Our patron, international tenor David Butt Philip, once again rifled through his little black book and persuaded three leading names from the opera world to forgo the top stages for 24 hours to come to Clapham to present an evening of glorious musical entertainment for St Paul’s Opera. Discover more about DBP here in an interview with Philip Hensher.
Joining David were a stellar line up of magnificent voices:
Rainelle Krause - coloratura soprano - has made the role of Queen of the Night (Königen) in Die Zauberflöte her speciality. To date she has performed the role with Bergen Nasjonale Opera, Opera Orchestre Montpellier Occitanie, Staatsoper Berlin Unter den Linden, and at The Metropolitan Opera (cover). She also brought her in-demand Königin to Royal Danish Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Theater Basel, Oper Köln, and North Carolina Opera. This season, she reprises her celebrated Königin in a return to the Royal Danish Opera and Berlin Staatsoper Unter den Linden, and makes her Dutch National Opera, English National Opera, and Nashville Opera débuts in the role. To discover more about Rainelle, read Ruthie Eastman’s interview here.
Alison Langer - lyric soprano - is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. Her recent roles have included cover Lilly / Student 2 in the acclaimed production of Innocence at the Royal Opera House, Gilda in Rigoletto at Opera Holland Park, Micaëla in Carmen and Rose in Street Scenes for Opera North and Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro and Adina in L’elisir d’amore at Waterperry Opera. This July, Alison will appear as Nedda with David BP as Canio in Opera Holland Park’s Pagliacci. The link to her interview with Dr Paul Gilluley can be found here.
David Stout - baritone - has a vocal background that includes Head Chorister at Westminster Abbey and the choir of St John’s College Cambridge before studying at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Roles have included Figaro, Leporello and Papageno. Forthcoming roles include Papageno The Magic Flute at ENO (singing alongside Rainelle in her role as Queen of the Night), Stárek Jenufa in Rome, Antwerp and Ghent, and Don Pasquale for Scottish Opera. David is also the author of the adventure novels: Eagle, Mountain, and Torrent from The Enlightened Series (available from Amazon). You can read more about David in the interview by Richard Lloyd Morgan. Just click here.
Our pianists for the evening were George Ireland and Jo Ramadan.
This special gala evening on Friday, 9th February really raised the roof of our home, St Paul’s Church in Clapham Old Town. The evening generated funds to help us stage our summer opera festival, Die Fledermaus. Pictures by Craig Fuller.
