Opera charity’s young artists are coming into focus

HENLEY charity Opera Prelude has announced a series of four live “coffee concerts” taking place in the run-up to Christmas.

The first of these, featuring mezzo-soprano Georgia Mae Bishop accompanied by pianist Kaoru Wada, will take place next Friday (September 24) at 11.30am at Christ Church in Reading Road.

They will present a programme of opera and song from across Europe, including works by Elgar, Rossini, Wagner and Tchaikovsky.

Georgia is a recent graduate of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama’s opera course.

Opera magazine described her as “a performer with a strong vocal personality and stage presence”. She was an Alvarez Young Artist with Garsington Opera during the 2018 and 2021 seasons, covering the roles of Mistress Quickly in Falstaff and Annina in Der Rosenkavalier respectively.

Earlier this year she was one of eight singers who were accepted on to Opera Prelude’s young artist programme.

The autumn series of concerts are billed as “artist in focus” events, with the aim being to introduce each singer to a Henley audience.

Amanda Sadler, the charity’s head of programming and artist development, said: “Live performance is such a crucial element of professional development, so with covid precautions in place we are thrilled to return to our normal programme of events.”

Prior to the start of next Friday’s concert, which has a running time of 50 minutes, coffee will be served from 11am.

Three more concerts with the same format will take place on October 22, November 19 and December 3, featuring the talents of baritone Patrick Keefe, soprano Eline Vandenheede and tenor Glen Cunningham respectively.

Tickets for each concert cost £30. For more information and to book, visit www.operaprelude.org