Soloists for Music for All Seasons come from the Choir: Richard Coleman, Flora Bramwell, Bruce Irvine and Ben Wightman.
Flora Bramwell has been awarded a conducting bursary by the Choir, mentored by Peter Parfitt, and will conduct the Bach Motet Der Geist Hilft in this concert.
Flora has been singing from an early age, from being recorded for children’s song CDs at the age of 9 to joining local Aberdeen choir The Deeside Choristers at the age of 13. From then on, she has gone on to sing with many other musical groups and choirs throughout Aberdeen, including Con Anima Chamber Choir, Aberdeen Bach Choir, the University of Aberdeen Chamber Choir and the cathedral choirs of St Machar’s and St Andrew’s. She has also sung in many other cathedrals and churches throughout Britain and Ireland. She is a choral scholar in St Machar’s Cathedral, where she also does part time conducting and is the cathedral’s Singer in Residence for weddings and other occasions.
She studied for and gained an HNC in Music at Aberdeen College, and currently co-conducts the Deeside Choristers, where she had the opportunity to conduct a service for Her Majesty the Queen. In the near future, Flora hopes to pursue her interests in singing and conducting.
In her solo singing, Flora has been working on her repertoire for the past year and a half, and has singing lessons with Alan Watt at the North East School of Music, working with a special focus on developing vocal technique and diaphragm control. Her studies have mainly been focused on works by Bach, including pieces from the St Matthew Passion and the Magnificat in D Major, varied arias by Handel, Holst and Schubert, and Frauenliebe und Leben by Schumann. Her first professional appearance was as alto soloist in the Bach Choir’s December 2013 concert, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio.