Robin Blaze
Now established in the front rank of interpreters of Purcell, Bach and Handel, Robin Blaze's busy schedule has taken him to Europe, South America, North America, Japan and Australia. He read music at Magdalen College, Oxford, and won a post-graduate scholarship to the Royal College of Music where he trained with assistance from the Countess of Munster Trust and is now a professor of vocal studies.
He works with most of the distinguished conductors in the early music field — Christophers, Cleobury, Gardiner, Herreweghe, Hogwood, Jacobs, King, Koopman, Kraemer, Leonhardt, McCreesh, McGegan, Mackerras, Pinnock and Suzuki. He has visited festivals in Ambronay, Beaune, Boston, Edinburgh, Halle, Iceland, Jerusalem, Innsbruck, Karlsruhe, Leipzig, Lucerne, Saintes and Utrecht. He regularly appears with The Academy of Ancient Music, Bach Collegium Japan, Collegium Vocale, The English Concert, The Gabrieli Consort, The King's Consort, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, RIAS Kammerchor and The Sixteen. Other engagements have included the National Symphony Orchestra, Washington, the St Paul Chamber Orchestra, La Chapelle Royale, City of London Sinfonia, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Royal Flanders Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, The Hallé Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Tafelmusik, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
Blaze's opera engagements have included Athamas Semele at The Royal Opera House; Didymus Theodora for Glyndebourne Festival Opera; Arsamenes Xerxes, Athamas Semele, Hamor Jephtha and OberonA Midsummer Night's Dream for English National Opera; Hamor Jephtha for Welsh National Opera; Arcane in Handel's Teseo at the Göttingen Handel Festival, and Bertarido Rodelinda for Glyndebourne Touring Opera and at the Göttingen Handel Festival.
Chamber music is an important part of his musical life and Blaze regularly joins forces with Concordia, Fretwork, Florilegium and The Palladian Ensemble. He has given recitals in Tenerife, at the Théâtre Grévin in Paris, in Karlsruhe, Innsbruck, Göttingen, at the York Early Music, West Cork International Chamber Music, Sherbourne and Gloucester Three Choirs Festivals, for BBC Radio 3 and at The Wigmore Hall.
With a fast-growing number of acclaimed recordings to his name Blaze continues to enjoy fruitful relationships with BIS and Hyperion records. For BIS, he is adding to their Cantata Cycle with Bach Collegium Japan and joined Carolyn Sampson for a disc of Handel Oratorio Duets with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Nicholas Kraemer. His projects with Hyperion have included recital discs of lute songs with Elizabeth Kenny, Byrd Consort Songs and Salve Regina, a program of Italian Cantatas with The Parley of Instruments. Amongst his other recordings are Didymus in Theodora with The Gabrieli Consort and McCreesh for DG Archiv, Vivaldi, Kuhnau and Knüpfer with The King's Consort, all for Hyperion, and Purcell's Odes with Collegium Vocale Gent and Herreweghe for Harmonia Mundi. He also recorded Thomas Adès' The Lover in Winter for EMI. His disc of solo Bach Cantatas with Masaaki Suzuki was released at the beginning of 2007 on the BIS label.
Blaze's recent engagements include Handel's Belshazzar and Purcell's Dido and Aeneas with the King's Consort, Buxtehude's Membra Jesu with the Ricercar Consort, Handel's Israel in Egypt with the Academy of Ancient Music and the choir of King's College Cambridge, performances with Florilegium at Wigmore Hall, a recording of Hamor Jephtha with The Sixteen on the Coro label, Barak Deborah with Laurence Cummings as part of the London Handel Festival, Arcane Teseo with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Nicholas McGegan, a recital as part of the Göttingen Handel Festival, and a tour of Mexico with Bach Collegium Japan.
Highlights this season and beyond include Bach's St John Passion with the Academy of Ancient Music and the choir of King's College Cambridge, Bach's Magnificat with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Didymus Theodora at the Göttingen Handel Festival, Medoro Orlando with Welsh National Opera, Handel's Messiah with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, a tour of Bach's St Matthew Passion with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and Blaze also continues his collaboration with Bach Collegium Japan and Masaaki Suzuki.
