Anna Dennis
Described by the Times as a “delectable soprano and a serene, ever-sentient presence”, Anna studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Noelle Barker. Notable concert performances have included Britten’s War Requiem at the Berlin Philharmonie, a programme of Russian operatic arias with Philharmonia Baroque in San Francisco, Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon, Handel’s Joshua with Laurence Cummings at the Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the Australian Chamber Orchestra in Sydney Opera House and with Concerto Copenhagen in Amsterdam , the Russian premiere of Thomas Ades’ Life Story at the Rachmaninov Hall in Moscow, and the modern premiere of Rameau’s Anacreon of 1754 with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Her BBC Proms appearances include performances with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Britten Sinfonia and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Recent opera roles include: Emira/Handel’s Siroe (with Laurence Cummings, Göttingen Händel Festspiele), Paride/Gluck’s Paride ed Elena (with Andreas Spering, Nuremberg Opera House) Katherine Dee/Damon Albarn’s Dr Dee (English National Opera), Ilia/Mozart’s Idomeneo and l’Ingrata/Monteverdi’s Ballo delle Ingrate, both directed by Graham Vick (Birmingham Opera Company), world premieres of Francisco Coll’s Cafe Kafka (Royal Opera House/Opera North/Aldeburgh) and Jonathan Dove’s The Walk From The Garden (Salisbury Festival), Flora/Jonathan Dove’s The Enchanted Pig (Young Vic), Francesca/Edward Rushton’s The Shops (Bregenz Festspiele/Royal Opera House), Moll Hackabout/Will Tuckett’s Pleasure’s Progress (Royal Opera House), Kyoto/ Yannis Kyriakides’ An Ocean of Rain (Aldeburgh Festival/Amsterdam Muziekgebouw) and Strawberry Seller & Strolling Player/Britten’s Death in Venice (La Scala, Milan). Future plans include Rosmene/Handel’s Imeneo at Göttingen, Bersi/Giordano’s Andrea Chenier at Opera North, and performances of Thomas Ades’ Life Story at the Lincoln Centre, New York.
Gavin Kibble
Cellist and viol player Gavin Kibble studied first at Magdalen College, Oxford, with Laurence Dreyfus, and then with Jonathan Manson at the Royal Academy of Music. He now performs regularly with leading UK orchestras including the English Concert, The Dunedin Consort, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Gabrieli Consort, the London Handel Orchestra, Instruments of Time and Truth, Classical Opera, La Nuova Musica, International Baroque Players and La Serenissima.
Gavin’s specialism in continuo playing has taken him to some of Europe’s most prestigious opera houses. In November 2013 he was invited as guest principal cellist to the Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, for a production of Handel’s Agrippina directed by Harry Bickett and starring Sarah Connolly, Danielle de Niese and David Daniels. Previously he toured internationally with an Ambronay production of Monteverdi’s Orfeo, and was resident at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence for a Handel Acis and Galatea, each directed by Leonardo García Alarcón. Gavin is also the regular continuo cellist for Longborough Festival Opera, and recently travelled to Dublin to play with the Irish Baroque Orchestra in a concert performance of Il Trionfo del tempo e del disinganno, directed by John Butt.
As well as working with established orchestras, Gavin is at the heart of some of the UK’s most interesting young ensembles. He is a founder member and principal cellist of Oxford Baroque, and also of Ars Eloquentiae, an early music group based in Kew with which he has travelled to the Gottingen and Vienna (Resonanzen) international festivals. One of the highlights of Gavin’s musical year is the Really Classical Relay, a festival of classical and early-romantic chamber music held every May in Bristol.
