Robert
Anthony Gardiner tenor
Born
and educated in Birmingham, Robert Gardiner began his musical career as
a cellist. Whilst at school in 1997 he achieved distinctions in both his
Grade VIII and his Advanced Performance Diploma.
During
his early teens he sang in Birmingham Cathedral as a treble, and subsequently
as a tenor. He also sang as a tenor in Durham Cathedral, where he studied
as an undergraduate, and Manchester Cathedral, where he studied as a
postgraduate.
He graduated
from Durham University in 2002 with a BSc Honours in Astrophysics, and
the following year he successfully completed a PGCE in secondary school
science and physics education at Manchester University.
In September
2003, he began a postgraduate diploma course at the RNCM, studying with
Robert Alderson & subsequently Peter Wilson. In 2006 he continued
his opera studies in Frankfurt am Main. As well as having received a
number of awards, including the Elizabeth Harwood Memorial Prize and
the Wexford Festival Rosenblatt Prize, he would like to thank The Peter
Moores Foundation, for making his study possible.
His oratorio
performances encompass a wide range of works by various composers: Monteverdi,
Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Rossini, Britten,
Tippett, Honegger and Spicer. As an oratorio singer, he has worked with
numerous different ensembles, including the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
Orchestra, Royal Leeds Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, Northern Chamber
Orchestra, Goldberg Ensemble, Northern Sinfonia Orchestra and Choir,
and the Hallé Choir.
In 2004
he sang the role of Sellem in the RNCM’s spring production of
Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress and Ferrando in
performances of Mozart’s Così Fan Tutte at the
Ryedale Festival with the Goldberg Ensemble. More recent operatic performances
in 2005 include the role of Testo in Monteverdi's Combattimento
di Tancredi e Clorinda at the Lake District Music Festival, Aeneas
in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas in the Perpignan Music Festival,
and covering the role of Slender in Nicolai's Merry Wives of Windsor
at the Buxton Opera Festival. In October 2005 he sang the roles of Aubry,
in Donizetti's penultimate opera Maria di Rohan, and Ctesippe,
in Faure’s only opera Penelope, at the Wexford Festival
Opera. In 2006 he was also a member of the Glyndebourne Festival Chorus.
Robert learns with Ryland
Davies. His NOS studies were supported by the Nicholas John Trust.
