Lorena Paz Nieto

Our next alum recital features 2017/18 alum Lorena Paz Nieto.

Award-winning Spanish soprano Lorena Paz Nieto is a previous winner of the Oxford Lieder Young Artist Platform award, the Ludmilla Andrews Russian Song Prize, and ‘Vocalist of the Year’ at the 2019 LUKAS awards.

Lorena’s recent operatic roles include Norina Don Pasquale and Nannetta Falstaff (West Green House Opera – WGHO) Susanna Le Nozze di Figaro (WGHO and Opera Project), Lisette La Rondine (WGHO and IfOpera), Clorinda La Cenerentola (Nevill Holt Opera), Olga Fedora and Bottle/ Duchess Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (IfOpera), Hero Beatrice and Benedict (Mid Wales Opera), Maria Maria de Buenos Aires (Theater Lübeck), Despina Così fan tutte (Opera Project), Berta and Rosina Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Ulster Touring Opera), Amore Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria (The Grange Festival), Musetta La Bohème, Marie La fille du Régiment, Lauretta Gianni Schicchi, Morgana Alcina, Diane Orphée aux Enfers, Pannochka May Night, Drusilla, Fortuna and Pallade L’incoronazione di Poppea.

Recent solo oratorio highlights include Handel’s Messiah at the Auditorio Nacional in Madrid with the Seville Baroque Orchestra and the premiere of Richard Blackford’s Babel at Cadogan Hall, as well as Bach’s Mass in B minor, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, Tippett’s A child of our time, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Elgar’s The Kingdom and Monteverdi’s Vespro della beata Vergine at the Three Choirs Festival.

Lorena recently released her first solo CD, ‘Cantando a dos poetas’, featuring contemporary songs written by Spanish composers. Upcoming projects include a role debut as Ilia Idomeneo with Chelsea Opera Group, returning to IfOpera in Carmen, two recitals celebrating female Latin composers and featuring on a new CD with guitarist Ahmed Dickinson. Lorena is an alumna of the National Opera Studio, the Royal Academy of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

lorenapaznieto.com

Helen Glaisher-Hernández
British-Hispanic pianist, Helen Glaisher-Hernández, is part of a new generation of Latino practitioners elucidating the cultural diversity of classical music.

Following degrees in Spanish and French at the University of Cambridge, a year abroad at the Conservatorio Nacional Superior in Buenos Aires, and an MMus in Piano at Trinity College of Music in London, Helen now combines her two Piano Helen Glaisher-Hernández great loves –
music and hispanicity – as a concert pianist, event producer, educator and Ibe/rican specialist committed to the decolonisation of music programming and performance.

She has premiered many works by Latin American composers in the UK, including Villa-Lobos, Estévez, Alvarez Ríos, Vitier, Sojo, Carreño, Guastavino and Camargo Guarnieri, and has also commissioned new works by preeminent Latin American composers such as Ricardo Lorenz and
Enrique González Medina.

Helen has performed internationally, as well as live on BBC Radios 3 and 4, and across the UK’s major venues, including the Purcell Room, Milton Court Concert Hall, St John’s Smith Square, St
Martinin-the-Fields, Bridgewater Hall, and The National Gallery. Helen’s playing is noted as much for its passion as for its sensitivity and cultural authenticity. Described by Telecinco as ‘a magnificent musician’ her peformances have also been praised as ‘beautiful’ (Woman’s Hour) and ‘satisfyingly understated’ (Music & Vision).

helenglaisherhernandez.com