This month we meet one of the regular performers with the Oxford Bach Soloists, Elspeth Piggott, a young soprano living in Oxford who has recently started out as a free-lance choral professional.
Elspeth grew up in a musically oriented environment, both her parents being enthusiastic amateur musicians. She tells us about her early training:
“I was taken to music classes from the age of two, but I didn’t really become interested in instruments until I was seven when I took up the piano, having refused all the string instruments offered to me aged five. When I was ten I started learning the bassoon at the Junior Guildhall School of Music and Drama, which gave me the foundation of all my knowledge and musicianship. I continued to study music at the University of York, and graduated from there in 2014.”
Elspeth has sung with Oxford Bach Soloists for a year, both in the chorus and as a soloist. She also joined the Blenheim Singers’ most recent tour to Frankfurt, the Alsace and Bavaria. We asked her about the value of ensembles such as these to younger professional musicians like herself:
“There is so much value in ensembles like these two, including the rare opportunity to work with a professional orchestra and with inspiring soloists, such as James Gilchrist and Alex Ashworth, not to mention invaluable performance experience and creating a community of people within a small city who share a common purpose and outlook on life.”
Elspeth told us about some of the other music ensembles she is involved with and some of the highlights of her career to date:
“I am regularly involved with the professional consort group I Fagiolini. Understudying Kirsty Hopkins in their Gesualdo project Betrayal was an incredible experience, not only musically, but creatively and theatrically. It gave me an invaluable insight into the process of creating a show from scratch.
I have also just begun a year long Fellowship with the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain. I also dep for The Sixteen and the Britain Sinfonia. In March 2016 I was one of the soloists in their performance of Seven Last Words from the Cross by James MacMillan at the Barbican which was just electrifying.”
Finally we asked Elspeth about her ambitions in the world of music:
“I plan to continue my musical studies and am currently preparing for auditions for the masters in vocal performance course at the The Guildhall School of Music & Drama and The Royal College of Music this winter. My ambition is to hone my skill as a performer and become the best singer I am capable of being. Longer term. I would love to create a consort of singers which specialises in immersive theatre.”
