Mezzo-soprano: Carris Jones

/in

New Paths is thrilled that Carris Jones sings in the 2018 festival. We are honoured to have the history-making mezzo-soprano on the roster. In 2017 Carris ‘broke a glass ceiling’ by becoming the first full-time female singer in the choir of St Paul’s Cathedral. Read the story here. We are proud that Carris is the latest in a line of brilliant musicians from St Paul’s appearing in the festival (in our inaugural year Simon Johnson, the organist of the cathedral gave the recital ‘…A la mémoire…’ and last year bass baritone Edward Grint, a colleague of Carris in the cathedral choir, sang in A Retrospective).

Carris is singing some stunning songs in the festival. Hear her sing:

  1. ‘The Seal Man’ by Rebecca Clarke in Stories and Sagas on Thursday 5th April
  2. Britten’s ‘Cabaret Songs’ and Thomas Hyde’s ‘Larkin Songs’ in Larkin’ About on Thursday 5th April
  3. the world premiere of Diana Burrell’s ‘Two English Folk Songs’ in Footsteps Through the Snow on Thursday 5th April
  4. ‘Efterskord’ by Stenhammar in Viking Virtuosity on Friday 6th April
  5. Folksongs arranged by Britten in At Sixes and Sevens on Friday 6th April
  6. ‘King David’ by Howells in Songs of Praise on Sunday 7th April

This news item is published during World Women’s Week 2018. And so it is perhaps striking that the first song on the list – The Seal Man by Rebecca Clarke – is based on a Celtic myth which reverses the genders of the Greek myth of the Sirens. The legend is of a seal who takes on the form of a man in order to lure women to their death in the sea.

Don’t miss tales of mermen and so much more in Beverley this spring!