Alexander Robin Baker, Baritone
Joseph
Middleton, Piano
Wednesday 18 May 2011
Programme
An Ferne Geliebte, Op.
98 Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827)
Zwölf Gedichte Von Justinus Kerner Op. 35
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
L'horizon chimérique
Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924)
Earth and Air and Rain, Op. 15
Gerald Finzi (1901 - 1956)
Winner of Second Prize at the 2008 Kathleen Ferrier Memorial Competition, Alexander Robin Baker was born in 1985 in Epsom, Surrey. He was a Music Scholar at the Royal Hospital School, Holbrook, graduated in July 2007 B.Mus. with first-class honours from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and then attending the Post Graduate Vocal Studies Course under the tuition of David Pollard. During his time at the Guildhall he took part in many Concerts and Masterclasses, most notably with Sir John Tomlinson, Graham Johnson and Sarah Walker, and sang Norton La cambiale di matrimonio.
Alexander Robin Baker has been kindly supported by the Maidment Scholarship administered by the Musicians Benevolent Fund and the Boise Scholarship, the former giving him the opportunity to take part in Masterclasses with Dame Ann Murray. Currently, he is supported by the Countess of Munster Trust and the Laurin and Arthur Glaze Trust.
He has appeared at the Oxford Lieder Festival and in an Opera Gala for Longborough Festival Opera, whilst his recent concert engagements have included Messiah for Lund University Chamber Choir, Sweden, Haydn Stabat Mater for Worcester Festival Choral Society and David Mathews’ Marina in the Composers’ Portrait series, broadcast live on Radio 3, as part of the 2007 BBC Proms. He has appeared at the Aldeburgh, Chipping Campden and Ponte de Lima, Portugal, Festivals, and has worked with the Brandenburg Sinfonia, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Ten Tors Orchestra, under conductors including Martyn Brabbins, Sir Andrew Davies, Simon Ible, Frank Ollu, Simon Over and Jeremy Silver. For Rambert Dance Company, he was baritone soloist in Eternal Light: A Requiem. In July 2009, he was the Baritone soloist in Italy with the Southbank Sinfonia in the Anghiari Festival in concerts celebrating the works of Handel, Mozart and Mendelssohn.
During 2009 / 2010, he sings Novice’s Friend Billy Budd for Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Edoardo L’Assedio di Calais and The Philosopher Chérubin at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Fauré Requiem for Croydon Philharmonic Choir, Howard Goodall’s Eternal Light: A Requiem for Billingshurst Choral Society, Messiah at Cadogan Hall, Mozart Requiem in Chichester Cathedral and A Sea Symphony for Durham Choral Society. He also sings Edward Harper’s Second Symphony with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, gives recitals for Pollok House Arts Society and at the Chelsea Schubert Festival with the Concordia Foundation, and makes his Dutch debut as Smirnov The Bear for the Nationale Reisopera RAP at the Grachtenfestival, Amsterdam.