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Suffolk singer returns to sing Dido with the Bury Bach Choir

Clare Presland, born and brought up in Bury St Edmunds, is coming home to sing the title role in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, with the Bury Bach Choir, on Saturday 15 June at The Apex.

Described by the Times as ‘mesmerising with an intensity that almost sears the flesh’, Clare is a former winner of the Chilcott Award and has firmly established herself on the international operatic and concert platforms.

Dido and Aeneas, an opera which the choir will perform in concert format, recounts the love of Dido, Queen of Carthage, for the Trojan hero Aeneas, and her despair when he abandons her, having been tricked and lured away by the evil Sorceress and her attendant witches. ‘When I am laid in earth’, Dido’s lament, expresses her grief before she kills herself and is one of the most plangent and moving operatic arias of all time.

Clare trained at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama and ENO’s Opera Works. She says ‘I started singing because I wanted to act! So, when I discovered the world of opera and that the most incredible music was married with theatre it excited me beyond belief’.

Clare’s recent and future engagements include Page in Salome for English National Opera, her debut at Théatre des Champs Elysées as Annina in La Traviata, her main-stage debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and a return to Opera Holland Park in a title role.

For Dido and Aeneas, the Bury Bach Choir will be joined by five other excellent soloists and the Suffolk Baroque orchestra.

Clare is very much looking forward to the concert and the Choir is delighted to welcome her home.

‘I feel so blessed to have been brought up in Bury St Edmunds and I have some glorious memories. It’s a very special place. I’m still as close as ever to my school friends and the continued support I have had from so many Suffolk folk from the moment I started singing is something I will continue to cherish - thank you!’

Tickets for the concert, priced from £15, can be purchased through the choir's website www.burybachchoir.co.uk, by visiting the Apex Box Office, or by calling the Apex on 01284 758000.









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