Bury Bach Choir blog

A welcome return for Tom Asher The Bury Bach Choir is delighted that Tom Asher will be back to sing with us on 15 June at The Apex, taking the co-title role of Aeneas in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas , which we are performing in concert format. Yorkshire baritone Tom makes regular appearances with the Bury Bach Choir - a recent alumnus of ENO’s Opera Works, he studies with our Co-President, Graeme Danby, who also sings regularly with us. Tom is a graduate of the University of Durham and the Royal Northern College of Music and won several awards and competitions, including the John Cameron Prize for Lieder. Looking forward to the June concert, Tom says ‘I’m delighted to be back in Bury St Edmunds, singing with the Bury Bach Choir who have tremendous energy and spirit, both on and off stage; it’s always a treat to perform with them!’ During the 2017/18 season, Tom toured the role of Count Robinson in Cimarosa’s Il matrimonio segreto for Pop-up Opera with the final performances i...

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 ...