ANA BEARD FERNÁNDEZ
British-Spanish soprano Ana Beard Fernández creates performances deeply rooted in storytelling, using music as a transformative lens to enrich our understanding of human nature. This year, she will release two CDs: the first is in collaboration with Roderick Williams OBE, and presents a programme of songs arranged for voice and eight cellos, including Villa-Lobos' Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5, Montsalvatge’s Cinco Canciones Negras, and De Falla’s Siete Canciones Populares, set to be released under SOMM Recordings. The second, with the English Chamber Orchestra, is composer Paul Bowles’ musical interludes and songs for Lorca’s play Yerma (Yerma).
Ana’s recent operatic appearances include ‘Belinda/First Witch’ in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas with Ensemble O/Modernt in Stockholm, Sweden, ‘Fiordiligi’ in Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte, ‘First Niece’ in Peter Grimes at St. Endellion Festival, covering and performing the role of ‘Micaëla’ in Bizet’s Carmen at Longborough Festival Opera, and Handel’s Semele (chorus) at Opéra de Lille with Le Concert d’Astrée. This spring, she will sing ‘Margery’ in New Sussex Opera's tour of The Dragon of Wantley (Lampe)
Recent appearances on the concert platform include Strauss' Four Last Songs with the London Orchestra da Camera in St. Albans Abbey, and a Liederabend with Frances Bourne, Roderick Williams, and Mark Padmore at the St. Endellion Festival.
Additional recent and upcoming highlights in include performances with I Fagiolini at venues including St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Stour Festival, and online at Voces 8 centre, Messiah at St. John Smith’s Square with the Parliament choir and Southbank Sinfonia, Monteverdi with La Nuova Musica at the Wigmore Hall, Monteverdi Vespers at Huddersfield Town Hall and Cadogan Hall, alongside oratorio appearances with distinguished baroque ensembles Florilegium in Salisbury Catherdral, Barokksolistene in Norway, and the Hanover Band. This summer, she returns to The English Haydn Festival to perform concert arias under the baton of Steven Devine and the English Haydn Orchestra.
Ana's contemporary performances span a diverse range, including Risset Inharmonique, Ondřej Adámek's Karakuri - Poupée mécanique, and Adams' Grand Pianola Music. Her repertoire extends further with Traffick by Emma-Ruth Richards, presented at a workshop in the Royal Opera House's Linbury Studio, Unsuk Chin’s Akrostichon-Wortespiel, Judith Weir’s King Harald’s Saga, Tim Watt’s opera Kepler’s Trial at the V&A, Luca Francesconi’s Etymo, and Jonathan Dove’s Far Theatricals of the Day.
Hailing from Manchester, Ana's musical journey began in Manchester Cathedral Choir and Chetham’s School of Music. Ana's teenage debut as ‘cante-jondo’ soloist in De Falla’s El Sombrero de Tres Picos with the Hallé at the Bridgewater Hall marked the beginning of her career. She bilingual, thanks to her Galician mother and Derbyshire-born father. She studied at the University of York, where she was recipient of the Ed Burrell Award for Excellence in Performance, and completed her postgraduate studies at the Royal College of Music, where she attained a Masters with Distinction.
She's part of the professional quartet at St Clement Danes church in central London, where she also serves as the librarian and hosts a concert series every second Sunday of the month, celebrating up and coming talented musicians.
