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The English bass-baritone, Simon Birchall, began his singing career as a chorister at Oxford. He became a choral scholar at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied with John Carol Case, and then went to the Guildhall School of Music, where his teacher was Bryan Drake.
Simon Birchall's repertoire ranges from J.S. Bach and George Frideric Handel to the music of the present day. His performances of J.S. Bach's Passions with the London Handel Orchestra have been particularly acclaimed, and he makes regular oratorio appearances throughout the country, singing works by Felix Mendelssohn, Johannes Brahms and Edward Elgar as well as the Baroque repertoire. His membership of several vocal consorts has enabled him to travel widely, singing in places as far afield as Japan, Malaysia and East Africa. He is a member of the Amaryllis Consort, with whom he has recently performed J.S. Bach's St. Mark-Passion (BWV 247) in Paris.
Simon Birchall's recordings include Monteverdi's Vespers and G.F. Handel's Israel in Egypt with Harry Christophers and the Sixteen, G.F. Handel's Dixit Dominus with Simon Preston and the Westminster Abbey Choir and recordings of Purcell's music for Harry Christophers and Martin Neary. Dietrich Buxtehude's Membra Jesu Nostri with the Sixteen has recently (2003) been released. |
