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The English mezzo-soprano, Jessica Gillingwater, received an Exhibition Music Award, whilst an undergraduate at Imperial College in London (2004-2012), to assist with her vocal studies. She is a biochemistry graduate with an Master of Science degree in Control of Infectious Disease. She was a postgraduate student at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), where she was taught by Louise Winter, and was supported by the D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust. Whilst at the RNCM she was a finalist in the Elizabeth Harwood and Frederic Cox competitions and was awarded the Dame Eva Turner Prize. She was the vocal faculty winner of the concerto competition and performed the Wesendonck Lieder in the RNCM Concerto Competition Final. She has participated in master-classes with Christine Brewer, Mark Shanahan and Catherine Wyn-Rogers. She completed ENO’s Opera Works Programme in 2015; currently studies with David Pollard.
Jessica Gillingwater has performed the roles of Mrs Herring in Benjamin Britten's Albert Herring at Hampstead Garden Opera/ Britten; Giunone in Monteverdi, Il Ritorno D’Ulisse in Patria at RNCM; Mother and Witch in Engelbert Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel at Didsbury Arts Festival. She has recently performed the role of Pamina in London Youth Opera’s production of W.A. Mozart's Magic Flute and the role of Dew Fairy in E. Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel for the company in December 2011. In opera scenes she has performed Marenka from Smetana’s The Bartered Bride, Helena B. Britten's in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Anne Truelove from Igor Stravinsky’s Rake’s Progress and Countess Almaviva from W.A. Mozart's Marriage of Figaro. Other operatic roles have included Dido in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Virtue in George Frideric Handel’s The Choice of Hercules.
On the concert platform, Jessica Gillingwater has performed as a soloist with various ensembles and choral societies in London and further afield. Her oratorio repertoire include W.A. Mozart's Solemn Vespers, Mass in C minor and Requiem; J.S. Bach's St. John Passion (BWV 245) and B Minor Mass (BWV 232); Johannes Brahms’ Requiem; Francis Poulenc’s Gloria; Antonio Vivaldi’s Gloria; Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem; Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem; Felix Mendelssohn's Elijah and Hymn of Praise; G.F. Handel's Messiah; Haydn’s Creation and Nelson Mass; Rossini's Stabat Mater; Verdi's Requiem; Edward Elgar's Dream of Gerontius; Recitals have included Bachianas Brasileiras by Heitor Villa-Lobos and songs by B. Britten and Malcolm Arnold. In October 2010 she returned to the Malcolm Arnold Festival to give a song recital of works from the composer’s musicals Purple Dust and Parasol and in 2012 performed the role of Miranda in a world premiere of the Arnold’s opera The Dancing Master for the festival.
Recent concert highlights include Leonard Bernstein's Jeremiah Symphony with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at Saffron Hall, M. Duruflé's Requiem with Stephen Cleobury and the BBC Concert Orchestra at King’s College Cambridge and Mrs Noye in B. Britten's Noye’s Fludde with Martyn Brabbins at Southwark Cathedral. Jessica Gillingwater also has a keen interest in contemporary music and has recently performed Pierre Boulez' Le Marteau Sans Maître and Ligeti’s Aventures and Nouvelles Aventures with the Psappha Ensemble at Hallé St Peter’s.
Jessica Gillingwater has also worked as a choral conductor in London, where she directed the Imperial College Chamber Choir for four years and was acting director of the choirs of St Paul’s Girls’ School from 2010-2011. She has also worked as with The College of Law Choir in Bloomsbury and the Chiltern Choir in Hertfordshire. As a choral singer she works regularly in London and was a member of enembles, including Rodolfus Choir (Director: Ralph Allwood), National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, Exaudi, Solomon's Knot (Director: Jonathan Sells), The Marian Consort (Director: Rory McCleery), Alamire, The Choir of the Enlightenment, BBC Singers, and Dunedin Consort (Director: John Butt). She is the founder member of Harmaphrodite, a talented and dynamic vocal octet with a broad repertoire encompassing repertoire from madrigals to jazz and with whom she has performed and toured regularly over the last seven years. |
