The second half of the evening was a production of the Mozart medley A Night in Vienna. Set in the reception area of the Vienna Grand Hotel and including songs from Mozart’s most famous Operas: Don Giovanni, The Magic Flute, Cosi fan tutte and The Marriage of Figaro.

Two men vie for the love of one woman and use all the tricks in the book to win her. Aidan Coburn, Nick Dwyer and Nina Kopparhed are all wonderful and the English libretto by Pamela Schermann is at times hilarious. I particularly loved the updated Don Giovanni excerpt where his past conquests are revealed by scrolling through his Facebook! Brilliantly acted by all three performers and Aidan Coburn’s singing is so beautiful I was almost moved to tears.

A thoroughly enjoyable evening

****

The role of Olympia gives Nina Kopparhed a chance to show off her very impressive range as a coloratura soprano as well as some effective comedy

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Thank you both for another very special [evening]... we enjoyed every minute of the delightful and varied programme. Nina's heartfelt "one fine Day" was very special.

[Nina] and[Neil] did an amazing job! I'm very fortunate to work with such great musicians and advocates of new music

A particular delight was the fact that we had the premiere of Canadian Boat Song by none other than the first violinist, Mark Wilson, in which he accompanied his wife, Nina Kopparhed, who sang it beautifully.

Yorkshire pianist and composer Neil Crossland had written a song setting especially for this concert, a poised and poignant piece entitled A Dream Within A Dream.The words, by Edgar Allan Poe, were again exquisitely rendered by Nina.

Nina really came into her own in her performance of three songs by Frank Bridge...The standard throughout was extraordinarily fine both musically and technically

"There was a magical clarity of interwoven lines, supporting and commenting upon your beautifully nuanced and well-characterized singing. This was an ensemble that clearly loved the music, enjoyed playing together and captured the audience under its spell. The quality of the music-making was compelling as we became increasingly aware of fusion of subtly changing colours and dynamics of independent parts. And on top of this was your gift of using voice, facial expression and discreet body language to convey the changing emotions and moods the songs demanded. The music came alive and I, for one, heard them in a new light.  I have never heard a better performance of the Shepherd on the Rock, live or on disc. 

 ...I have had exceptional feedback from members of last night’s audience, all of them overwhelmed by the friendly and informative atmosphere created, and the wonderful music they heard."

"I normally don't like to single anything, or anyone, out but norms have to be set aside on occasion. I really thought the Exsultate Jubilate was in every way exceptional, as fine a performance as I have heard in many a day, the soloist positively radiating charm and joy in the music such as to transfix everyone in the hall. Absolutely first class."