Blackburn Music Society

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Rebecca Barry

Welcome back to Rebecca who first sang with us in December 2023.

Her performance in our annual Messiah was thoroughly enjoyed baby all with her beautiful tone and expressive interpretation of the text.

Rebecca is a young mezzo-soprano from Manchester. She studied at the prestigious RNCM, under the tutelage of esteemed soprano Jane Irwin, where her studies were generously supported by the D’Oyly Carte Trust and Help Musicians UK.

During her time at the RNCM she performed many roles including the leading roles of Hansel in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, Madame de la Haltière in Massenet’s Cendrillon and Irene in a staged operatic production by John Ramster of Handel’s Theodora. Rebecca’s other accolades from her time at the RNCM include The Annie Ridyard Scholarship for Mezzo Sopranos, The James Martin Oncken Song Prize and being a finalist in the national celebrated Bruce Millar Gullivar Prize.

Prior to her time in the main college, Rebecca was also previously a member of the Junior Royal Northern College of Music and was supported
In 2016 she had the beginning to her career on the international stage, when she was thrilled to perform the role of Witness 3 in the world premiere of David Blake and Keith Warner’s new opera Icarus at the Cantiere Internazionale d’Arte in Montepulciano.

Other highlights include performing Elgar’s Sea Pictures with the WSO and Haydn’s Nelson Mass with the Royal Northern Sinfonia at the Sage Gateshead. She also had the privilege of performing the Duruflè Requiem with the Academy Choir Wimbledon under Matthew Best. She covered the role of Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia for the The Grange Fesitival 2018 and Cherubino at the New Generation Festival in Florence last year.

Rebecca looks forward to many upcoming engagements with Bergen National Opera in Norway, as well in the UK.

Armand Rabot

Armand Rabot is an award-winning Baritone from the Northwest of England studying with Ben Johnson. Recently Armand won the prestigious Grange Festival Prize and has also won the Junior Kathleen Ferrier Bursary award, the Charles Wood Junior Song Competition, the Junior Charles Wood Song Prize, the James Martin Oncken Song Prize, and was placed second in the inaugural Flat Pack Music Opera Competition. Armand was a Semi-Finalist in the London Mozart Competition.

Armand’s recent concert appearances include recitals at Liverpool Philharmonic and the Charles Wood Festival, Elijah with Birkenhead Choral Society, the Mozart Requiem at Liverpool Cathedral and Marple Choral Society, The Messiah with the Salford Choral Society, Birkenhead Choral Society and Shrewsbury Cathedral. Brahms Requiem and Puccini Messa Di Gloria with Formby Choral Society, The Creation with Keele Bach Choir, D’Astorga Stabat Mater with EMAE, Faure Requiem at Blackburn Cathedral, Mozart C minor Mass with the Amadeus Choir, Saint Saens’ Oratorio de Noel at Shrewsbury Cathedral and Bach Cantatas 62,158,32, The John Passion and the Matthew Passion with the Liverpool Bach Collective.

Upcoming operatic roles include Father Hänsel und Gretel (Hampstead Garden Opera), Mercurio and Familgiari 3 L’incoronazione di Poppea and Keeper of the Madhouse The Rakes Progress at The Grange Festival. Previous roles include Narumov and covered Surin in The Grange Festival’s performance of Queen of Spades. He has also sung Uberto La Serva Padrona with EMAE and at The Grange Festival covered Banquo Macbeth and William Shadbolt Yeomen of the Gaurd. Roles with British Youth Opera include Pistol in Sir John in Love and Envy, Mistrust, Apollyon and 3rdShepherd in A Pilgrim’s Progress