Wikipedia

Bridget Cunningham

Bridget Cunningham is a British-Irish harpsichordist, conductor and musicologist specialising in music of the Baroque period. Cunningham is Artistic Director of British period orchestra and research group London Early Opera.

Bridget Cunningham
Occupation(s)Harpsichordist, Conductor, Musicologist
OrganizationLondon Early Opera
Websitebridgetcunningham.org.uk

Early career edit

Cunningham was educated at Southampton University; the Royal College of Music; and Trinity Laban.[1] She studied the harpsichord under Robert Woolley and was awarded a Junior Fellowship at the Royal College of Music.[2] Following on from this she was a harpsichordist for the Live Music Now Scheme, performed regularly at the Handel Hendrix House[3] and played and coached singers for the all-female choir Vivaldi’s Women.[4]

Performing edit

Cunningham has performed at international festivals and venues including The Innsbruck Festival, East Cork Early Music Festival,[5] Victoria International Arts Festival in Gozo,[6] St Martin-in-the-Fields,[7] St John’s Smith Square, St George’s Church Hanover Square,[8] Yale University[9] and at Buckingham Palace for the Royal Family including the then Prince Charles.[10]

She has performed for BBC Radio 3 In Tune[11][12][13] BBC Radio 4 Front Row[14] and appeared on BBC Two in Hallelujah! The story of Handel's Messiah,[15] and on BBC Four in Vivaldi’s Women.[16]

In November 2021 Cunningham opened the international Handel Institute conference with a harpsichord recital at the Foundling Museum and released her harpsichord album Handel’s Eight Great Harpsichord Suites.[17][18]

Cunningham is an advocate for directing period orchestras and singers from the harpsichord.[19][20][21]

Research edit

Cunningham's research focuses on the music of George Frideric Handel and his contemporaries. She has published research on Handel’s music written and performed in Ireland alongside other Irish baroque composers.[22][23] Cunningham has edited Baroque works including arias by Johann Adolph Hasse, Giovanni Porta and Giovanni Bononcini[24] and Handel’s previously lost opera Caio Fabbricio HWV A9,[25] directing the work's modern world premiere in May 2022.[26] In 2016 she reconstructed an eighteenth-century evening at Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens recorded by Signum Records[27][28] and performed at the Oxford and Cambridge Club, Grosvenor Chapel, St George’s Church Hanover Square and St Peter’s Church Vauxhall, which featured on BBC Radio 4 Front Row.[29]

Cunningham is a doctoral candidate in association with Open, Oxford and Cambridge Universities, with a focus on the musicology and performance of operatic music by Handel and Hasse.[30]

London Early Opera edit

Cunningham founded London Early Opera in 2008.[31] She has directed LEO performances at Coram’s Fields, The Foundling Museum, St James’s Church Piccadilly, St. Peter’s Church Vauxhall, Grosvenor Chapel Mayfair, Southwark Cathedral and for the London Handel Festival.[32][33]

In 2015 Cunningham launched a series of recording projects with London Early Opera and Signum Records, capturing world premiere recordings exploring Handel’s life, influences and experiences.[34][35] Her 2019 album Handel’s Queens[36][37] with singers Mary Bevan MBE and Lucy Crowe was shortlisted for a 2020 Gramophone Award nomination[38] and was a CD of the month in BBC Music Magazine[39] and Classica Magazine.[40]

In 2017, she directed live performances of Handel’s Water Music and a new world-premiere performance of River written by a previous winner of BBC Young Composer of the Year, Grace Evangeline-Mason. This was commissioned by the BBC and performed live by London Early Opera for BBC Radio 4 on the Eras`mus Boat on the River Thames celebrating the 300th Anniversary of Handel's Water Music.[41][42]

In 2022 LEO launched their recording of Handel’s Caio Fabbricio HWV A9[43][44] with a modern world premiere performance at St George’s Church Hanover Square, directed by Cunningham.[45]

