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The Welsh contralto, Hilary Summers, studied music at Reading University before continuing her vocal studies at the Royal Academy of Music and the National Opera Studio in London.
A true contralto with a wide vocal range, Hilary Summers has excited the attention of many contemporary composers. In 1999 she created the role of Stella in Elliot Carter’s opera What Next? for the Berlin Staatsoper, conducted by Daniel Barenboim with further performances at Carnegie Hall and in Chicago with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She has also performed this work with the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra and the Royal Flanders Philharmonic Orchestra both under Péter Eötvös, the London Sinfonietta under Oliver Knussen, and the Ensemble Intercontemporain under Kent Nagano. She created the role of Irma in Péter Eötvös’s opera Le Balcon at the 2002 Aix en Provence Festival and toured with the production in Europe in 2003-2004. Since 2002 she has performed Pierre Boulez Le Marteau sans Maître throughout Europe with the Ensemble Intercontemporain under the direction of Pierre Boulez himself as well as with several other ensembles and conductors. She recorded the work with Pierre Boulez on Deutsche Grammophon to much critical acclaim. The recording won a Grammy Award. As part of the celebrations of the composer’s 80th birthday she performed Le visage nuptial under his direction with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Chicago.
In Britain Hilary Summers has forged a special relationship with the composer Michael Nyman and has recorded his film scores on the soundtracks of The Diary of Anne Frank, The Claim, The Libertine as well as performing in his operas Noises, Sounds and Sweet Airs and Facing Goya the lead role of which was written for her. She has toured the world with the Michael Nyman Band performing such works as his Six Celan Songs, Prospero’s Books and Cycle of Disquietude. She works frequently with the composer Joby Talbot and sings on his soundtrack to the film Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and the television series The League of Gentlemen.
Hilary Summers has made a considerable name for herself as a fine interpreter of the Baroque repertoire and sings regularly with many of Europe’s leading early instrument orchestras. These have included Christopher Hogwood and The Academy of Ancient Music, Paul McCreesh and the Gabrieli Consort, Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques, Thomas Hengelbrock and the Balthasar-Neumann-Ensemble and The English Concert directed by Andrew Manze. A warm association with William Christie and Les Arts Florissants led to a recording of George Frideric Handel’s Orlando with Erato, in the role of Medoro, and most recently as the Sorceress in Deborah Warner’s production of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas in Vienna followed by performances throughout the world. She works often with Robert King and The King’s Consort and performed wityh them Michael Haydn’s Requiem Mass and Missa in honorem Sanctae Ursulae at the BBC Proms in 2006. She performs regularly with Christian Curnyn and the Early Opera Company and has recorded the role of Rosmira in G.F. Handel’s Partenope, Juno/Ino in Semele and Venus in Eccles’ Judgement of Paris also for Chandos. Hilary took part in the first performance in Russia of G.F. Handel’s Messiah on period instruments.
Operatically, Hilary Summers is destined to play statuesque Handelian heroes such as Giulio Cesare or the god Mars (Legrenzi’s Il divisione del mondo ) but occasionally has fun with such roles as the dominatrix Mescalina (Ligeti’s Le grande macabre) or the amazon Hippolyta (Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream) or even the bearded Baba the Turk (Igor Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress). More mature females include the earth mother Gaea in Strauss’ Daphne and Mrs Sedley in B. Britten’s Peter Grimes (for Glyndebourne Festival Opera). She has played the role of the Washerwoman in Rob Zuidham’s Rages d’amour at the Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam and sang Hippolyta for the Teatro Real, Madrid. In 2006 she sang in the first performances of George Benjamin’s new opera Into the Little Hill in Paris and has since performed it in New York, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Liverpool and Lucerne. She made her début for the Opera de Paris in Mother Goose in 2008 and as Countess Geschwitz in Lulu for Kokkola Opera in 2009. Hilary has a great love of the works of Edward Elgar and has been fortunate enough to perform The Dream of Gerontius several times under the baton of the late Vernon Handley with whom she also sang Sea Pictures.
Recent projects have included the acclaimed Wiener Festwochen production of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (Sorceress) with William Christie, a recording of Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle with The King’s Consort, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Hippolyta) for the Teatro Real, Madrid, performances of Le Marteau sans maître with Pierre Boulez at the Lucerne Festival, and performances of George Benjamin’s new opera, Into the Little Hill, in the USA and Europe.
Future projects include further European performances of Into the Little Hill, a revival of the Dido and Aeneas production at the Vienna Festival, her début with the Opera de Paris (Mother Goose), and concerts with the Orchestre de Paris, Ensemble InterContemporain, and The King’s Consort; concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, at the Aldeburgh Festival and performances Pelléas et Mélisande (Geneviève) at the Teatro Real Madrid and the Liceu in Barcelona.
Hilary Summers’ many other recordings include G.F. Handel’s Messiah with King's College Choir Cambridge, G.F. Handel’s Lotario (Idelberto) with Alan Curtis and Il Complesso Barocco; Antonio Vivaldi’s La Senna Festeggiante and two discs of A. Vivaldi’s sacred music with Robert King and The King’s Consort; A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Hippolyta) with the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Colin Davis, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solonelle with The King’s Consort and Six Celan Songs by Michael Nyman. Her most recent release is G.F. Handel’s Semele (Juno & Ino) with Christian Curnyn and the Early Opera Company for Chan. |
