Music of Purcell and Handel - Soprano Arias.

23 MP3 Songs
CLASSICAL: Traditional



Details:
Nancy Armstrongâs luminous performances extend across the musical spectrum from early Renaissance to American musical theatre. Her voice is âa plaintive, humane instrumentâ¦she is an intelligent artist who cherishes words.â She has âa voice of quicksilver agility and radiance, and she dispenses it with wit and a keen sense of musical characterization.â Justly called "the Purcell Prima Donna of our day", she is âcapable of bringing a rapt spiritual dimension to what she singsâ¦singing out of her own life and speaking to ours.â

Highlighting her career are her portrayals of seventeen Handelian opera and oratorio heroines to date. Her critically acclaimed Messiah performances span the United States and include several at Carnegie Hall. She recently was soprano soloist in Bachâs St Matthew Passion at the National Cathedral in Washington D.C., in a historic concert commemorating the 30th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther Kingâs death. For eight years, Miss Armstrong toured internationally as soprano soloist with the Boston Camerata. She sang Belinda in the Camerataâs Parisian production of Purcellâs Dido and Aeneas. She received wide critical acclaim for her singing in Purcellâs King Arthur at the Ojai Music Festival with the San Francisco Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. At the American Repertory Theatre, she sang excerpts from Purcellâs The Fairy Queen, woven as incidental music to A Midsummer Nightâs Dream. Through the Boston Early Music Festival, Miss Armstrong assumed principal roles in Monteverdiâs Coronation of Poppea, Rameauâs Zoroastre (American premiere), The Play of Daniel, Handelâs Teseo and Mozartâs Mass in C Minor. She concretized in the Czech Republic with the Boston Museum Trio, performing works of Bach, Buxtehude, Purcell, and Vivaldi.

Equally at home in the contemporary repertoire, Miss Armstrong gave world premiere performances of Ronald Pereraâs The Outermost House, Libby Larsonâs Now I Become Myself, and Benjamin Searsâ Mass, all major choral works. She recently gave two chamber music premieres: Eric Chasalowâs Five Simic Songs (with the Lydian String Quartet) and James Russell Smithâs The Presence of Things (with the Dinosaur Annex Music Ensemble). She appears annually to sold-out audiences in her treasured Valentineâs Day recitals of American Broadway composers.

Miss Armstrong has just released her first solo CD, âWhat Magic Has Victorious Loveâ, on VAI, featuring her interpretations of Handelâs powerful cantata Lucrezia (with Peter Sykes and Phoebe Carrai) and selected favorite songs of Purcell (with the Boston Museum Trio). Another new CD, âStarlight and Sweet Dreamsâ, with songs of Gershwin and Porter, is a joint project with baritone Robert Honeysucker, violinist Daniel Stepner, and viola da gambist Laura Jeppesen, and has appeared on Centaur. She is showcased on CDs of Handelâs LâAllegro il Penseroso ed il Moderato (with Boston Baroque, on Arabesque), Mozartâs Mass in C Minor (with Andrew Parrot, on Denon), Virgil Thomsonâs songs (on Northeastern), Pereraâs The Outermost House (on Albany) and Trimbleâs Four Fragments from the Canterbury Tales (on Albany). She has also recorded with the Boston Camerata on the Erato, Harmonia Mundi, Nonesuch and Ventadorn labels.

Miss Armstrong has been Artist in Residence for the Brandeis University Theatre Arts Graduate Program since 1996. She also maintains a large private voice studio at her home in Charlestown, Massachusetts.