Everest

Joby Talbot was born in London in 1971. He studied composition privately with Brian Elias and at Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, before completing a Master of Music (Composition) at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama under Simon Bainbridge.

His diverse output includes full-length narrative ballets (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, 2011; The Winter’s Tale, 2014) and contemporary dance works (Chroma, 2007); small- and large-scale choral and vocal works (The Wishing Tree, 2002; Path of Miracles, 2005; A Sheen of Dew on Flowers, 2019); orchestral pieces (Sneaker Wave, 2004; Chacony in G minor, 2011; Worlds, Stars, Systems, Infinity, 2012); concertos (Desolation Wilderness, 2006; Ink Dark Moon, 2018); and scores for the screen (The Lodger, 1999; The Dying Swan, 2002; and Vampyr, 2018).

Joby Talbot’s critically acclaimed first opera, Everest, was given its premiere in 2015 by Dallas Opera. His second opera based on the true story The Diving Bell and The Butterfly, a further collaboration with librettist Gene Scheer, receives its premiere in November. Like Water for Chocolate, Joby Talbot’s third narrative ballet with Christopher Wheeldon was premiered in June 2022 by the Royal Ballet and received further performances by its partner commissioner ABT in March this year in Costa Mesa and earlier this month at New York’s Metropolitan Opera.

The librettist Gene Scheer’s work has been noted for its scope and versatility.

He has collaborated on many projects with the composer Jake Heggie, including the critically acclaimed Dallas Opera world premiere, Moby-Dick, with Ben Heppner; Three Decembers (Houston Grand Opera), featuring Frederica von Stade; and To Hell and Back (Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra), written for and performed by Patti LuPone. Last year English National Opera premiered a new production of their opera It’s a Wonderful Life. This autumn their latest collaboration, Intelligence, will be premiered at Houston Grand Opera.

Other notable operatic collaborations include the Dallas Opera production of Everest (composer Joby Talbot), the Metropolitan Opera premiere of An American Tragedy, (composer Tobias Picker), the Grammy-nominated opera Cold Mountain for the Santa Fe Opera (composer Jennifer Higdon) and the Dallas Opera Grammy-nominated oratorio August 4th, 1964 (composer Steven Stucky). 

Forthcoming projects include a new opera with Joby Talbot based on Jean-Dominique Bauby’s international bestseller, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, which will open the Dallas Opera’s autumn season. Other future highlights include a collaboration with Mason Bates based on Michael Chabon’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, set to open at the Metropolitan Opera in 2025. 

A composer in his own right, he has written songs for numerous singers, including Joyce DiDonato, Renée Fleming, Sasha Cooke, Denyce Graves,and Nathan Gunn. The lyrics to his song ‘American Anthem’, sung by Norah Jones in Ken Burns’s Second World War documentary, The War, were cited by President Biden at the climax of his 2021 inaugural address.

Nicole Paiement has gained an international reputation as a conductor of contemporary music and opera. Her numerous recordings include many world premieres.

She made her debut with Dallas Opera in 2012 and was subsequently appointed Principal Guest Conductor. There she has conducted the world premiere of Joby Talbot’s Everest, Tod Machover’s Death and the Powers, Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, Douglas Cuomo’s Arjuna’s Dilemma, the US premiere of Michel Van Der Aa’s Sunken Garden and, most recently, Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers.

She is founder and Artistic Director of San Francisco’s Opera Parallèle, with which she has conducted many new productions. These include the world premieres of Lou Harrison’s final version of Young Caesar, Dante De Silva’s Gesualdo, Prince of Madness (presented as a graphic opera), Luciano Chessa’s A Heavenly Act, the chamber version of John Harbison’s The Great Gatsby and the re-orchestration of Terence Blanchard’s Champion. Her West Coast premieres with Opera Parallèle include John Rea’s reorchestration of Berg’s Wozzeck and Philip Glass’s Orphée; Thomson’s Four Saints in Three Acts; Golijov’s Ainadamar; Poulenc’s Les mamelles de Tirésias and Weill’s Mahagonny Songspiel; the US premieres of Adam Gorb’s Anya 17 and Tarik O’Regan’s Heart of Darkness; as well as Peter Maxwell Davies’s The Lighthouse, Glass’s Les enfants terribles and Jonathan Dove’s Flight. Opera Parallèle made its debut at Glass’s Days & Nights Festival in the 2018–19 season with the composer’s In the Penal Colony. In 2021 she conducted the company’s groundbreaking film project, Everest – A Graphic Novel Opera. The 2021–22 season saw her lead the West Coast premiere of Lembit Beecher’s Sophia’s Forest and complete Glass’s Cocteau trilogy with a new production of La Belle et La Bête.

