British soprano Alexandra Lowe was born and raised in Mallorca, and is currently training at the prestigious opera school of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she is on a full scholarship. She is generously supported by The Henry Osbourne Award (Worshipful Company of Carpenters), The Countess of Munster Musical Trust and a Help Musicians UK Sybil Tutton Award. She graduated with a First Class Bachelor of Music degree and a Distinction in her Masters of Music from the Royal Northern College of Music, where she studied with Sandra Dugdale. She currently studies with Yvonne Kenny, having previously studied with Ruby Philogene.
Alexandra has enjoyed considerable competition success, having been awarded the Clonter Opera Prize, the Elisabeth Harwood Memorial Prize, the Joyce and Michael Kennedy Award for Singing Strauss, the Bessie Cronshaw Song Cycle Prize, the Alexander Young Song Prize, the Oncken Song Prize, the Elsie Thurston Song Prize and the Joyce Budd Prize at the Kathleen Ferrier Young Singers Bursary. She is a recipient of a Silver Medal from the Worshipful Company of Musicians and of the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation Sarah Brightman Scholarship, which supported her two-year Masters at the Royal Northern College of Music.
Operatic roles to date include Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Helena (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) [GSMD, RNCM], Lucia I/II (The Long Christmas Dinner), Anna Gomez (The Consul) [GSMD], Barena (Jenufa) [Grange Park Opera], The Bride/Wife/Mother (The Vanishing Bridegroom), Mrs. Coyle (Owen Wingrave) [British Youth Opera], Rose Maurrant (Street Scene), Theodora (Theodora), Métella (La Vie Parisienne) [RNCM], Mabel (Pirates of Penzance), Angelina (Trial by Jury), Gianetta (The Gondoliers) [International G&S Festival].
She recently performed Richard Strauss’ Four Last Songs with the Junior Guildhall Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Julian Clayton. As an oratorio soloist, her repertoire includes Elijah Mendelssohn, Requiem Brahms, Te Deum Dvorâk, Messiah Handel, Requiem Fauré, The Armed Man Jenkins, Petite Messe Solenelle Rossini, Requiem Chilcott and Spirit of England Elgar. Other concert highlights include performing Bachiannas Brasileiras No.5 by Villa-Lobos, for eight cellos and soprano, in the Royal Northern College of Music Concert Hall.
Alexandra has performed live on BBC Radio 3 twice; firstly, singing Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music (Lillian Styles-Allen) with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra conducted by Simon Halsey. Secondly, singing at the at the British premiere concert of ‘Per la ricuperata salute di Ofelia’ by Mozart, Salieri and Cornetti, which she later performed on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune with pianist David Owen Norris
In December 2018, Alexandra was selected to become a Samling Artist, attending a week-long intensive training programme. She worked with Sir John Tomlinson, Pat MacMahon and Jonathan Ware on several pieces of core repertoire, which she later performed at the Sage Gateshead, both in concert and in a public masterclass.
Over the last decade Alexandra has raised over £35,000 for various charities buy putting on annual solo fundraising concerts across the north of England. Some of the picturesque settings for her events include The Painted Hall at Chatsworth House, The Priory at The Bolton Abbey Estate and The Chapel at Rudding Park. Through these events, she has had many performance opportunities and an incredible amount of support from the generous audience who have followed her journey from the age of 17.
Nigel Foster Piano:
Nigel Foster was born in London and studied piano at the Royal Academy of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where his teachers were Roger Vignoles, Graham Johnson and Iain Burnside. At both the Academy and the Guildhall he won every prize and award available for piano accompaniment, and has since been appointed an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music. In 2015 Nigel was appointed a Steinway Artist.
Nigel enjoys a busy schedule performing on the concert platform. He has played for singers including the late Philip Langridge, Sarah Walker, Yvonne Kenny, Roderick Williams, Ailish Tynan, Elizabeth Watts, Louise Winter, Ian Partridge, Neil Jenkins, James Gilchrist, Jeremy Huw Williams, Ruby Hughes, Elisabeth Meister, Elizabeth Llewellyn, Ashley Riches, Stephan Loges, Stephen Varcoe and Jane Manning, and instrumentalists including violinist Madeleine Mitchell. He has performed at major UK venues including the Wigmore Hall, South Bank Centre, Royal Opera House Covent Garden (Crush Room) and St John Smith Square in London, and St David’s Hall in Cardiff. Nigel has given concerts all over Europe; in France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, The Netherlands and Greece, as well as in Asia (Japan, Malaysia), New Zealand and the Americas (USA, Colombia). He has broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Classic FM in the UK and on French, Welsh and Greek television
Nigel is the founder, director and pianist of the London Song Festival, an annual event promoting the song repertoire. In addition to featuring internationally known artists, the Festival acts as a major showcase for young up-and-coming singers. Further details may be seen at www.londonsongfestival.org
Raul Garcia Loa: Salsa Teacher
Raul Garcia Lao was born in Havana, Cuba . He was identified as being a dancer of “national interest ‘ by the Castro regime as a ten year old whilst dancing salsa with his mother in El Medio Ambiente bar in the city in front of a government cultural official. Trained in the same dance group as Alberto Costa, Raul realised the limitations of life for a Cuban national in his field and their ‘show pony” to the outside world politique. Like Costa, Raul managed to leave Cuba, originally planning to head to Europe. Raul however made a “pit stop” in Miami where he ended up teaching Salsa in Latino club in South Beach. There, he was talent spotted by Ralph Lauren and became their Latino face for the USA for over 15 years. He eventually moved to Amsterdam where he teaches Salsa and dance in the trendy Amistel 50. Now, since the regime has relaxed a little, Raul regularly takes amateur european dance groups for salsa tours of Cuba, allowing them to experience the dance in their authentic locations.
