Abigail Kelly

Abigail Kelly is an English soprano opera and concert singer.

Abigail Kelly
Born
Birmingham
OccupationOpera singer (soprano), voice teacher/vocal coach/actress
Years active2006–present
Websitehttp://www.abigailkellysoprano.com

Early life and education

Kelly was raised in Birmingham, England. She had an interest in the performing arts from a very young age, and cites her experiences at a dance school in Birmingham as having had a formative impact on her life.[1] She completed her undergraduate studies at Birmingham Conservatoire with a first-class honours degree studying under Maureen Brathwaite. While at the Conservatoire she was awarded "a First Class Bachelor of Music degree, the Robert Gahan Award for achievement by a first-year singer; and the highest marks in her year".[2] Kelly has also won the Leamington Spa Festival's Rae Woodland opera competition, and received additional financial assistance to further her operatic training from the Peter Moores Foundation, English Touring Opera (ETO) and Chris Ball.[3] Following her undergraduate studies, Kelly completed her Post Graduate Diploma course in operatic studies at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow under the tuition of Helen Lawson.[3]

Career

Kelly's oratorio performances include Mozart's Vespers and Mass in C minor, Haydn's The Creation, John Rutter's Mass of the Children and Handel's Messiah. Her operatic roles include Amour in Rameau's Pygmalion, Helena and Juno in Purcell's The Fairy Queen, and Belinda in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. Kelly has toured with the British Youth Opera in Italy, France and London, performing in the choruses of La bohème, Don Giovanni and Eugene Onegin.[3]

Kelly has performed with English Touring Opera as Despina in Così fan tutte and as a member of the chorus in Simon Boccanegra, Don Pasquale, Il tabarro, La clemenza di Tito and The Siege of Calais.[3] Also, she has been part of the company's educational programme, "Midnight Moon", and her account of her involvement appears on the ETO's website as well as in the Birmingham Post, where she also describes the experience: "In these kinds of projects I get to connect with the audience in a way that you can't when you're performing an opera on stage....To be able to sing and interact so closely with people with such profound disabilities is a very special thing."[4][5]

Also with ETO, she sang the role of Fido in Benjamin Britten's Paul Bunyan in February 2014 where one reviewer noted that "in a company show with no weak links every singer deserves praise, though if pressed I'd have to single out Mark Wilde's Johnny Inkslinger, Abigail Kelly's dog Fido and Caryl Hughes".[6] while another stated that: "There was a notably fine, passionate performance from Abigail Kelly as Fido..."[7] and a third, Nick Kimberely in Opera stated that "the stars of this production turn out to be two cats Poppet (Emma Watkinson) and Moppet (Amy J. Payne), and a dog, Fido (Abigail Kelly)".[8]

She is featured in ETO's video production of life on tour.[9]

Her performances in new works include actress/singer soloist in Luca Francesconi's Lips, eyes…..bang with the Thallein Ensemble at Birmingham Conservatoire for which she received critical acclaim and Shirley J. Thompson's Spirit of the Middle Passage realizing the role of Dido Elizabeth Belle at Queen Elizabeth Hall with the London Philharmonia. In Richard Chew's Mary Seacole, The Opera, she played the roles of a young Jamaican girl and Mrs Grant, and sang in Mass Carib by Felix Cross as part of the Greenwich and Docklands Festival with Nitro Theatre Company. She was a featured artist during the Bollington Festival 2009, performing the role of Sara in Jonathan Dove's Tobias and the Angel, and the roles of Bess, Clara and Selena in a concert version of Porgy and Bess.[3]

Kelly has also toured internationally performing as a featured artist with Opera South Africa and the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra at the Capital Arts Festival at the South Africa State Theatre. She has performed in Jamaica, Hungary, Montserrat, Grand Cayman, Luxembourg, Poland and toured Germany as part of the Arianna Consort.[3] Kelly also appeared in the role of Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro presented by the Opéra de Baugé in France in Baugé-en-Anjou during the summer 2014 and reprised the role at the Rose Theatre, Kingston upon Thames in November of that year.[10]

In June 2014, Kelly sang at the House of Commons in London during "Birmingham Day".[11]

In March 2017 she performed in Girl Behind The Glass at Midland Arts Centre in Birmingham.[12].

She performed in July 2017 at "They Also Served", honouring Caribbean servicemen in World War 1.[13]

In October 2017 Kelly sang in a concert performance of Porgy and Bess by the Crouch End Festival Chorus at the Barbican Centre in London,[14][15] and she sang Pamina in The Magic Flute in November 2017.[16]

Kelly sang Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro, Theatre Royal, Norwich in May 2018.[17]

In September 2018 Kelly sang spiritual songs at a Birmingham Church Ancestral Celebration Service.[18]

References
  1. Christopher Morley, "Soprano Abigail Kelly proud of Birmingham", Birmingham Post, 25 April 2014. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  2. Ros Dod, Birmingham Post, 3 October 2008, on thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  3. "Biography" on abigailkellysoprano.com. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
  4. Abigail Kelly, "Midnight Moon in Luxembourg", 12 July 2011, on englishtouringopera.org.uk. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  5. Christopher Morley, "Abigail Kelly: I'd love to bring opera to new audiences", Birmingham Post, 28 June 2013. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  6. Mark Valencia, "Paul Bunyon (ETO)", What's On Stage, 20 February 2014, on whatsonstage.com. Retrieved 5 October 2014
  7. Hugo Shirley, "Why is Tippett's King Priam so difficult to love?", The Spectator (London), 1 March 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2014
  8. Nick Kimberley, "Paul Bunyan", Opera (London), April 2014, Volume 65, No. 4.
  9. English Touring Opera. "Inside Opera: Live – On Tour With English Touring Opera".
  10. Cast details from the 2014 production of Le nozze di Figaro Archived 6 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine on operadebauge.co.uk. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  11. Jonathan Walker, "Birmingham Day sho.wcases progress in city's creative quarter", Birmingham Post, 23 June 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  12. Richard Whitehouse, "Girl Behind the Glass | REVIEW | A piece about sexual assault", The Cusp, 20 March, 2017.
  13. "Abigail performs at ‘They Also Served’ honouring Caribbean servicemen in WW1", Abigail Kelly Soprano website.
  14. "Crouch End Festival Chorus: Porgy and Bess", Barbican, 20 October 2017.
  15. Sam Smith, "Porgy and Bess @ Barbican Hall, London", Music OMH, 20 October 2017.
  16. Graham Rogers, "The Magic Flute review at Soho Theatre, London – ‘an infectious sense of fun’", The Stage, 13 September 2017.
  17. Eve Stebbing,"Review: The Marriage of Figaro, Theatre Royal, Norwich", Eastern Daily Press, 4 May 2018.
  18. Poppy Brady, "Birmingham Church Celebrates Ancestors At Special Service", The Voice, 26 September 2018.
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