Awards edit

  • Worshipful Company of Musicians Award towards Fellowship at the Royal College of Music[46]
  • Royal Philharmonic Society Enterprise Fund Award[47]
  • Open, Oxford and Cambridge University Doctoral Stipend[48]
  • Finzi Trust Scholarship[49]
  • Handel Institute Research Award[50]

Discography edit

Title Album details
Caio Fabbricio HWV A9 by G.F. Handel
  • Released: 2022
  • Label: Signum Records
Handel’s Eight Great Harpsichord Suites
  • Released: 2021
  • Label: Signum Records
Handel’s Queens
  • Released: 2019
  • Label: Signum Records
Handel at Vauxhall: Volume 2
  • Released: 2017
  • Label: Signum Records
Handel in Ireland: Volume 1
  • Released: 2017
  • Label: Signum Records
Handel in Italy: Volume 2
  • Released: 2016
  • Label: Signum Records
Handel at Vauxhall: Volume 1
  • Released: 2016
  • Label: Signum Records
Handel in Italy: Volume 1
  • Released: 2015
  • Label: Signum Records
Thirty-odd feet below Belgium
  • Released: 2011
  • Label: Gloria Magnificat Recording Company
Ireland's Enchantment
  • Released: 2010
  • Label: Rose Street Records
Venice Revealed
  • Released: 2010
  • Label: Peter Ackroyed
  • Formats: DVD Release
Gloria
  • Released: 2009
  • Label: Vivaldi's Women
  • Formats: DVD Release
Thistle and the Rose with Fleuri
  • Released: 2009
  • Label: Rose Street Records
Oxford's Letters
  • Released: 2006
  • Label: Absolute Audio

