About this Event
Join us for A Night of Opera in Cambridge with soprano Naomi Rogers, tenor Alessandro Cortello and pianist Ralph Woodward!
This spectacular event will take place at the Downing Place United Reformed Church. Get ready to be mesmerised by the powerful voices of talented opera singers and the enchanting melodies from some of the most popular operas: Traviata, Bohéme and Elixir of Love.
Immerse yourself in the magical world of opera as you experience the passion, drama, and beauty of this timeless art form. Whether you're a seasoned opera aficionado or new to the genre, this event promises to be a night to remember. Don't miss out on this extraordinary evening of music and emotion. Book your tickets now and prepare to be captivated by the breathtaking performances at A Night of Opera in Cambridge!
Naomi Rogers, soprano
Alessandro Cortello, tenor
Ralph Woodward, piano
music by Donizetti, Verdi and Puccini
This concert is organised with the support of the Wong family.
Naomi Rogers is a soprano from Suffolk with a Master of Music in Performance degree and a Bachelor of Music degree from the Royal Northern College of Music. She has worked with many of the UK's top opera platforms, such as Opera Holland Park, Clonter Opera, BBC1, Opera North, Buxton Opera, and Northern Opera Group.
Last summer was one of Naomi’s most rewarding seasons, collaborating with both Opera Holland Park and the English National Ballet in the UK premiere of Stravinky’s ‘Les Noces’ at the Sadler's Wells Theatre in London. This was her second time with Opera Holland Park, as the summer prior she performed in Adamo's UK premiere of 'Little Women'. As well as this, Naomi spent the summer singing Papagena and Gretel at the Edinburgh International Festival with Clonter Opera House and premiered their new opera ’Papageno’s Quest’. Naomi regularly works with Clonter opera, last season Naomi performed one of her ‘bucket list’ roles as Papagena and First Lady in Mozart’s ‘Die Zauberflöte’. She now looks forward to premiering a newly commissioned contemporary opera by Gary Lloyd, ‘Disunited Jukebox’, to which she will sing the lead role and will be taken around the UK.
Other past operatic performances include: lead role (Juno) in Oxfordshire Contemporary Opera's '@Emele' (Simmonds), Northern Opera's 'Thomas and Sally' (Dorcas) by Arne, and Pauline Viardot's 'Cinderella' (ugly step-sister Armelinde) which was the winner of the 'Classical Music Digital Awards 2020. She sang a role in Poulenc’s 'Dialogues des carmélites' (Soeur Martha), Vaughan William's 'The Pilgrim's Progress' (Madam Bubble), Puccini’s 'Suor Angelica' (Maestra della Novizie), Offenbach's 'La Vie Parisienne' (Clara), Kurt Weill's 'Street Scene' and Benjamin Britten's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' (Peaseblossom). Furthermore, she performed at the Buxton's International Opera Festival in the operas 'Georgiana' (multiple composers) covering the role of Grey, and in the chorus of both Tchaikovsky's 'Eugene Onegin' and Caldara's 'Lucio Papirio Dittatore'. Naomi also premiered the brand new opera 'Dotter Of Her Father's Eyes' by Gary Lloyd, singing the title role at the Dublin 2019 WorldCon, held in the Convention Centre Dublin.
As a regular concert performer, Naomi’s highlights are performing as guest opera singer on BBC1's 'I Can See Your Voice' 2021, as guest soloist at the International Opera Awards 2019 which took place at the Saddler’s Wells Theatre in London and singing Mozart repertoire with the Hallé Orchestra at the Bridgewater Hall. In 2020, Naomi made her recording debut as soloist in Sullivan Songs alongside Sir David Owen Norris and featured as an artist for La ScenaMusicale, Canada's most respected classical music, opera, jazz and world music magazine. She has won many prizes, including the respected Sir David Maddison Opera Prize in 2021. Last year Naomi was the soprano soloist in Ermolena Jaho’s masterclass with the International Opera Awards and this year she has multiple contracts lined up with top cruise liners as part of LocoOpera’s quartet of voices.
The Italian tenor Alessandro Cortello started his vocal training with Alfredo Mariotti and later studied with Claude Thiolas and Luciana D'Intino. He graduated in Piano at the Conservatorio Frescobaldi in Ferrara and in Singing at the Conservatorio Tomadini in Udine. He also studied Composition. He won two editions of the Concorso Cameristico C.A.Seghizzi in Gorizia: in 2005 in the Sacred Music category, and in 2007 in Chamber Singing category.
As an opera singer he has performed the following roles: Alfredo (Traviata, Verdi), Count Almaviva (Barbiere di Siviglia, Rossini) Ernesto (Don Pasquale, Donizetti), Nemorino (Elisir d’Amore, Donizetti), Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly, Puccini), Pong (Turandot, Puccini), Rodolfo (Bohéme, Puccini), Jacopo Foscari (I due Foscari, Verdi), Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor, Donizetti), Hoffmann (Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Offenbach). He took part in the Rai Italian Television productions of Rigoletto conducted by Zubin Mehta with Placido Domingo in the title-role and Cenerentola, conducted by Gianluigi Gelmetti.
As a chamber music singer he performed Schubert's and Schumann's most important Lieder cycles, besides songs by Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, Liszt, Mahler, Strauss, Berg, Fauré, Duparc, Ravel, Poulenc, Rachmaninov, Britten and Copland, in duo with several pianists and with Trio di Parma. As a concert singer he performed the solo roles in Requiem by Mozart (with Orchestra Filarmonica della Fenice, Venice, conducted by Enrico Bronzi), Liszt (with Orchestra of Teatro Verdi, Trieste), Dvořak and Verdi, in Haydn's Missa in Tempore Belli (conducted by Antonio Ballista), Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle, Beethoven's Mass in C (Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge, conducted by Ralph Woodward) and in Orff's Carmina Burana.
Alessandro sang in many Italian houses and halls, and in Austria, Croatia, UK, Greece, Czech Republic, Russia, and in Dublin for Bloomsday 2019, when he performed at the National Library of Ireland and at Áras an Uachtaráin for President Higgins.
Ralph Woodward grew up in Durham, and studied Music as Organ Scholar at Queens’ College, Cambridge. He is now Musical Director of the Fairhaven Singers, Full Score and Orchestral Score and Acting Assistant Director of Music at King’s College, Cambridge. He has played concertos on three instruments, worked in 20 Cambridge College Chapels, 20 UK cathedrals, six US states, and over 25 countries, and conducted the London Mozart Players, City of London Sinfonia, The Parley of Instruments, English Chamber Orchestra, and Britten Sinfonia. He carries out a wide range of editorial tasks for Oxford University Press and a number of the country’s leading composers. His choral arrangements have been performed all round Europe and on Radio 4’s PM programme. Past projects have included work with Vladimir Ashkenazy, Emma Johnson, Iestyn Davies and Cradle of Filth, and an appearance on ITV’s Grantchester. In addition to his musical interests, Ralph manages a cricket team, plays badminton enthusiastically, gives presentations on the assassination of JFK, and spends as much time as possible eating and drinking in foreign countries.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Downing Place United Reformed Church, 4 Downing Place, Cambridge, United Kingdom
GBP 0.00 to GBP 12.00