She is also in demand as a guest conductor, with performances at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington National Opera, the Glimmerglass Festival, Seattle Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Atlanta Opera and Opéra de Montréal, among others.

Highlights this season include Jake Heggie’s It’s a Wonderful Life at English National Opera, Ainadamar at Opéra de Montréal, her debut with the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana in Palermo.

Next season will include two world premieres with Opera Parallèle, followed by her debut with the Volksoper Vienna conducting both a symphonic concert and The Gospel According to the Other Mary by John Adams.

She has served as the Artistic Director of the BluePrint Project at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. In 2016 she was awarded the American Composer’s Forum’s Champion of New Music Award. In addition to being a leader in the world of contemporary opera, she is also a specialist in early 20th-century French music and regularly conducts music from the Baroque and Classical eras.

Bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch has earned international acclaim for his portrayal of the principal Mozart roles of Don Giovanni, Count Almaviva, Figaro and Leporello, which he has performed with LA Opera, Santa Fe Opera and Dallas Opera. Recent highlights include his house debuts at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow and Zurich Opera House; in the current season he sang Count Almaviva for Malmö Opera.

He is also sought-after in contemporary opera, and has created several principal roles, including Ennis del Mar (Charles Wuorinen’s Brokeback Mountain) at Madrid’s Teatro Real; Seth Brundle (Howard Shore’s The Fly) at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris and for Los Angeles Opera; Mark Rutland (Nico Muhly’s Marnie) for English National Opera; and LBJ (David T Little’s JFK) at Fort Worth Opera and Opéra de Montréal. He recently made his role debut as the Protector in George Benjamin’s Written on Skin at Opéra de Montréal and further explored the composer’s work in Katie’s Mitchell’s production of Lessons in Love and Violence at Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona.

This season he returned to LA Opera for Omar, the first opera by singer-songwriter Rhiannon Giddens and composer Michael Abels, in a production that subsequently travelled to Carolina Performing Arts and Boston Lyric Opera.

Next season he joins the George Enescu International Festival as Ratcliffe in Billy Budd, returns to Omar at San Francisco Opera, creates the role of Axel Oxenstierna in the world premiere of Julien Bilodeau and Michel Marc Bouchard’s new opera La Reine-garçon and sings Escamillo (Carmen) for Manitoba Opera.

On the concert stage, he sings Brahms’s A German Requiem with the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra under John Nelson and Rachmaninv’s Spring cantata with Orquesta y Coro de la Comunidad de Madrid conducted by Marzena Diakun. Recent appearances include Messiah with the Houston Symphony Orchestra under Julian Wachner and Charlotte Symphony under Christopher Warren-Green, Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Symphony Nova Scotia under Jeff Joudrey, Beethoven’s Symphony No 9 with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra conducted by Krzysztof Urbański and Vaughan Williams’s Dona nobis pacem with the Charlotte Symphony under Christopher Warren-Green.

Baritone Craig Verm has brought his riveting dramatic portrayals to stages around the world. Recent highlights include the title-role of Don Giovanni with San Antonio Opera and a return to Madison Opera for the role of Jupiter in Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld.

This season he reprises the role of Don Giovanni, this time with the Charleston Opera Theatre. Other current and future engagements include an appearance as a soloist with the Dallas Symphony for its Holiday Pops Concert; the role of Ping (Turandot) with Opera Colorado; and tonight’s return to the role of Doug Hansen in Everest, a role he created at Dallas Opera.

