Two great concerts in an intimate setting

Keith Lewis

Rannoch, 77 Almorah Rd, Epsom

March 3, 7.30

Dame Felicity Lott

Rannoch, 77 Almorah Rd, Epsom

March 9, 7.30

Next month the Wallace Arts Trust will be hosting two major concert recitals at Rannoch, the home of Sir James Wallace and much of his extensive art collection. The two concerts feature Keith Lewis and Dame Felicity Lott. Keith Lewis is a New Zealand-born tenor of outstanding international talent with an incredible career history.

He has sung for the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Paris Opera, Deutsche Oper, Berlin Staatsoper, Australian Opera, Rome Opera, La Scala Milan), and the Hamburg, Stuttgart, Torino, Venice, Geneva, Zurich and Vienna opera houses, as well as at the Glyndebourne, Orange, Athens, Edinburgh and Salzburg Festivals.

A critic used the phrase "voice of muted gold" to describe Lewis in performances with the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra at New York's Carnegie Hall. He has worked with many of the world's greatest conductors including Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Muti, Claudio Abbado, Giuseppe Sinopoli Colin Davis, John Eliot-Gardiner and has appeared with Same Kiri Te Kanawa, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Anne-Sophie von Otter and Bryn Terfel.

He has recorded for EMI, Decca, Phillips, Deutsche Grammophon and sang opening night of the BBC Prom concerts from the Albert Hall as well as sang Schubert songs with Sir Georg Solti at the piano, at 10 Downing Street at a party given by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

At the recital a soprano who is, or has been, a student of the NZSS will appear with Keith in two duets, as well as singing an aria of their own.

The Dame Felicity Lott evening will see her in a Q&A session as well as singing, accompanied by Stephen de Pledge. Dame Felicity Lott is one of Britain's best-loved sopranos. In opera, her portrayals of the Strauss and Mozart roles in particular have led to critical and popular acclaim worldwide. Her concert engagements take her to the major orchestras, working with Rattle, Haitink, Mehta, Previn and Masur.

Much of her concert and recital repertoire is recorded, as are many of her great operatic roles: from her wonderful Marschallin under Carlos Kleiber to her Belle Helene, with which she enchanted the Parisians when she sang the role for the first time at the Chatelet in Paris in 2000. A founder member of The Songmakers' Almanac, Felicity has appeared on the major recital platforms of the world and in June 2005 she celebrated the 30th anniversary of her recital debut at the Wigmore Hall.

A noted exponent of French song, she has been awarded the title Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and the Legion d’Honneur by the French Government. She was made a CBE in the 1990 New Year Honours and, in 1996, was made a dame commander. In February 2003 she was awarded the title of Bayerische Kammersängerin. Most recently she was made Doctor Honoris Causa of the University Paris Sorbonne.

Bookings www.bi.ly/wallaceartstrust 027 472 3669 suggested donation $40