References edit

  1. ^ "Alumni Profile: Bridget Cunningham". Trinity Laban. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  2. ^ "Bridget Cunningham - About". bridgetcunningham.org.uk. Retrieved 2022-11-14.
  3. ^ "Handel in Ireland". Handel and Hendrix. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  4. ^ "Vivaldi's Women". spav.co.uk. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  5. ^ "East Cork Early Music Festival 2021". The Journal of Music. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  6. ^ "Harpsichordist from the UK kicks off Victoria Arts Festival". Times of Malta. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  7. ^ "Concerts Archives - Page 73 of 92". St Martin-in-the-Fields. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  8. ^ Benson-Wilson, Andrew (2018-04-05). "Mr Handel's Vauxhall Pleasures". Andrew Benson-Wilson: Early Music Reviews +. Retrieved 2022-11-10.
  9. ^ "Bridget Cunningham Biography, Songs, & Albums". AllMusic. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  10. ^ "Bridget Cunningham (harpsichord) on Hyperion Records". Hyperion Records. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  11. ^ "BBC Radio 3 - In Tune, Cassie Kinoshi, Bridget Cunningham, Sirius Chau & Victor Lim". BBC. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  12. ^ "BBC Radio 3 - In Tune, Ailish Tynan and James Baillieu, Bridget Cunningham, Ivan Ilic, Gavin Greenaway". BBC. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  13. ^ "BBC Radio 3 - In Tune, Bridget Cunningham, Tomas Hanus, Christopher Purves". BBC. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  14. ^ "BBC Radio 4 Front Row - Handel Water Music at 300 celebration; Grace Evangeline Mason". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  15. ^ "BBC Two - Hallelujah! The Story of Handel's Messiah". BBC. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  16. ^ "BBC Four - Vivaldi's Women". BBC. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  17. ^ "Handel's Eight Great Suites". Signum Records. Retrieved 2022-11-10.
  18. ^ Hugill, Robert (2021-12-14). "Celebrating the 300th anniversary of their publication in 1720, Bridget Cunningham records Handel's Eight Great Harpsichord Suites". Planet Hugill. Retrieved 2022-11-10.
  19. ^ Marshall, Frances (December 2019). "Handel's Queens with Bridget Cunningham". Final Note Magazine. Retrieved 2022-11-10.
  20. ^ "IDAGIO Meets … Bridget Cunningham | IDAGIO". www.idagio.com. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  21. ^ Charlton, Ashleigh; Green, Avi (2022-05-25). "AA Opera: Ep. 85- Bridget Cunningham". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  22. ^ Cunningham, Bridget (2011). Donahue, Thomas (ed.). Handel's visit to Dublin, 1741-42, in 'Essays in honor of Christopher Hogwood: the maestro's direction'. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-7737-5.
  23. ^ Breen, Edward (2010-07-02). "Ireland's Enchantment : MusicalCriticism.com (CD review)". Musical Criticism. Retrieved 2022-11-10.
  24. ^ "Costly Canaries – Mr Handel's Search for Super-Stars". London Handel Festival. Retrieved 2022-11-10.
  25. ^ "Bridget Cunningham on Handel's Caio Fabbricio". Gramophone. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  26. ^ Hugill, Robert (2022-04-25). "Introducing Caio Fabriccio, Handel's pasticcio based on Hasse's opera". Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  27. ^ "Handel at Vauxhall, Vol.1". Signum Records. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  28. ^ "Handel at Vauxhall". Presto Music. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  29. ^ Ahmed, Samira. "Front Row - Anomalisa, Seamus Heaney's The Aeneid, Handel at Vauxhall, In the Age of Giorgione - BBC Sounds". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  30. ^ "Bridget Cunningham". Open-Oxford-Cambridge Doctoral Training Partnership. Retrieved 2022-11-10.
  31. ^ "London Early Opera - About". London Early Opera. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  32. ^ "London Handel Festival 2019 Brochure" (PDF). p. 15.
  33. ^ Deller, Toby (2017-10-17). "Meet the Maestro: Bridget Cunningham". Rhinegold. Retrieved 2022-11-10.
  34. ^ "London Early Opera Archives". Signum Records. Retrieved 2022-10-26.
  35. ^ "London Early Opera on Hyperion Records". Hyperion Records. Retrieved 2022-10-26.
  36. ^ Kemp, Lindsay. "Handel's Queens". Gramophone. Retrieved 2022-11-10.
  37. ^ Mellor, David (2019-07-15). "David Mellor's Album Reviews: Nino Rota, Handel's Queens, and Mendelssohn & Franck". Classic FM. Retrieved 2022-11-10.
  38. ^ "The Gramophone Classical Music Awards 2020 Shortlist is revealed". Gramophone. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  39. ^ "BBC Music Magazine - October 2019 Choices". Presto Music. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  40. ^ "Classica n° 226 (Octobre 2020) - Voyage au coeur de la Scala de Milan". Classica (in French). Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  41. ^ "BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, Handel Water Music at 300 celebration; Grace Evangeline Mason". BBC. Retrieved 2022-10-26.
  42. ^ Mason, Grace-Evangeline. "Work: River". Retrieved 2022-10-24.
  43. ^ Maddocks, Fiona (2022-06-04). "Classical home listening: a time capsule from 1953; Caio Fabbricio; Power and Adès on film". the Guardian. Retrieved 2022-11-10.
  44. ^ "Handel / Hasse – Caio Fabbricio – London Early Opera & Bridget Cunningham - The Classical Source". www.classicalsource.com. 2022-05-24. Retrieved 2022-11-10.
  45. ^ "A premiere recording of Handel's pasticcio, Caio Fabbricio, by London Early Opera". Opera Today. 2022-05-03. Retrieved 2022-10-24.
  46. ^ "Preserve Harmony: The Worshipful Company of Musicians" (PDF). 2022. p. 15.
  47. ^ "Challenge Records International". Challenge Records International. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  48. ^ "Bridget Cunningham". www.oocdtp.ac.uk. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  49. ^ "Award Holders". Finzi Trust. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  50. ^ "Volume 33, Number 2". The Handel Institute. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
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