The Methodist Preacher - Lisa Swayne
Soprano Lisa Swayne (Methodist Preacher), studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama where she gained a BMus and a diploma in Operatic studies. She is now a freelance musician, living in London and studying with Nan Christie.
Lisa'’s operatic roles include Tatyana/Eugene Onegin and Diana/Orpheus in the Underworld (both with Kentish Opera) and a Methodist Preacher in Unexpected Opera’s Pastoral Messiah (based on Handel’s Messiah). In 2009 Lisa joined the chorus of Grange Park Opera for Norma and The Cunning Little Vixen and was engaged once again in 2010 for Tosca and The Love For Three Oranges. She will perform the role of the May Queen in MERRIE ENGLAND for Opera South in February 2012.
Lisa has performed the solos for Elgar’s Music Makers, Handel’s Messiah, Mendlessohn’s Elijah, Faure’s Requiem, Bach’s St John Passion, Brahms’ Deutsches Requiem, Handel’s Samson and Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. She also sang solos for Video Games Live with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall) and performed Graham Hair’s Three Microtonal Songs at the International Computer Music Festival (Belfast) and the International Symposium for Performance Scientists (Auckland). www.lisaswayne.com
Conductor - Mark Austin
Mark Austin studied at Cambridge University, where he held awards on piano and violin, and conducted regularly as assistant to Stephen Cleobury. Currently musical director of Faust Ensemble and assistant accompanist to The Bach Choir, Mark studies piano at the Royal Academy of Music. He has performed as conductor and pianist in venues such as Royal Festival Hall, Purcell Room, St John's Smith Square and St Martin's in the Fields. Mark has worked for opera companies including Co-Opera, Royal Academy Opera, and Cambridge Handel Opera Group. Recently he assisted Jane Glover for the world première of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies' Kommilitonen! at the RAM.
Future engagements include the New Sussex Singers, Mahler Symphony no. 4 (Two Moors Festival), Brahms Symphony no. 1 (Cambridge), Beethoven Symphony no. 9 (Faust Ensemble). He will conduct the Faust Ensemble in Mozart's Symphony no. 40 and Violin Concerto in G and Britten's Sinfoniettaon Friday 9th December at St. John's, Notting Hill, W11 2NN (call 020 7727 4262 for tickets).
