A RECITAL WITH VENETIAN CONNECTIONS!
Artwork Credit: Catharine Wippell @kingaspencil
29 Sep
Written By Luci de Nordwall Cornish
Dear all,
I’m so happy to be in touch with you again and I hope this finds you well and happy!
Although I’ve been radio silent I’ve been working steadily and am now delighted to be able to invite you to a recital with Venetian Connections!
This is a programme I’ve been researching of for a while which has grown out of my obsession with Reynaldo Hahn’s “Venezia”. Then I began to look for other Venetian songs….
I’ll be performing arias and artsong with the wonderful pianist Gus Tredwell at 1300 at St Paul’s Church in Knightsbridge which is in Wilton Place next to the Berkeley Hotel on Wednesday 1st November.
The church is a gem with a lovely warm feeling and stunning golden angels supporting its ceiling! (Cue singer’s view of audience all gazing at the ceiling).
A large part of the programme will be sung in Veneziano, and I was lucky to find language coach who is Venetian(and an extraordinary tenor) himself - Matteo Dalle Fratte. This led to my joining his summer school in Bassano del Grappa in the Veneto over the summer learning his new method of diction for sung Italian (and it works for other inflected languages): Melofonetica. This wrapped with a concert on the terrace of a villa in Borsa del Grappa which belonged to the famous tenor Giovanni Lunardi (Caruso’s rival) and has a view all the way to the laguna of Venice!
I’ve spent the past year working with a new teacher, Neil Baker. It’s going in the same direction but from different angles and is like finding an extra dimension I didn’t know existed and rebuilding a new magical vehicle to get there! (So difficult to describe singing without sounding either flaky or crazy?) I've also continued various classes at Morley College with Richard Jackson and Neil Baker plus two residential courses, one as mentioned and the other with Cratoule at Benslow.
I’m looking forward to performing this collection of songs which have all been inspired by their Venetian Connections., and I hope you can make it!
With all my love,
Luci
PS There’s a wonderful story about the premiere of Venezia - I’m going to include it in the programme and post about it soon - Elton John would be jealous!!!!
About Luci
Luci de Nordwall Cornish is a mezzo soprano who sings everything from bel canto to musical theatre. Luci studies with Susan Varley and Ruth Beckmann. Last summer she collaborated with Elena Glurjidze ( ex principal lead ballerina at English National Ballet) to produce and perform in an open- air extravaganza of ballet and song on Turnham Green, including original choreography performed to live song.
Her last performance before lockdown was at The Charterhouse.
Luci has previously appeared on the London acoustic circuit and at Glastonbury as a singer- songwriter. She studied flute and guitar at Dartington College of Arts and has also worked in the City, and as a psychotherapist .