Top soloists join Choir of York Minster for Handel’s Messiah

For the first time since 2019, the Choir of York Minster will be joined by internationally renowned soloists on Saturday 25 March for a performance of Handel’s Messiah in the spectacular setting of the cathedral’s Nave.

It will be the first time the choir has performed the popular oratorio since December 2019, and the first time in recent years that they have staged the moving and poignant choral performance, which tells the story of Christ, during the season of Lent and Easter.

The choir will be joined by an orchestra and world renowned soloists Keri Fuge (Soprano), Ed Lyon (Tenor), Victoria Simmonds (Mezzo-Soprano) and Morgan Pearse (Baritone) for the concert.

The famous work was first performed in Dublin in 1742 and has since become one of the best-known and most popular English oratorios.

Robert Sharpe, Director of Music at York Minster, said: “It’s the first time we have performed the piece during the season of Lent and Easter, which is when the piece was first performed in 1742, and we look forward to bringing this timeless work back to the awe-inspiring and atmospheric setting of the cathedral’s Nave. 

“We have a great line up of soloists including dramatic baritone, Morgan Pearse, whose third York Minster Messiah this will be.  He, Ed Lyon (Tenor), Victoria Simmonds (Mezzo-Soprano) and Keri Fuge (Soprano) will, alongside the Minster choir, bring their magic to this evergreen work.”
 
British Soprano Keri Fuge is in demand for her work in opera, concert and recital. She sings regularly in many major European opera houses such as the Grande Theatre de Geneve, Staatstheater Klagenfurt, Opéra du Luxembourg and with orchestras worldwide including the Royal Concertgebouw Orkest, Singapore Symphony, Bach Akademie Stuttgart and Nordeutscher Runkfunk and in the UK with Glyndebourne, English National Opera and many of the UK’s leading orchestras and choirs.  
 
Ed Lyon studied at St John’s College Cambridge, the Royal Academy of Music and the National Opera Studio. He has a wide repertoire ranging from the baroque to contemporary music and has appeared in many of the world’s leading opera and concert venues including the Royal Opera House, Glyndebourne, Bayerische Staatsoper, Dutch National Opera, Teatro Real,  Edinburgh, Aix, Salzburg, Holland and Aldeburgh Festivals and the BBC Proms.
 
Victoria Simmonds studied with David Pollard at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.  She has sung numerous roles at all of the major UK opera companies including Fox The Cunning Little Vixen and Meg Page Falstaff(Garsington), Boy Way Back Home (English National Opera), Angel 2/Marie Written on Skin (Netherlands Opera, Toulouse, Lisbon, Opéra Comique Paris, Royal Opera House, La Scala Milan, Lincoln Centre New York.
 
Morgan Pearse is one of the most exciting baritones of his generation. He studied at the Royal College of Music where he won the Lies Askonas Prize and Gold Medal at the Royal Over Seas League Competition. He went on to become a member of the Houston Grand Opera Studio and made his UK debut at English National Opera singing Figaro / Barber of Seville. 
 
The concert takes place on Saturday 25 March at 7.00pm with tickets priced at £30, £18.50 and £12.50, and a concession price of £5 for under 27s. Tickets are available now via yorkminster.org or by calling 01904 557200.
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Notes to editors
 

Biography details for soloists:
 
Keri Fuge, Soprano

British Soprano Keri Fuge is in demand for her work in opera, concert and recital. She sings regularly in many major European opera houses such as the Grande Theatre de Geneve, Staatstheater Klagenfurt, Opéra du Luxembourg and with orchestras worldwide including the Royal Concertgebouw Orkest, Singapore Symphony, Bach Akademie Stuttgart and Nordeutscher Runkfunk and in the UK with Glyndebourne, English National Opera and many of the UK’s leading orchestras and choirs.  
 
Recent and future engagements  include Créuse / Médée for Grand Théâtre de Genève, Sophie / Werther, Zerlina / Don Giovanni and Noemie / Cendrillon all for the Stadttheater Klagenfurt, Vivaldi Gloria with the Royal Northern Sinfonia, Angel / It’s a Wonderful Life for English National Opera, Sorceress / Dido and Aeneas with the Opéra de Luxembourg, Elijah with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Messiah with various orchestras in the UK including La Nuova Musica , the King’s Consort, at the Royal Albert Hall, York Minster and with the Hallé as well as in Germany with the NDR Symphony, Handel’s Parnasso in Festa in the London Handel Festival, Acis and Galatea with the Bach Akademie Stuttgart and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Hermann Wuthering Heights in a concert performance with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra as well as for a recording and a concert tour with Academy of Ancient Music, Tim Mead and Christian Curnyn.
 
