Roger Quilter – Seven Elizabethan Lyrics
Weep You No More
My Life’s Delight
Damask Roses
The Faithless Shepherdess
Brown is my Love
By a mountainside and
Fair house of joy
Ivor Gurney – Five Elizabethan Songs
Orpheus
Tears,
Under the Greenwood Tree,
Sleep and
Spring
Accompanist Daniel Gordon.
Sophie Macrae is a 25-year-old British lyric mezzo-soprano from Perthshire in Scotland, currently based in London where she is studying with well-known British soprano, Sarah Leonard.
Sophie’s passion for music was nurtured from a young age, learning the violin and piano from the tender age of five and later discovering her talent and charm for classical singing during her time in the chapel choir at Uppingham School in Rutland. Holding a music scholarship to Uppingham, Sophie was a prolific member of the school’s fruitful music life. As well as being a firm member of the chapel choir, she was the co-leader of the Symphony Orchestra, leader of the Chamber Orchestra and achieved a high distinction in her grade 8 on both voice and violin. She also took part in many of the school’s theatre productions, such as Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors, Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads, Les Miserables in which she was one of the leading roles and Sweeney Todd.
More recently Sophie has graduated from the University of Leeds with a First Class Honours degree during which time she studied with Sandra Dugdale, a principal vocal tutor and the previous deputy head at the Royal Northern College of Music. Throughout her studies at Leeds, Sophie performed as a regular soloist at venues such as Ripon Cathedral, Leeds University Clothworkers’ Concert Hall and Settrington Estate in North Yorkshire. She also performed as a member of the university’s principal chamber choir, The Clothworkers’ Consort of Leeds which tour across the country every year to perform. In the summer of 2011, Sophie attended the Abingdon Summer School for Solo Singers which enabled her to work with some internationally renowned artists such as Robin Bowman, Lillian Watson, Henry Herford and Elaine Kidd.
For her third year, Sophie was offered the rare opportunity to spend a year abroad in Strasbourg studying at the conservatoire. There she spent an intensive year studying French and developing her vocal technique and performance skills, working closely with a vocal tutor and vocal coach every week. The conservatoire gave her the opportunity to perform in lunchtime and evening concerts on a frequent basis, helping to broaden her repertory to a great extent, especially in German Lied and French Chansons. As a result of her fantastic year, Sophie developed a passion for French romantic and contemporary chansons, which inspired her to dedicate her undergraduate final recital to some of the most renowned French composers of these eras, Faure, Debussy, Poulenc and Ravel and in which she achieved a high distinction.
Since leaving university, Sophie has continued to pursue her passion for classical singing and performing, establishing a niche and thrill for events singing, such as at the services of weddings, funerals, memorials and at corporate and private functions.
Sophie continues to work hard in refining her art, recently attending a vocal course directed by Mary King at Sherborne School who is a renowned vocal coach in the performing world, as well as recently completing an acting course at Drama Studio London.