My Account
Internationally acclaimed lyric soprano Anna Leese-Guidi will be returning to Warkworth in July with the Takiri Ensemble – an exciting vocal ensemble of New Zealand opera singers.
Anna Leese recently lived in Warkworth, where she led Mahurangi College’s Performing Arts Academy.
Music lovers will also remember her performance in the 2015 fundraising concert for the Warkworth Town Hall, where she was accompanied by Stephen de Pledge.
Anna’s impressive successes to date include her debut at the 2006 BBC Proms and a number of opera gala concerts with Jose Carreras.
She has sung at Covent Garden, the Royal Albert Hall and has performed for the Canadian Opera Company, Opera Köln, Flanders Opera, Opera Holland Park and our own New Zealand Opera.
Anna is now based in Dunedin.
The Takiri Ensemble features talented New Zealand musicians – four opera singers and a pianist.
Anna will be joined by experienced mezzo-soprano Maaike Beekman, who has performed widely in Europe and New Zealand.
Tenor Cameron Barclay spends six months of each year touring the world as one of the Ten Tenors and baritone Robert Tucker appears regularly with New Zealand Opera.
Kirsten Robertson is one of New Zealand’s most experienced vocal accompanists. She has worked with such greats as Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Dame Malvina Major.
The programme will include solos, duos and ensembles by a wide range of composers.
The first half of the concert will be devoted to the lieder of Schumann and Schubert, with eight songs from the Schwanengesang Cycle (Swan Song).
In the second part of the concert there will be music from French composers Fauré and Ravel, and English songs by Arthur Somervell, Roger Quilter and Vaughan Williams.
The concert, in the Warkworth Town Hall on July 16, starts at 4pm.
Tickets are $35 and can be purchased at the door (cash/cheque only), or through the Warkworth Music website: warkworthmusic.org.nz. Entry is free for school students.
Info: 09 425 6289.
