| Biography | Frances studied at Trinity College Cambridge and The Royal Academy of Music where she won many of the singing prizes.
Recent and upcoming engagements include Fox The Cunning Little Vixen and Olga Eugene Onegin for Grange Park Opera Waltraute in Nationale Reisoperas Ring Cycle Gymnasiast/Groom/Theater-Garderobiere Lulu Annio La Clemenza di Tito and Amando Le Grand Macabre all at La Monnaie in Brussels; Amando at English National Opera and at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires Karl Jenkins The Armed Man (Royal Albert Hall) Mother Goose The Rakes Progress and Tippets A Child of our Time at the St Endellion Festival.
Further operatic appearances include Hansel Hansel and Gretel Hermia A Midsummer Nights Dream Stéphano Roméo et Juliette and Louhi in Doves Swanhunter (Opera North) Cherubino (Grange Park Opera) Rosina Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Opera Holland Park) Pitti Sing The Mikado and Jane in the premiere of Micha Hamels Snow White (Reisopera) Sorceress Dido and Aeneas and Puck in Webers Oberon under Sir John Eliot Gardiner Junon in Charpentiers Acteon (Aldeburgh with Emmanuelle Haïm) Handels Oreste (Linbury Covent Garden) Irene Tamerlano for the 20th anniversary of the Cambridge Handel Opera Group and the central role in Rachel Portmans The Water Diviners Tale (BBC Proms).
In great demand on the concert platform Frances has sung with many of Europes leading conductors including Andrew Manze Sir Neville Marriner Sir Roger Norrington and Trevor Pinnock. Notable concert and oratorio appearances include St. Matthew Passion Mozart C minor mass and Bach B minor mass (Gloucester Cathedral) Messiah (CBSO and with Harry Christophers and The Sixteen) Beethovens Mass in C (Worcester Cathedral) Mozarts Requiem (Harrogate Choral Society) Dream of Gerontius (Tiverton) Elgar The Musicmakers (Ware Choral Society) Tippett A Child Of Our Time (Huddersfield Choral Society) Pergolesi Stabat Mater (Hanover Band) Dvorak Stabat Mater (Winchester Cathedral) and Judith Weirs The Consolations of Scholarship with Kokoro. She has also appeared with the Northern Sinfonia the City of London Sinfonia the English Chamber Orchestra London Symphony Chorus and at the Three Choirs Festival and recently performed a New Years Eve Gala with the Manchester Camerata featuring works from The Truth about Love.
Recordings include Mozart Requiem (European Chamber Orchestra) Copland In the Beginning (Gloucester Cathedral Choir) Bach Cantata 148 and Puck Oberon both with Gardiner and her debut solo CD The Truth about Love a collection of cabaret songs by Britten Martinu and Weill (Sony BMG Masterworks). |