On Valentine's Day, in the heart of Manchester, join us for a romantic, candlelit evening in the stunning St Ann’s Church, with phenomenal opera singers, Susan Parkes and Louise Rogan, joined by pianist, Sheldon Miller. Enjoy selections of the world's greatest operas with timeless works by monumental composers. Experience the passion and romance of opera in a glamourous evening of sublime music.
If you’re looking for a special evening with your Valentine, in need of a relaxing experience, want to learn more about classical music and opera, or just want to hear virtuosic performances by some of the best, young performers in the UK, this concert is just for you.
Susan Parkes has sung many contrasting soprano roles internationally. Highlights include performances at Sadler’s Wells, Buxton Festival, Covent Garden’s Lindbury Studio at the Royal Opera House, Royal Albert Hall, The BBC Proms, Salzburg International Festival with tours across Europe, Australia, Hong Kong and Africa.
She has appeared in major Hollywood films in opera scenes (including Puccini's Turnandot in Mission Impossible Rogue Nation with Tom Cruise and in 'If Only' with Jennifer Love Hewitt), west end plays, (including Fortune Theatre, Austenatious), television (E4 and Italy's Rai Due), been broadcast and interviewed live on BBC radio, on recordings and in many newly composed operas/artworks with her voice even being turned into an 'app'. Susan has premiered and recorded as soloist the award winning, Karl Jenkins’s 'Armed Man’s Mass for Peace' (subsequently recorded for Virgin Records and reaching No 1 in the British Classical Charts) at the Royal Albert Hall.
Prizes include 'best female voice' at the international Umberto Giordano awards held in Italy. She has also been photographed in Hello magazine. Susan was transformed into a hologram for the first feature length fully holographic opera 'Symphony for a lost Generation', which premiered in Vienna.
Louise Rogan is a mezzo-soprano from Manchester praised for a voice of "crystalline purity and palpable enthusiasm" paired with "phenomenal acting" (Daily Camera). In 2017, she enjoyed her debut performance with the Chicago Sinfonietta at Chicago Symphony Center, a return to her alma mater, the Chicago College of Performing Arts, for a recital with renowned coach and mentor Scott Gilmore and her debut with Central City Opera in the USA as a Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Apprentice Artist where she was also the recipient of the Lew Cady Memorial Award.
During her time in Chicago she performed many roles including Pamela (New York Stories), Third Lady (Die Zauberflöte) and the title role in the Chicago premiere of Amelia by Daron Hagen. During this time, Louise was a Young Artist with Chicago Opera Theater, where she covered the roles of Second Lady (Die Zauberflöte) and Masha (Moscow, Cheryomushki). She spent the 2014 season with Opera Colorado as a Young Artist in residency, where she performed Giovanna/Il Paggio (Rigoletto), Mercédès (Carmen) and the title role in Carmen as well as Rosina (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) and Stephano (Romeo et Juliette).
Pianist Sheldon Miller is a graduate of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, where he received his Double Bachelor of Music degree in Voice and Piano, and his Professional Diploma in Opera. Further training as a Young Artist took him to companies such as Chicago Opera Theater, Kentucky Opera, and Minnesota Opera. His operatic credits as a coach and répétiteur include Santa Fe Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, Opera Omaha, Opera Colorado, Kentucky Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Virginia Opera, San Diego Opera, Central City Opera, and more recently in the UK, Opera North. Other recent performance highlights include recordings as a collaborative pianist on Minnesota Public Radio with soprano Jacquelyn Wagner and Colorado Public Radio with soprano So Young Park. As an orchestral musician Sheldon frequently joins the pit, from the organ in Tosca with The Santa Fe Opera Orchestra, to the celeste in Die Zauberflöte with the Colorado Opera Orchestra, to his most recent appearance with Chicago Opera Theater’s Elizabeth Cree as the pianist.
Upcoming engagements include Kevin Puts’s Silent Night with both Washington National Opera and Opera North, and a return to San Diego Opera for productions of Carmen and Three Decembers. Sheldon is on faculty at the School of Vocal Studies and Opera at the Royal Northern College of Music.
So why not treat yourself to a spectacular evening and join us for a concert to remember of uplifting music.