Ed Lyon, Tenor

Ed Lyon studied at St John’s College Cambridge, the Royal Academy of Music and the National Opera Studio. He has a wide repertoire ranging from the baroque to contemporary music and has appeared in many of the world’s leading opera and concert venues including the Royal Opera House, Glyndebourne, Bayerische Staatsoper, Dutch National Opera, Teatro Real,  Edinburgh, Aix, Salzburg, Holland and Aldeburgh Festivals and the BBC Proms.
 
Highlights have included the main role in Denisov’s L’écume des jours (Stuttgart Opera), Steva/Jenufa (Opera North),  Lurcanio / Ariodante, Steurerman / Der fliegende Holländer and Walther /Tannhäuser  (ROH), Don Ottavio/Don Giovanni and Lurcanio (Scottish Opera), Jaquino/Fidelio (Madrid) and Alessandro / Eliogabolo for Dutch National Opera.  Recent and future engagements include Tamino/Die Zauberflöte,  Don Gomez / Henry VIII (La Monnaie),  Septimius / Theodora (Covent Garden and Madrid),  Lurcanio (New Israeli Opera) Belmonte / Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail and the main singer in Clorinda Agonistes (The Grange Festival),  Quint / The Turn of the Screw and the title role in Orfeo for Garsington, Eduardo/ Ades’ Exterminating Angel (Salzburg Festival and ROH), title role in Candide (WNO), performances worldwide of The Diary of One who Disappeared in a staged production with Musiktheater Transparent, Ferdinand / Miranda (Oper Köln).   Concert work includes Evangelist / St Matthew Passion with the Bach Choir, Evangelist and arias / St John Passion with the RLPO, War Requiem with the NDR Hanover and the RLPO, a tour of Europe and US performing Beethoven 9 with the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra / Sir John Eliot Gardiner, The Apostles with the Hallé Orchestra / Sir Mark Elder, as well as many concert performances with leading orchestras and ensembles internationally. 
 
His recording 17^th Century Playlist with the Theatre of the Ayre has received wide acclaim.
 
Victoria Simmonds, Mezzo-Soprano

Victoria Simmonds studied with David Pollard at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.  She has sung numerous roles at all of the major UK opera companies including Fox The Cunning Little Vixen and Meg Page Falstaff(Garsington), Boy Way Back Home (English National Opera), Angel 2/Marie Written on Skin (Netherlands Opera, Toulouse, Lisbon, Opéra Comique Paris, Royal Opera House, La Scala Milan, Lincoln Centre New York, Wiener Festwochen, Bavarian State Opera Munich and a European Tour with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra)/ Angelna Cenerentola (Danish National Opera) and Hippolyta A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Scottish Opera) and for Opera Holland Park Minskwoman  Flight (2015), Angelina (2016), Marcellina Le nozze di Figaro (2021), and Alma March, Little Women (2002).
 
Morgan Pearse, Baritone

Morgan Pearse is one of the most exciting baritones of his generation. He studied at the Royal College of Music where he won the Lies Askonas Prize and Gold Medal at the Royal Over Seas League Competition. He went on to become a member of the Houston Grand Opera Studio and made his UK debut at English National Opera singing Figaro / Barber of Seville. 
 
Recent and future opera highlights include Figaro / Le nozze di Figaro, Papageno / Die Zauberflöte and Araspe / Tolomeo (Staatstheater Karlsruhe), Sid / Albert Herring (Buxton Festival), Belcore / L’Elisir d’Amore and Figaro / Barbiere (New Zealand Opera and the State Opera of South Australia), Ned Keene / Peter Grimes (Auckland Philharmonia), Figaro / nozze (Opernhaus Zurich), baritone in Idalma (Innsbruck Festival of Early Music), Papageno (Russian National Orchestra) as well as covering the role of Billy Budd for the Bolshoi. Concert highlights include a solo recital at Wigmore Hall, concerts with Birmingham Philharmonic, Moscow Musica Viva Chamber Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, Gabrieli Consort, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Academy of Ancient Music, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, King’s College Choir Cambridge and Messiah with the Tasmanian, West Australian and Adelaide Symphony Orchestras and Sydney Philharmonic Orchestra.