Charles Daniels (tenor)

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Charles Daniels is an English tenor, particularly noted for his performances of baroque music. He is a frequent soloist with The King's Consort, and has made over 25 recordings with the ensemble on the Hyperion label. [1]

Contents

Biography

Born 1960 in Salisbury, Daniels attended the choir school at King's College, Cambridge where he was a chorister, [2] then Winchester College for his secondary education. [3] He returned to King's College for his university education, where he was a choral scholar, [4] reading Natural Sciences and Music. After taking his degree, he studied under Edward Brooks at the Royal College of Music in London where he was awarded a Foundation Scholarship. [5]

His concert and recording repertoire extends from the Middle Ages to 20th-century composers such as Luigi Nono and Benjamin Britten. In December 2001, he was the tenor soloist in a performance of Wojciech Kilar's Missa pro pace, performed in the Vatican in the presence of Pope John Paul II. [6] However, he is best known for his interpretations of baroque music, and in particular for the role of Evangelist in the St Matthew Passion and the St John Passion by J. S. Bach. In 2016 he was being considered as "probably the world's best Evangelist". [7] Daniels has made frequent concert appearances at Wigmore Hall and the BBC Proms in addition to performing frequently in both European and North American music festivals.

His opera performances have included Purcell's The Fairy-Queen at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, the New York City premiere of Lully's Atys and the title role in Monteverdi's L'Orfeo for its Montreal premiere at the Montreal Baroque Festival; the festival subsequently released a recital disc with Daniels singing excerpts from L'Orfeo and songs by John Dowland and other composers of the period. [8] He also won praise for his singing in the role of 'An Attendant on Pleasure' for the Hyperion recording of Handel's operatic oratorio The Choice of Hercules . [9]

He was for sixteen years a member of the early music vocal ensemble the Orlando Consort. [10]

In addition to conducting master classes at the Montreal Baroque Festival, Daniels teaches early music performance practice at the Ringve Museum's International Summer Course in Norway. [11]

Recordings

Daniels has made over 80 recordings as a soloist, including:

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References

  1. Discography, Hyperion Records (accessed 2 October 2007)
  2. "Meet Tenor Charles Daniels". Melbourne Symphony Orchestra . Retrieved 9 December 2020.
  3. "Julian Smith, baritone singer who became director of Chapel Music and the Quiristers of Winchester College – obituary". The Telegraph . London. 8 April 2019. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
  4. "The Saint Cecilia Petition", PN Review, vol. 6(5)
  5. Official biography on Hazard Chase Music Management Archived 24 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine (accessed 2 October 2007)
  6. Czerwińska, I., Mass for Peace, The Warsaw Voice, 16 December 2001. (accessed 1 October 2007)
  7. "CD reviews".
  8. Montreal Baroque Festival [ permanent dead link ]; Rockwell, John, "Reviving an Opera, a Reputation and a Style", The New York Times , 19 May 1989; Rockwell, John, "A Fairy Queen Transformed at Aix", The New York Times, 15 July 1989. (accessed 1 October 2007)
  9. "The 2003 Handel Recording Prize" Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine (accessed 1 October 2007)
  10. "The Orlando Consort" (accessed 13 September 2008)
  11. Faculty profile [ permanent dead link ], Ringve Museum's International Summer Course (accessed 2 October 2007)