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REPERTOIRE
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Adams Grand Pianola Music
Bach St John Passion / St Matthew Passion / Magnificat in D / Cantata BWV 21 ‘Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis’ / Cantata BWV 51 ‘Jauchzet Gott in allen landen’ / B minor mass / Ascension Oratorio / Christmas Oratorio
Beethoven Symphony No 9
Berlioz L’enfance du Christ
Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem
MA. Charpentier Te Deum (in D major) / Messe de Minuit
DeLalande Cantate Domino
Dvořák Stabat Mater / Mass in D
Fauré Requiem
Handel Messiah / Alexander’s Feast / Israel in Egypt / Dixit Dominus
Haydn The Creation / Stabat Mater / Kleine Orgelmesse / Missa Sancti Nicolai
Lambert The Rio Grande
Mahler Symphony No 2 / Symphony No 4
Mendelssohn Elijah / St. Paul
Monteverdi Vespro della Beata Vergine / Magnificat
Mozart Requiem / Coronation Mass / Mass in C minor / Vespers
Orff Carmina Burana
Pergolesi Stabat Mater
Purcell Welcome all the Pleasures
Rossini Petite Messe Sollenelle
Tippett A Child of Our Time
Verdi Requiem
Vivaldi Gloria / Magnificat
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* = World premiere
Adámek, Ondřej Karakuri: Poupée Mechanique
Bryars, Gavin / Bergvall, Caroline Raga Dawn
Berio Sequenza III
Berlioz Les Nuits d’Été
Brigg, Jonathan Old Euclid (2015)* / Wild Geese (2020)* / Two Emily Dickinison poems (2023)*
Britten The Poet’s Echo (cycle) / Night Covers up the Rigid Land / Mad Bess and Sweeter than Roses (Purcell) / Salley Gardens and O Waly Waly
L. Boulanger Clairères dans le ciel (cycle)
N. Boulanger J’ai frappé
Chin, Unsuk Acrostichon-Wortespiel
Clarke Eight O’Clock
Debussy Chansons de Jeunesse (cycle) / Nuits D’Étoiles / Recueil Madame Vasnier (cycle) / Romance d’Ariel / Fêtes galantes
De Falla Siete Canciones Populares
Délibes Les Filles de Cadix
Desmond New Light (UK Premiere)
Dove, Jonathan Far Theatricals of the Day
Dowland Lute Songs
Feldman Voices and Cello / Rothko Chapel
Guridi Seis Canciones Castellanas (cycle)
Francesconi Etymo
Richards, Emma-Ruth You Cannot Fold a Flood (cycle) (2015)*
Rorem, Ned Ferry me across the water / I will always love you
Hall, Rose Miranda The Cat and the Moon (2015)* / Fallen (2017)*
LeFanu, Nicola Penny for a Song (cycle)
Lancaster, David Gentle (cycle) (2015)*
Marsh, Roger A Little Snow / Walking Away (cycle) (2015)*
Messiaen Poèmes pour Mi (cycle)
Monteverdi Lamento della Ninfa
Montsalvatge Cinco Cancione Negras.
Nyman, Michael Shakespeare Sex-List Song (2015)*
Poulence Cinq Poèmes de Paul Éluard
Purcell Urge Me No More
Ravel Deux Mélodies Hébraïques
Rowarth, Ben It could have been (2017)*
Richter, Marga Goat Songs
Scheuregger, Martin It was not death for I stood up (2017)*
Schoenberg Pierrot Lunaire (cycle)
Steele, Joe Tenth Visit (2017)*
Tippett The Heart’s Assurance (cycle)
Vaughan Williams On Bredon Hill (cycle)
Villa-Lobos Bachianas Brasilerias No. 5
Weill Youkali
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*roles
Benjamin, George Agnès - scenes (Written on Skin)
Bizet Micaëla * (Carmen) / Chorus * (Carmen)
Britten First Niece * (Peter Grimes) / Nancy* (Albert Herring)
Cavalli Venere* (L’Egisto)
G. Charpentier Depuis le Jour (Louise)
Dvořák Měsíčku na nebi hlubokém (Rusalka)
Giménez Sierras de Granada (La Tempranica)
Gounod Je Veux Vivre (Romeo et Juliette)
Granados La Maja y el Ruiseñor (Goyescas)
Handel Galatea * (Acis and Galatea)
Humperdinck Witch * & Mother* (Hansel und Gretel)
Monteverdi La Musica* (Orfeo)
Mozart Fiordiligi* (Coși Fan Tutte)
Purcell Belinda * & First Witch * (Dido and Aeneas)
Rameau Cephise* (Pygmalion)
Richards, Emma-Ruth Suzanna - scenes (Traffik)
Stravinsky No Word From Tom (Rake’s Progress)
Tchaikovsky Lise’s Aria (Queen of Spades)
Verdi La Canzone del Salice…Ave Maria (Otello)
Wagner Gerhilde* (Die Walküre) /
Watts, Tim Dorotea* (Kepler’s Trial)
Weir, Judith King Harold’s Saga*