He works with most of the distinguished conductors in the early music field — Christophers, Cleobury, Gardiner, Herreweghe, Hogwood, Jacobs, King, Koopman, Kraemer, Leonhardt, McCreesh, McGegan, Mackerras, Pinnock and Suzuki. He has visited festivals in Ambronay, Beaune, Boston, Edinburgh, Halle, Iceland, Jerusalem, Innsbruck, Karlsruhe, Leipzig, Lucerne, Saintes and Utrecht. He regularly appears with The Academy of Ancient Music, Bach Collegium Japan, Collegium Vocale, The English Concert, The Gabrieli Consort, The King's Consort, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, RIAS Kammerchor and The Sixteen. Other engagements have included the National Symphony Orchestra, Washington, the St Paul Chamber Orchestra, La Chapelle Royale, City of London Sinfonia, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Royal Flanders Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, The Hallé Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Tafelmusik, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
Blaze's opera engagements have included Athamas Semele at The Royal Opera House; Didymus Theodora for Glyndebourne Festival Opera; Arsamenes Xerxes, Athamas Semele, Hamor Jephtha and OberonA Midsummer Night's Dream for English National Opera; Hamor Jephtha for Welsh National Opera; Arcane in Handel's Teseo at the Göttingen Handel Festival, and Bertarido Rodelinda for Glyndebourne Touring Opera and at the Göttingen Handel Festival.
Chamber music is an important part of his musical life and Blaze regularly joins forces with Concordia, Fretwork, Florilegium and The Palladian Ensemble. He has given recitals in Tenerife, at the Théâtre Grévin in Paris, in Karlsruhe, Innsbruck, Göttingen, at the York Early Music, West Cork International Chamber Music, Sherbourne and Gloucester Three Choirs Festivals, for BBC Radio 3 and at The Wigmore Hall.
With a fast-growing number of acclaimed recordings to his name Blaze continues to enjoy fruitful relationships with BIS and Hyperion records. For BIS, he is adding to their Cantata Cycle with Bach Collegium Japan and joined Carolyn Sampson for a disc of Handel Oratorio Duets with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Nicholas Kraemer. His projects with Hyperion have included recital discs of lute songs with Elizabeth Kenny, Byrd Consort Songs and Salve Regina, a program of Italian Cantatas with The Parley of Instruments. Amongst his other recordings are Didymus in Theodora with The Gabrieli Consort and McCreesh for DG Archiv, Vivaldi, Kuhnau and Knüpfer with The King's Consort, all for Hyperion, and Purcell's Odes with Collegium Vocale Gent and Herreweghe for Harmonia Mundi. He also recorded Thomas Adès' The Lover in Winter for EMI. His disc of solo Bach Cantatas with Masaaki Suzuki was released at the beginning of 2007 on the BIS label.
Blaze's recent engagements include Handel's Belshazzar and Purcell's Dido and Aeneas with the King's Consort, Buxtehude's Membra Jesu with the Ricercar Consort, Handel's Israel in Egypt with the Academy of Ancient Music and the choir of King's College Cambridge, performances with Florilegium at Wigmore Hall, a recording of Hamor Jephtha with The Sixteen on the Coro label, Barak Deborah with Laurence Cummings as part of the London Handel Festival, Arcane Teseo with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Nicholas McGegan, a recital as part of the Göttingen Handel Festival, and a tour of Mexico with Bach Collegium Japan.
Highlights this season and beyond include Bach's St John Passion with the Academy of Ancient Music and the choir of King's College Cambridge, Bach's Magnificat with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Didymus Theodora at the Göttingen Handel Festival, Medoro Orlando with Welsh National Opera, Handel's Messiah with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, a tour of Bach's St Matthew Passion with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and Blaze also continues his collaboration with Bach Collegium Japan and Masaaki Suzuki.