GILLIAN HUMPHREYS

    INTERNATIONAL SOPRANO

  • Welsh-born Gillian Humphreys studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Dame Eva Turner, and worked in London and in California with Sir Tyrone Guthrie, before becoming principal soprano with the D’Oyle Carte Opera Company.
  • Gillian sang at major opera houses across the United States and Europe and has performed with the Glyndebourne Festival Opera and the Welsh National Opera.
  • Gillian performed at Californian Pops Concerts with Nelson Riddle and appeared in TV shows with Johnny Carson and Merv Griffin. For the Millennium, Gillian appeared with Michael Ball in a Gala Concert with the Italian Symphony Orchestra in Malaysia
  • Television appearances include her one-woman show, ‘Home Sweet Home’ - the tempestuous life of one of the world’s greatest prima donnas, Adelina Patti, who sang in the great opera houses of the world, including the Teatro Amazonas at Manaus and the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires.
  • Gillian’s lectures include the life of Adelina Patti, Jenny Lind and the Welsh actor and light opera composer, Ivor Novello. Gillian has appeared in Novello’s operettas and sung his romantic music on stage and for the BBC. Other BBC highlights include her orchestral series, The Musical World of Gillian Humphreys.
  • Gillian recorded ‘Shakespeare and Love’, which was performed at The Shakespeare Globe Theatre in London and on an official tour of the famous castles of Romania. There she also gave her ‘Young Audiences’ workshops to orphanages and hospitals in Bucharest and had the honour of being invited to meet Mother Teresa in London, who endorsed the importance of the healing power of music.
  • Since 1995 the ‘Concordia Foundation’ and it’s objective of ‘Building Bridges through Music and the Arts’ has become an important aspect of Gillian’s international work. The Foundation sponsored a seventeen day concert tour for the ‘Cantorino Children’s Choir’ from Zalau, Romania and gave concerts with the Kuala Lumpur Symphony Orchestra in Malaysia. Gillian also presented and produced musical theatre concerts with the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra.
  • The 1998/99 season included an exciting orchestral concert at the Waterloo Chamber, Windsor Castle at the invitation of the Windsor Festival and a concert series at the Purcell Room in London.
  • Events in 2000 included a Concordia Theatre Company world tour, the opening of the Opera House in Ho Chi Minh City with Cavalleria Rusticana, and a highly successful appearance in the Corcoran Art Gallery in Washington of ‘Patti Patti Patti’, the musical biography of the 19th century diva, Adelina Patti.
  • Gillian’s Concordia Theatre Company has regularly performed on the QE2 and at Embassies including Buenos Aires, Sydney, Wellington, Hong Kong and this year at Yangon (Rangoon) with their performance of ‘Mad Dogs and Englishmen’.
  • In 2001 Gillian launched the Concordia Concerto Series of concerts with the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra in Hanoi. In December 2001 Concordia presented a candle-lit concert at St Paul’s Church, Covent Garden and shared a ‘Stars at Christmas’ Carol Concert with SOS at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.
  • A Gala Banquet at the Tower of London with music from The Yeoman of the Guard was held last June and in July they were part of the Chelsea & Westminster Hospital Music Festival. An autumn series of lunchtime Concerts took place at St. Paul’s Church, Covent Garden – The Actor’s Church – culminating in a Christmas Gala on 14 December.
  • ‘Love from Ivor’, a musical evening recalling the life and music of Ivor Novello, written for Gillian by Richard Stirling, was launched last year and a Gala presentation took place at the Linbury Theatre, Covent Garden Opera House in August to critical acclaim. This was followed by a performance at the Walter Reade Theatre, Lincoln Center, New York.
  • In September, Gillian was invited to adjudicate the 2002 Waterford International Festival of Light Opera and she opened the Chopin and Friends Festival at the Polish Embassy last October with her international recital and tribute to the 19th century diva Adelina Patti.
  • The Concordia Foundation is currently presenting their spring series of concerts on the theme of ‘International Journeys’ at St Paul’s Covent Garden. The series will be celebrated by a Gala ‘Summer Serenade’ concert on 28 June 2003.
  • Gillian has been invited to adjudicate the Buxton Festival in July and returns to Waterford in September to adjudicate the International Festival of Light Opera and to present ‘My Musical World’, a Gala concert with young classical artists to open the Festival.