Early Opera Company & Christian Curnyn
Biographie Early Opera Company & Christian Curnyn
Andrew Staples
studied at the Royal College of Music and subsequently joined the Benjamin Britten International Opera School. His concert engagements include Swedish Radio and the London Symphony Orchestra with Daniel Harding, the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and Scottish Chamber Orchestra with Andrew Manze, the Gävle Symphony with Robin Ticciati, and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra with Sir Simon Rattle. On stage he has performed Aret (Haydn’s Philemon und Baucis) with Trevor Pinnock, Haliate (Handel’s Sosarme) with Laurence Cummings and Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni) with Andrew Parrott. For the BBIOS he sang Male Chorus (The Rape of Lucretia), Ferrando (Così fan tutte) and Eisenstein (Die Fledermaus). He sang his first Tamino for Opera Holland Park and has appeared regularly with the Classical Opera Company.
Mary Bevan
Praised by Opera for her “dramatic wit and vocal control”, British soprano Mary Bevan is internationally renowned in baroque, classical and contemporary repertoire, and appears regularly with leading conductors, orchestras and ensembles around the world. She is a winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Young Artist award and UK Critics’ Circle Award for Exceptional Young Talent in music and was awarded a MBE in the Queen’s birthday honours list in 2019.
During the 2024/25 season, Bevan returns to English National Opera as Susanna Le nozze di Figaro, to Opera di Roma as Morgana Alcina, and makes her debut with the Semperoper Dresden as Michal in a new Claus Guth production of Saul. Last season, she performed Cleopatra Giulio Cesare with Opera di Roma, sang Dido Dido and Aeneas in Denmark with Barokksolistine and debuted with the Zurich Opera House as La Folie Platée.
For the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden she sang Morgana in a new Richard Jones Alcina, Lila in David Bruce The Firework-Maker’s Daughter, performed the title roles of Rossi Orpheus at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse and of Turnage Coraline at the Barbican, and made her main stage debut as Barbarina Le nozze di Figaro. Elsewhere, opera highlights have included Rose Maurrant in Weill Street Scene for Opera de Monte Carlo and Teatro Real Madrid, Eurydice in Offenbach Orpheus in the Underworld and Zerlina Don Giovanni for the English National Opera, Bellezza Il Trionfo del tempo e del desinganno and her role debut as Marzelline Fidelio for the Royal Danish Opera, her debut at the Bolshoi Theatre as Dalinda in David Alden’s production of Ariodante, Eurydice Orfeo and Eurydice at Teatro La Fenice and her debut with the Bayerische Staatsoper as the title role La Calisto.
Bevan’s many recent concert appearances have included her Carnegie Hall debut as Dalinda Ariodante with the English Concert, Creation at the Barbican with the Academy of Ancient Music, Sally Beamish The Judas Passion with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and her return to the 2022 BBC Proms with Mass in B Minor. She has toured extensively across Europe, Australia, Asia and the US with the Kammerorchester Basel, Australian Chamber Orchestra and English Concert (Harry Bicket); and she has performed numerous world premiers, including Sir James MacMillan Christmas Oratorio at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, A. Bliss Rout with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Roxanna Panufnik Faithful Journey with the CBSO. She has also performed with the Handel and Haydn Society Boston, Philharmonia Baroque, and the BBC Symphony and BBC Concert orchestras, and appears regularly in recital at Wigmore Hall, and the Leeds Lieder, Lammermuir, Osafestivalen and Oxford Lieder festivals.
Bevan’s wide-ranging discography includes her art song album Voyages, Lieder by Schubert, Haydn and Wolf with pianist Joseph Middleton, and Handel’s Queens for Signum Records, with whom her latest disc, a recording of French Song entitled Visions Illuminées, was released in 2023. She has also recorded Handel's The Triumph of Time and Truth and Ode for St Cecilia’s Day with Ludus Baroque, Vaughan Williams Symphony No.3 and Schubert Rosamunde with the BBC Philharmonic, and Mendelssohn songs for Champs Hill Records.
Early Opera Company
Since its inception in 1995, Early Opera Company has established itself as one of the UK’s most exciting ensembles specialising in Baroque vocal works. It regularly performs at Wigmore Hall and St John’s Smith Square, and is frequently broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
EOC has cemented its reputation in the last few years with its highly successful collaborations with the Royal Opera: Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo and Il Ritorno D’Ulisse at the Roundhouse, Cavalli’s L’Ormindo and Luigi Rossi’s L’Orfeo at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, the latter nominated for an Olivier Award, and Handel’s Solomon on the ROH main stage. Further afield, EOC recently made its debut at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam with Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Blow’s Venus and Adonis, which was also broadcast live on NPR Radio.
A frequent collaborator with Chandos Records, EOC’s recordings have won several awards, including the opera category of the BBC Music Magazine Awards for Handel’s Alceste as well as Acis and Galatea, a Diapason d’Or for Eccles’ The Judgment of Paris and the Stanley Sadie Handel Prize for Handel’s Semele. Other Chandos recordings include Handel’s Serse, Flavio and Partenope, and EOC has recorded Handel’s Il Trionfo del Tempo for Wigmore Live. In December 2021 EOC recorded Handel’s Amadigi for release in 2022.
In July 2021, EOC staged five performances of Handel’s Acis and Galatea at the Buxton International Festival. Future projects include Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Charpentier’s Actéon at the Concertgebouw in Bruges and the Muziekgebouw Eindhoven with Dame Sarah Connolly as Dido.
Christian Curnyn
founded the Early Opera Company in 1994 with whom he has given notable performances throughout the UK and abroad, along with multiple award-winning recordings for Chandos.
Christian is a regular at English National Opera, where he has conducted Handel’s Partenope, Julius Caesar and Rodelinda, Rameau’s Castor and Pollux, Charpentier’s Medee and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. For the Royal Opera he has conducted Cavalli’s L’Ormindo, Luigi Rossi’s Orfeo, Monteverdi’s Ulysses and Handel’s Solomon in concert. Opera credits include acclaimed productions for Scottish Opera, Garsington Opera, Opera North as well as further afield with Komische Oper Berlin, Oper Frankfurt, Landestheater Salzburg, Oper Stuttgart, Teatro Nacional de Sao Carlos, Halle Handel Festival, as well as Opera Australia, New York City Opera, Glimmerglass Opera and Chicago Opera Theater.
On the concert platform engagements have included concerts with the Academy of Ancient Music, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Bournemouth Symphony, English Concert, Essen Philharmoniker, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, The Hallé, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Swedish Chamber, Stavanger Symphony, and Ulster Orchestras, as well as further afield with the Tasmania, West Australia, and Adelaide Symphony Orchestras.
Recent and forthcoming highlights include a stream of Handel’s Messiah with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Concerts with Budapest Festival Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, BBC NOW, and Komische Oper Berlin, Acis and Galatea with his Early Opera Company for the Buxton Festival, a new production of Handel’s Orlando for the 100th Halle Handel Festival, Semele with AKAMUS and Opera Collective and a return to the Royal Opera House Covent Garden for a new production. With the Early Opera Company, he will conduct concerts at the Bruges Concertgebouw and Eindhoven Muziekgebouw.
