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The Portrait Players
Ward, Nohl and Watt brought out a real sense of the French style of the music from Sans y penser…No se emendera jamas was beautifully engaging, moving between the perky and the touching, with Watt's Baroque guitar giving things a real character.
Ward has a lovely, bright, focused soprano voice and throughout she really engaged with both the music and her audience, with the words always to the fore. She and the instrumentalists performed the music as vocal chamber music, rather than voice and accompaniment, and the results were beguiling.
Early Music
Instrumentation
- Claire Ward - Soprano
- Miriam Nohl - Cello/Viola da Gamba
- Kristiina Watt - Theorbo/Lute/Baroque guitar
Repertoire
The ensemble offers a variety of programmes ranging from renaissance lute song to arias from Handel’s Operas and Oratorios.
Example programmes:
‘Ye gentle spirits - Song of madness, myth and magic’ - Theatre music from 16th & 17th century London
‘Les Femmes Illustres - The Female Genius’ - a programme showcasing the poetry of 17th century Parisian female poets as well as music composed for the first generations of female singing actresses in London theatres
‘Sooth’d to pleasures’ - A programme introducing Handel’s favourite soloists through the music he composed for them as well as the music they themselves composed
‘The New Lyre’ - Music by female composers from 17th century
Biography
The Portrait Players is is featured on the Making Music Philip and Dorothy Green Young Artist programme until April 2025 and available for subsidised bookings for Making Music members.
Described as “beguiling”, The Portrait Players formed at the end of 2022 for a concert of Handel’s Cantatas and German Arias. Telling the stories of historical characters and influenced by the informality of 17th century salon culture, the trio aim to make historical performance relevant and inspiring to modern audiences.
In 2024, they look forward to expanding their programme ‘Les Femmes Illustres – The Female Genius’ with a contemporary commission on the poems of 16th century poet Louise Labè in collaboration with composer Clare Elton. The programme will place Labè’s uniquely passionate poetry alongside the poetry of 17th century Parisian salonnieres and songs composed for London’s singing-actresses who were amongst the first generations of female performers permitted to perform on a public stage.
The trio is is featured on the Making Music Philip and Dorothy Green Young Artist programme, on the Emerging Artist scheme at Stoller Hall in Manchester and performs regularly for Live Music Now.
Performances so far have taken place at St. Martin-in-the-fields, Brighton Early Music Festival, St Bart’s Great Hall, Christchurch Chelsea, University College, Oxford, Northumbria University, The Workshop Series, Lewes, Surrey Hills International Music Festival and Milton Court Concert Hall.
The Portrait Players were delighted to take part in Brighton Early Music Festival's BREMF Live! Scheme for new ensembles in 2023-2024. They were semi-finalists in the 2024 Royal Overseas League Competition Mixed Ensemble Category and took part in the 2024 BBC Radio Three/NCEM/RCM New Generation Baroque Ensemble Development Day.
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