Sedbergh Music Festival 2010

Nicholas Hurndall Smith

Nicholas Hurndall Smith read Music at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and then went on to study with David Pollard on the Guildhall School of Music & Drama’s Opera Course, supported by The Leverhulme Trust, The Worshipful Company of Salters and The Worshipful Company of Tobacco Pipemakers and Tobacco Blenders.

He began his career with a Rodney Milnes review in Opera Magazine: “tenor Nicholas Smith shone especially brightly, a most accomplished actor as well as an inventive singer” and he has since been described as “Wonderfully manic” in London’s Metro and the Times wrote of “delightful cameo of Nicholas Smith’s servant Arv”. Other roles include Lurcanio, Snout and Don Curzio for English Touring Opera, Tamino for Longborough Festival Opera, McHeath and Flute for Opera Project, Ecclitico, Sellem and Normanno at Iford Arts and Lysander for British Youth Opera.

Of his concert work the Daily Telegraph wrote “A refreshingly mellow tenor” and the Financial Times of his “Rapt and devout delivery”, and he has sung the arias in Bach’s St John Passion at the London Handel Festival, Bach Cantatas 63 and 65 with the Academy of Ancient Music, Schubert’s Winterreise at St. Marien Spandau, Berlin, the title role in Carissimi’s Jonah in the BBC Proms, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in Kristiansund, and the Evangelist in Bach’s St John Passion in Jever. He recently sang the role of Coridon in Handel’s Acis and Galatea with Paul McCreesh and the Gabrieli Consort & Players in Vienna, Strasbourg and at the Wigmore Hall. He is in demand as a Britten soloist and has sung St Nicolas with the London Mozart Players, the Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings with the Haffner Orchestra, the Spring Symphony (c. Paul Spicer) at the Mary Wakefield Festival and the War Requiem with the combined choral societies of Cumbria.

He is a member of the highly acclaimed solo-voice ensemble I Fagiolini, with whom he has appeared throughout Europe, America, South Africa and the Far East as well as regularly on BBC Radio 3. He also sang the role of Coridon with the Dunedin Consort in their recording of Acis and Galatea which was recently selected as First Choice Recommendation by Radio 3’s Building a Library.

‡ - indicates a change from an earlier advertised programme