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 Joanna Tomlinson is a lyric soprano who sings a wide range of operatic, concert and choral repertoire. Recent operatic engagements include Echo in Hansel und Gretel for Opera Holland Park, Siebel in Faust for Guildford Opera, chorus in Fidelio with the Geoffrey Mitchell Choir at the BBC Proms, Parisina recording and performance at the Royal Festival Hall for Opera Rara, Roberto Devereux, Iolanta, La Gioconda, Lakmé and Nabucco for Opera Holland Park; Rameau's Platée for the English Bach Festival in Athens and Dido in Dido and Æneus with the Croydon Bach Choir.
Recent concert appearances include Magnus Lindburg Graffiti at the Royal Festival Hall with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Beethoven Mass in C with the Whitehall Choir and Paul Spicer, the premiere of Michael Stimpson Songs of Innocence and Experience with the Exmoor Singers at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Rossini Petite Messe Solennelle at the Menuhin Hall in Surrey, Rossini Stabat Mater with the Princes Risborough Music Society, Mozart Mass in C minor with Skolia. One concert review remarked: "her phrasing and tuning were impeccable". She has given recitals at venues in London including St James', Piccadilly, St Magnus the Martyr, St George's, Bloomsbury and St Andrew’s, Holborn. Joanna also works as a choral singer. She works as an ad hoc singer with the BBC Singers and highlights include Beethoven Mass in C under Richard Hickox, as part of the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. As a member of Philharmonia Voices she has sung under eminent conductors including Nagano, Maazel, Hickox, Pletnev, and Muti, with the Philharmonia Orchestra. She also sings with the Geoffrey Mitchell Choir and Patrick Craig's all-female choir, Aurora Nova at St Paul's Cathedral. She deputises for professional church choirs including St Marylebone Parish Church, The Guards’ Chapel, St Brides', Grosvenor Chapel, St Michael's, Cornhill, All Saints, Margaret Street and St Paul's Knightsbridge.
Joanna gained the post-graduate diploma in singing, with distinction, at the Royal College of Music, under Russell Smythe, then as a mezzo-soprano. At the Royal College she appeared in the Benjamin Britten Theatre as Pâtre in Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, and she performed opera scenes as Cherubino in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, Lucretia in Britten’s Rape of Lucretia, Auntie in Britten’s Peter Grimes, Tisbe in Rossini’s La Cenerentola, Idamante in Mozart’s Idomeneo, and Mrs Quickly in Verdi’s Falstaff. Her solo concert performances at the Royal College of Music included Bach Mass in B minor, with one voice to a part, under Adrian Butterfield, and Helmut Lachenmann's Consolation I, which was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and she also sang in the chorus of Bruckner's Te deum conducted by Bernard Haitink. She participated in Masterclasses with Sarah Walker, Jane Manning, Patricia Rozario, Stephen Varcoe, Robert Levin and Patricia MacMahon. During her first year at the Royal College of Music she was taught by Margaret Cable and her repertoire coach was Stephen Wilder.
She read Music at Bristol University for her undergraduate degree, and studied singing with Lesley-Jane Rogers and recorder with Alan Davis. At Bristol she sang the Sorceress in Dido and Æneus and was a soloist in Copeland’s In the Beginning, the Mozart Vespers and the Fauré Requiem with the Bristol University Singers. She also conducted the University Chamber Choir in her final year, culminating in a performance of Mozart ‘Coronation’ Mass at St George’s, Brandon Hill. Joanna has attended various summer courses including L’Académie Internationale d’Été de Nice with Robin Bowman. Joanna also works as a conductor, and is the conductor for the Ince Choir, the Constanza Chorus and Headley Parish Church Choir. She works as a private singing teacher and teaches at the Hall School in Wimbledon and The Royal School in Haslemere. Please contact Joanna to book her for concerts or to sing at your wedding. |