Recently, he received high praise for his performances of the title-role in Billy Budd for Des Moines Metro Opera. In the 2017–18 season he made a notable debut as a last-minute substitute in the title-role of Don Giovanni for Dallas Opera, for which he received critical acclaim. He sang the same role to open the 2019–20 season for Pittsburgh Opera (with whom he has a long-standing relationship), followed by performances of the role of Riolobo (Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas).

Other highlights include Albert (Werther) for Lyric Opera of Chicago; Escamillo (Carmen) and the title-role in Billy Budd at Teatro Municipal de Santiago; Sid (Albert Herring) at the Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse; Ramiro (L’heure espagnole) with the Nationale Reisopera in the Netherlands; and Count Almaviva (The Marriage of Figaro) at Seiji Ozawa’s Ongaku-juku Festival.

He is sought-after in contemporary music, and has sung the title-role in Robert Aldridge’s Elmer Gantry with Florentine Opera; George (Carlisle Floyd’s Of Mice and Men) at Tulsa Opera; and, for Opera Philadelphia, War Stories, a production pairing Monteverdi’s Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda with Lembit Beecher’s I have no stories to tell you.

Mezzo-soprano Siân Griffiths is a recent graduate of the National Opera Studio’s Young Artist’s Programme, where she studied with John Evans. Prior to this, she gained her postgraduate degree at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama before joining its prestigious opera course in 2019, completing her studies there in summer 2021.

Recent performing highlights include Suzuki in Lyric Opera Ireland’s 2023 production of Madama Butterfly; Guest Singer in the Royal Ballet’s production of Joby Talbot’s Like Water for Chocolate at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Fanny Price in Waterperry Opera’s 2022 production of Jonathan Dove’s Mansfield Park; and Olga in Garsington’s OperaFirst 2021 performance of Eugene Onegin. During her time at the National Opera Studio she took part in residency performances with ENO, Scottish Opera, WNO and Opera North, where her roles included Dorabella, Bradamante and Charlotte in extracted scenes from the operas.

She is currently performing the role of the Dryad in Garsington Opera’s new production of Ariadne auf Naxos. Future performances include Baba the Turk in Verbier Festival’s Atelier Lyrique production of The Rake’s Progress; Laura in Marianna Bottini’s Elena e Gerardo for Random Opera; and the mezzo-soprano solo roles in Stravinsky’s Les noces for English National Ballet. Later this year she will be joining the Britten Pears Young Artists programme.

Tenor Andrew Bidlack was named as one of Opera News’s ‘top 25 brilliant young artists’ in 2015. His career highlights include Beppe (Pagliacci) at the Metropolitan Opera, New York; the principal tenor role in the world premiere of Iain Bell’s In Parenthesis at Welsh National Opera, with further performances at Covent Garden; and the role of Sprinck in Kevin Puts’s Silent Night at Arizona Opera.

Other recent successes include Tony (West Side Story) at Atlanta Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City and with the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra; Lyonnel (Le roi Arthus) at Bard Summerscape, a role he repeated in Germany at Tiroler Festspiel Erl this summer; and the creation of the role of Rob Hall in Everest at Dallas Opera, which he also sang at at Calgary Opera, Austin Opera and Chicago Opera Theater.

He is renowned in contemporary opera and has participated in many world premieres. Highlights include the role of Andy (Bell’s Stonewall) at New York City Opera; Greenhorn (Jake Heggie’s Moby-Dick) at Dallas Opera and at Chicago Opera Theater; Tancredi (John Musto’s The Inspector) at Wolf Trap; Charles Carter (Thomas Pasatieri’s The Hotel Casablanca); and Christopher Morcom (Justine Chen’s The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing) and the Pilot (Liliya Ugay’s The Opposable Thumb) for American Lyric Theater.

In earlier repertoire his roles have included Tamino (The Magic Flute), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Almaviva (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Ferrando (Così fan tutte), Rodrigo (Otello), Don Ramiro (La Cenerentola), Bastien (Bastien et Bastienne), Nemorino (L’elisir d’amore), Tonio (La fille du régiment), the title-role in Grétry’s rarely heard Zemire et Azor and Rinuccio (Gianni Schicchi).

