Selected by Opera Now as amongst ‘Who’s Hot’ for her performance as Galatea in Aci e Galatea at the London Handel Festival, the mezzo-soprano Clare Wilkinson was born in Manchester. She was a Choral Scholar at Trinity College, Cambridge, where she read Classics and furthered her studies with Hazel Wood at Trinity College of Music, London. She now enjoys collaborations with many distinguished conductors and ensembles, appearing at the world’s major concert hall venues from the Hong Kong Cultural Center to Lincoln Center New York, and from the Amsterdam Concertgebouw to the Royal Albert Hall, London. Conductors with whom she has worked include Harry Bicket, Salvador Mas Conde, Laurence Cummings, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, David Hill, Nicholas Kraemer, Charles Olivieri-Munroe, Andrew Parrott, Christophe Rousset, Daniel Reuss, Bart Van Reyn, Markus Stenz and Michael Willens in performances with the City of London Sinfonia, the English Baroque Soloists, the English Concert, Florilegium, the Gürzenich Orchester Köln, Die Kölner Akademie, the Malaga Philharmonic Orchestra, the Manchester Camerata, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Swedish Baroque Orchestra.
Her stage work has additionally included Zinnia / L’Étoile at the Opéra Comique, Paris, and the Théâtre de Nîmes, Galatea / Acis and Galatea at the Trigonale Festival, Austria,Penelope / Una Odissea with Accordone at the Schwetzingen Festival, Venere / Il Ballo dell’Ingrate with I Fagiolini at the BBC Proms and Second Witch / Dido and Aeneas andAriel / The Tempest on a tour including the Cité de la Musique, Paris, the Opera de Lyon and the Petronas Twin Towers, Kuala Lumpur and Second Witch / Dido and Aeneas at the Opéra de Dijon. With I Fagiolini, she also appeared in Ed Hughes’ The Birds, and The Full Monteverdi, a staged sequence of Madrigals, which achieved nearly ninety performances during 2004 – 2007 and was also filmed for DVD.
Clare enjoys chamber music, working regularly with Fretwork, in repertoire ranging from early to contemporary music, and the Rose Consort of Viols. Her recording of Messiah with the Dunedin Consort on Linn gained a GRAMOPHONE award, and her recordings further include J. S. Bach St Matthew Passion, also with the Dunedin Consort on Linn, Josquin Desprez Motets & Chansons and Verdelot Madrigals for a Tudor King with Alamire (Obsidian), Fire and Ashes, Flaming Heart and Sweet Torment - Music by Monteverdi - with I Fagiolini (Chandos), Fire and Ice andA Songbook for Isabella with Musica Antiqua of London (Signum), Four Gentlemen of the Chapel Royal with the Rose Consort of Viols (Signum) and The Silken Tent with Fretwork (Commmons). Most recently released are Welt, gute Nacht - music by J. C. Bach – with John Eliot Gardiner and the English Baroque Soloists (Soli Deo Gloria), the reconstruction of the J. S. Bach St Mark Passion with Die Kölner Akademie (Carus Verlag),J. S. Bach Trauermusik - Music to Mourn Prince Leopold – with Andrew Parrott and the Taverner Consort & Players (Avie, Gramophone Critic’s Choice for 2011), Chamber Vespers – Miniature Masterpieces of Italian Baroque – with The Gonzaga Band (Chaconne) and The Wode Collection with the Dunedin Consort (Linn).
Recent and current engagements include David Lang’s Pulitzer Prize-winning The Little Match Girl Passion with Cryptic Theatre Company, La Musica & La Speranza / L’Orfeo with the Taverner Players, J. S. Bach Cantatas with Capella Augustina and the Israel Camerata, the Christmas Oratorio with the Orquesta Ciudad de Granada and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the St John Passion and Vivaldi Stabat Mater with the Manchester Camerata, the St Matthew Passion with the Bachkoor Holland, Octopus Chamber Choir and Orchestra and Washington National Cathedral Choral Society, Messiah with the Academy of Ancient Music, the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, the Netherlands Bach Society and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vivaldi Gloria at the Gdansk Music Festival and projects with Alamire, the Arion Consort, the Dunedin Consort, I Fagiolini, Fretwork and Melopoetica.
http://www.clarewilkinsonmezzo.co.uk
Please note that this biography is not to be used for programmes. Current information is available on request.