Maidenhead Choral Society
Soloists
The sololists for Alexander's Feast on November 19, were Gabriela Di Laccio (Soprano), Nick Madden (Tenor), Simon Whiteley (Bass) and Ryan Leonard (Organist)
Gabriela Di Laccio
www.gabrieladilaccio.com
BIOGRAPHY
Lyric coloratura soprano Gabriela Di Laccio was born in Brazil and shares both Italian and Brazilian nationalities. She began her singing career under the guidance of the Brazilian soprano Neyde Thomas and graduated with Distinction from the University of Music and Fine Arts of Paraná – Brazil. Whilst still at college, Gabriela joined the Guaira Theatre Opera Company (Brazil) to make her professional debut as Barbarina in The Marriage of Figaro. Her early success continued as she was offered a place as a soprano solist at the the Camerata of Curitiba – Opera and Concert touring group with whom she performed extensively throughout her native country for many years as a soloist. Gabriela continued her education at the Royal College of Music in London, where she gained Post Graduate Diplomas (PGDip) in Performance-Opera and as an Early Music Specialist. She is also the winner of the Araucaria Foundation Scholarship Award (Brazil), Peter Pears Prize and Richard III Prize for concert singers (UK).
Operatic roles include Adina/L’Elisir d’Amore (Guaira Opera Company-Brazil), Despina/Cosi fan Tutte (Inverno Musicale – Bordighera), Cleopatra/Giulio Cesare (Capela Strumentale - Brazil), Adele/Die Fledermaus (Camerata of Curitiba); Zerlina/Don Giovanni (Camerata of Curitiba), Susanna/Le Nozze de Figaro (Guaira Opera Company – Brazil), Nayade/ Platée (Megharon Opera House – Athens), Semele/Semele (Britten Theatre), First Witch/Dido & Aeneas (English Bach Festival), La Musica/Orfeo (Camerata of Curitiba/English Bach Festival), Norina/Don Pasquale (Accademia di Voghera Festival).
Gabriela is also an experienced and accomplished concert artist. She performs regularly as a solo recitalist and as a member of various chamber groups covering a wide-ranging repertoire from baroque to contemporary music. As a soloist, her work has included Bach’s B Minor Mass, St. John’s Passion and St. Mathew’s Passion, Handel’s Messiah and Dixit Dominus, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Mozart’s Exultate Jubilate , Haydn’s Creation, Orff’s Carmina Burana among many others.
In concerts, Gabriela has appeared at the Wigmore Hall, St John’s Smith Square and Purcell Room among others. As a performer of the baroque repertoire she has sung with the Amaryllis Consort, Florilegium. Il Festino, Capela Strumentale, Di Profundis, Baroque Orchestra of Mercosur amongst others. Gabriela Di Laccio has also established an important reputation performing Latin American Classical repertoire, including works by Villa-Lobos, Carlos Gomes, Camargo Guarnieri, Guastavino, and Lorca among others in several solo concerts in the UK and abroad.
Nick Madden (Tenor)
Nick moved to England from New Zealand to take up the position of Tenor Layclerk at Ely Cathedral in 2005, and then moving to St George’s Chapel, Windsor in 2007. Since arriving in the UK, he has sung as tenor soloist for Sir Colin Davis in Bach’s St Matthew Passion and as a visiting soloist for a variety of choirs around Cambridgeshire and the Home Counties, with works including Bach Magnificat, Bach St Matthew Passion, Rossini Petit Messe Solenelle, Handel Messiah, Mendelssohn Elijah, Bruckner Te Deum, Stainer Crucifixion and Wood St Mark Passion.
In addition to singing daily services and singing regularly for the Royal family at both private and state occasions in the Royal Chapel, Nick travels widely around the UK and Europe, singing with a variety of early music groups and chamber choirs. Some of these include Polyphony, Tenebrae, Alamire, Gabrielli Consort, BBC Singers, The Dutch Radio Choir, London Voices, Philharmonia Voices,
Opera Rara (ENO). Nick is also a founding member of The Queen’s Six of Windsor Castle.
Simon Whiteley (Bass)
Simon is currently a Bass Lay Clerk at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. From here he forges a solo and consort singing career.
He started his musical life as a chorister at York Minster, and has since held Choral Scholarships at Lichfield Cathedral and Royal Holloway, University of London. It was at Royal Holloway that Simon gained a First Class mark for the Performance part of his Music degree, and an Upper Second Class degree overall. He was also awarded the Pompilia Legge Scholarship, and the Driver Prize for excellence in the Performing Arts. From Royal Holloway, Simon moved to Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford as a Lay Clerk, and then on to St George’s, Windsor in March 2007.
Simon has performed a large number of major oratorio and operatic roles, including Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s St John Passion (Christus and Pilatus), Haydn’s Creation and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (Aeneas). He also sings with a number of choirs in and around London, the BBC Singers (with whom he has sung as a soloist) and Polyphony being perhaps the most notable. He is the Bass in the six-piece a capella group The Queen’s Six, and a member of the baroque group The Rococo Consort. He is recorded as a soloist with James Bowman and Fiori Musicali on the CD Zelenka: Requiem in C Minor.
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