In the concert hall he has sung Carmina burana with the Milwaukee and South Dakota Symphony orchestras, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in his Carnegie Hall debut, Messiah with the Lexington Philharmonic and Haydn’s The Creation with the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, as well as premiering Bell’s London’s Fatal Fire at the Spitalfields Festival.

He is a graduate of San Francisco Opera’s prestigious Adler Fellowship, and made his house debut in The Little Prince before going on to appear there in operas by Donizetti, Handel, Korngold, Mozart, Mussorgsky and Verdi. International engagements include appearances at the Spoleto Festival, Alcina in Chile and Acis and Galatea in Macau.

This season he has appeared in several productions at Oper Frankfurt, and he returns next season to join the cast of Salome. Other future engagements include his return to Dallas Opera where he appears in the world premiere of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

For over 90 years the BBC Symphony Orchestra has been a driving force in the musical landscape, championing contemporary music in its performances of newly commissioned works and giving voice to rarely performed and neglected composers and music. It plays a central role in the BBC Proms, performing regularly throughout the season each year, including the First and Last Nights.

Highlights of the current Barbican season have included Total Immersion days exploring the music of George Walker, Kaija Saariaho and Sibelius, the last two led by Chief Conductor Sakari Oramo, who also conducted concerts showcasing the music of Grażyna Bacewicz. A literary theme has included a new version by Neil Brand of Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles, the world premiere of Iain Bell’s Beowulf with the BBC Symphony Chorus and an evening of words and music with novelist Ian McEwan. Further world and UK premieres have included works by Victoria Borisova-Ollas, Kaija Saariaho and Valerie Coleman.

Concerts in the forthcoming Proms season include the First Night with Principal Guest Conductor Dalia Stasevska, pianist Yuja Wang performing Rachmaninov, Chief Conductor Sakari Oramo conducting music by Dora Pejačević and Gustav Mahler’s Third Symphony with the BBC Symphony Chorus, concerts conducted by Jules Buckley and Semyon Bychkov, and the Last Night of the Proms with cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason and conductor Marin Alsop.

In October Sakari Oramo launches the BBC SO’s 2023–4 season with Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, with further concerts including music by Sibelius, Alice Mary Smith, and Stravinsky whose Violin Concerto is performed by Vilde Frang. Themes of voyage and storytelling run through the season, which includes Stravinsky’s The Firebird, conducted by Eva Ollikainen, and Ravel’s Shéhérazade, and world and UK premieres of music by Detlev Glanert, Tebogo Monnakgotla, Outi Tarkiainen and Lotta Wennäkoski, plus the London premiere of Ryan Wigglesworth’s Magnificat with the BBC Symphony Chorus.

The vast majority of the performances are broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Sounds and a number of studio recordings each season are free to attend. These often feature up-and-coming talent, including members of BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Artists scheme.

The BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus – alongside the BBC Concert Orchestra, BBC Singers and BBC Proms – offer innovative education and community activities and take a lead role in the BBC Ten Pieces and BBC Young Composer programmes, including work with schools, young people and families in East London ahead of the BBC SO’s move in 2025 to its new home at London’s East Bank cultural quarter in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Stratford.

The BBC Singers have held a unique place at the heart of the UK’s choral scene for almost 100 years and have collaborated with many of the world’s leading composers, conductors and soloists.

They promote a 50:50 gender policy for composers whose music they perform, and they champion composers from all backgrounds. Recent concerts and recordings include music by Joanna Marsh, Soumik Datta, Cecilia McDowall, Sun Keting and Roderick Williams, and they have performed with singers Laura Mvula, Clare Teal, South Asian dance company Akademi and world music fusion band Kabantu.

The BBC Singers appear annually at the BBC Proms. The 2023 season will see them perform at the First and Last Night of the Proms, with Sir Simon Rattle, an evening with Jon Hopkins and the BBC Symphony Orchestra and a concert with Sofi Jeannin, performing two new commissions.

The choir are based at the BBC’s Maida Vale Studios where they rehearse and record for BBC Radio 3. They present an annual series of concerts at Milton Court Concert Hall, perform free concerts in London and appear at major festivals.

The BBC Singers also offer a wide programme of innovative learning activities working with schools, colleges/universities and community groups.