On Wednesday 12 July,  we were very pleased to welcome  Olive Murray & Christopher Foreman to Brentwood Cathedral for a lunchtime Recital.

Wonderful singing from Olive Murray with excellent accompaniment on the piano by Christopher Foreman.

(b)    Et Exultate  (from the Magnificat)

(b)    Widmung

(b)    Love went a Riding

(b)     Cacilie

(b)   How fair this spot (Здесь хорошо) 

(b)    Heidenroslein

OLIVE MURRAY

Olive read history at Cambridge.  She has sung a variety of operatic roles including First Lady and Queen of the Night (Magic Flute); Constanza (Il Seraglio); Frasquita and Micaela (Carmen); Female Chorus (Rape of Lucretia); Anna (Nabucco); Zerlina and Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni); Zerbinetta (Ariadne auf Naxos); Margarita (Faust); Belinda (Dido); Fire, Princess & Nightingale (L’Enfant et les Sortileges); Adele (Die Fledermaus); Angelina (Trial by Jury); Violetta (La Traviata). Giorgetta (Il Tabarro); Miss Wordsworth (Albert Herring). She sang the role of ‘Prayer Singer’ in the production of Porgy & Bess and recently sang the role of Catherine of Aragon in Saint-Saëns opera Henry VIII.

She has gained considerable experience as a recital and oratorio soloist in Britain and abroad singing with many choral societies appearing at Southwark Cathedral, St.James Piccadilly, Fairfields Hall, in Germany and more recently recitals in Montreal. Her oratorio and concert performances include ‘C’ Minor Mass, Coronation Mass and Requiem (Mozart); Nelson Mass (Haydn); Jubilee Cantata (Weber); Messiah (Handel); Solemn Vespers (Mozart); Paukenmesse (Haydn)  and Vivaldi’s Gloria; recitals at St.James’ Piccadilly and St.Martin’s-in-the-Field, recently singing there the Pergolesi Stabat Mater.  She made her debut at the Queen Elizabeth Hall singing the Handel ‘Dixit Dominus’ and the Bernstein Mass.

CHRISTOPHER FOREMAN

Christopher studied at the Royal Academy of Music specializing in piano, piano accompaniment and organ. His professors included Jean Anderson, Rex Stephens, and David Sanger. There he won five prizes for piano, piano accompaniment and history, including the prestigious Tobias Matthay Award, as well as obtaining a 1st class diploma. He was awarded a scholarship for his postgraduate year.

He has given piano solo and duo recitals in London and elsewhere in the UK, including 11 concerts at St.James Piccadilly with an international violinist as well as organ recitals in Thuringia, Germany and at various venues in North London. Christopher has been an organist and choirmaster at several London churches. Whilst Director of Music at Shernhall Methodist Church, London he organised, trained the choir and played the organ for 12 full length choral concerts which attracted the pick of young operatic soloists from all over the UK. Since 2012 he is the organist and choirmaster at St. Paul’s, Winchmore Hill with a working repertoire of over 3,000 organ pieces.

In April 2017 he conducted a local choir in a performance of Fauré’s Requiem in Winchmore Hill. Christopher has a strong interest in lesser-known British music and has written several articles on the subject for the British Music Society. He is the leading authority on the music of Benjamin Dale, and the author of “Benjamin Dale—A Reassessment”, an extensive four-part essay.