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Jun 2024
Internationally acclaimed soprano in Harrogate for hometown concert
International soprano Eleonore Cockerham is returning to her home town of Harrogate for a concert tomorrow.
The concert will feature a couple of 'firsts'. It will be the first time Eleonore performs with the Harrogate Choral Society, and the first time the society welcomes the composer of one of their pieces to their concert.
Eleonore and the choral society will be singing the Da Vinci Requiem with London-based composer Cecilia McDowall in the audience. Cecilia will be giving a talk about the piece, which was first performed in the Royal Festival Hall in 2019, before the concert starts.
Speaking to The Stray Ferret this week, Eleonore said:
I’m genuinely very excited to meet Cecilia and to sing with the society. It’s not the simplest piece in the world. It’s pushed me in terms of the style; it’s a bigger sound. It’s dissonant and atonal at times. Hopefully I can give it my best and I’m looking forward to hearing what the choir have done with it.
Eleonore, 28, is perhaps best known for being a member of the Grammy-nominated a capella octet VOCES8, with whom she toured the world, including the United States and Australia, for four years, giving on average one concert every three days.
As well as her work with VOCES8, Eleonore is also an experienced recording artist. She has featured as a soprano soloist on the soundtrack to the feature film The Last Duel, and in the season 4 finale of the Netflix series The Crown.
Also a teacher and workshop leader, Eleonore is now based in Manchester. She grew up in Starbeck and attended St Aidan’s High School before going on to study voice at the Royal Northern College of Music. She has been performing internationally as a soloist from the age of 12, having built her musical foundations as part of the choir of St John the Baptist Church in Knaresborough.
Eleonore's parents, Sarah and David, still live in Harrogate and she said she enjoys returning to the town and seeing familiar faces in the audience at her concerts – and sometimes also as members of the choirs singing with her.
The Da Vinci Requiem will be the final performance of tomorrow's concert. The programme also features the atmospheric Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine by the US-based, Grammy award-winning Eric Whitacre, and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons by the National Festival Orchestra and violin soloist Sara Trickey Violinist Sara Trickey
The concert is at St Wilfrid’s Church on Saturday, June 15, starting at 7pm. Cecilia will be leading a discussion about her work at 6.30pm. Tickets are £15 or £5 for under 16s and students and can be booked here.
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