenor
Andrew Staples - tenor
Jacques Imbrailo - baritone
The Prince Consort, founded in 2003 by British pianist Alisdair Hogarth, is an outstanding ensemble of six internationally recognized and versatile young artists: Anna Leese (soprano), Jennifer Johnston (mezzo soprano), Tim Mead (counter tenor), Andrew Staples (tenor), Jacques Imbrailo (baritone) and Alisdair Hogarth (piano). Their mission is to showcase song repertoire for different combinations of voices with piano in a fresh and innovative way. Contemporary works are an important part of their repertoire, and they have given a number of world premieres of works by composers including Ned Rorem and Stephen Hough. They were named in The Observer's Best Classical Music of 2010.
It was whilst studying at the Royal College of Music (in Prince Consort Road, behind the Royal Albert Hall) in London, that the six became friends and began to perform together as an ensemble, making their debut at the Purcell Room in 2004. Since then, through the past decade, they have garnered outstanding reviews for their work, and have appeared regularly at the Wigmore Hall, the Southbank Centre and the Aldeburgh, Oxford Lieder, Cheltenham, Brighton and Perth Festivals.
They have recorded two very successful albums for LINN Records - their first, On an Echoing Road (songs by Ned Rorem), was Gramophone Editor’s Choice and won an International Record Review Outstanding Award. Their second album, Other Love Songs, was released in 2012 and features both sets of Brahms’ Liebeslieder alongside a new commission by pianist and composer Stephen Hough; Alisdair Hogarth is joined at the piano by both Philip Fowke and Stephen Hough for this disc.
Recent performances have included, at the Wigmore Hall, Brahms’s Liebeslieder with Graham Johnson, the world premiere of Stephen Hough’s Other Love Songs, the world premiere of Ned Rorem’s Sonnet 144 as part of a Rorem recital, and a recital of Great Schubert Songs. They have also given the European premiere of Ned Rorem’s Evidence of Things Not Seen at the Oxford Lieder Festival, Brahms’s Liebeslieder at the Cheltenham Festival, an American Song residency and recital at the Aldeburgh Festival and appearances on BBC Radio 3 programmes In Tune and The Choir. They recently made a very successful debut at Het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, broadcast live on Dutch National Radio.
Future engagements include their own American Song series at the Wigmore Hall, Facing Forward Looking Back, and appearances in major festivals across the UK. They will record their third disc for Linn Records, of Jake Heggie’s songs, and will collaborate with Jason Rebello, Gwilym Simcock, Cheryl Frances Hoad.
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