“Blessed with a voice of pristine clarity”, Penelope Appleyard is known for the purity and agility of her voice, her “stylish interpretations of historical repertoire” and instant adaptability between styles.
Penelope has established herself as a highly versatile, creative musician. Comfortable in styles from polyphony to folk, jazz and pop, she performs internationally as a soloist and ensemble singer, specialising in historical music. A natural performer, entertainer and creative programmer, she performs with sincerity and emotion.
She has performed at prestigious venues internationally as both soloist and ensemble singer, ensembles including Apollo5, the Taverner Consort, the Monteverdi Choir, The New London Consort, The Academy of Ancient Music, The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Wiener Akademie, Arcangelo, Armonico Consort, Ex Cathedra and the Royal Shakespeare Company, among others, and appears on numerous recordings. Operatic roles have included Cupid (Venus and Adonis) Dorinda (The Tempest) Shepherdess and Siren (King Arthur) Bonvica (Bonduca) Pallas (Judgement of Paris) Second Woman (Dido and Aeneas) Mopsa (Fairy Queen) and Belinda (Dido and Aeneas). Solo concert work has included Messiah with the Academy of Ancient Music, Bach’s B minor Mass at the Bologna Festival, Arne’s Alfred with Steven Devine, Monteverdi Vespers with Laurence Cummings, King Arthur for the Brighton Early Music Festival and Messiah as a Nevill Holt Young Artist.
Penelope has a particular love for chamber music and singing with period instrumentalists. She has performed as a soloist with many period ensembles and made her solo debut at Cadogan Hall with extracts from King Arthur, deputising for Dame Emma Kirkby. She has given recitals at Handel House, performed Purcell songs at St John’s Smith Square, given recitals for the National Lute Society and Medieval and Renaissance Society, and is a member of the ensemble Dowland Works.
She is passionate about heritage and is combining this with her love of early music by developing programmes to be performed in historically accurate settings. New for ’24/’25 is a collaboration with pianist Jonathan Delbridge who owns an 1814 Broadwood square piano. After a period of research she has devised a new programme ‘Sense & Musicality’ about music in the life and works of Jane Austen. As part of this she has commissioned internationally renowned composer Donna McKevitt to write a musical setting of Austen’s teenage poem ‘Ode to Pity’. This could be the first classical song setting of the writer’s words and the first contemporary music for square piano! You can support the project here: https://gofund.me/76ca0f50
Penelope sings with Apollo5, with whom she has a busy international performing schedule and with whom she has appeared on several critically acclaimed albums. She enjoys composing and arranging, her arrangement of Sarah McLachlan’s ‘Angel’ for Apollo5 appearing on their most recent album ‘Haven’ (listen here). Her arrangement of Tom Petty/Walin’ Jennies ‘Wildflowers’ has beem recorded for upcoming disc ‘Anam’ and folk song ‘The Snow it Melts the Soonest’ will appear in their ‘Live from London’ Christmas concert 2024. An experienced writer, Penelope devises creative and entertaining programmes, recently having written a substantial new script for Fair Oriana’s programme ‘Venus’, premiered at Wien Konzerthaus in 2024. She is co-founder of soprano duo Fair Oriana with whom she has released debut album Two Voices, and been a finalist at the NCEM York Early Music Competition. In 2018 she released a solo album of Handel’s ‘Neun Deutsche Arien’ to critical acclaim.
Penelope graduated with Distinction from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in 2010, and in 2019 was awarded Honorary Membership, returning in 2020 to coach early music vocal students. She runs her own vocal and flute teaching practice from home (and on Zoom if international) and would be delighted to hear from potential new students. She is also available to deliver workshops and masterclasses for choirs and choral societies. These often focus on helping singers discover their individual voices and ‘think like a soloist’ within a choral setting, thereby singing in a more healthy and effective way. (enquiries@penelopeappleyard.co.uk)
Works performed as a soloist:
Arne Alfred
Bach Mass in G minor
Bach Mass in B minor
Bach Magnificat in D
Bach Cantata – Jauchzet Gott in Allen Landen
Bach Cantata 131 Aus dem tiefe
Bach Cantata 140 Wachet Auf
Bach Cantata 191
Bach Cantata 110
Bach St John Passion
Bach St Matthew Passion
Blow Venus and Adonis
Bononcini Stabat Mater
Britten A Ceremony of Carols
Bush Christmas Cantata
Buxtehude Membra non justi
Carissimi Historia di Jephte
Charpentier Messe de Minuit
Charpentier Te Deum
Faure Requiem
Handel Acis and Galatea
Handel Chandos Anthem No.9
Handel Chandos Anthem No.4 I will Sing Unto the Lord
Handel Chandos Anthem No.2 In the Lord I put my Trust
Handel I will magnifyThee
Handel Dixit Dominus
Handel Joshua
Handel Messiah
Handel Neun Deutsche Arien
Handel Ode on the Birthday of Queen Anne
Haydn Creation
Haydn Heligemesse
Haydn Maria Theresa Mass
Haydn Missa Sancta Cecilia
Haydn Missa Brevis in F
Haydn Missa Brevis Sancti Joannes De Deo
Haydn Nelson Mass
Haydn Paukenmesse
Haydn Jugendmesse
Khunhau Magnificat
Monteverdi Vespers (1610)
Monteverdi Beatus Vir
Mozart Coronation Mass
Mozart Requiem
Mozart Vesperae solennes de confessore
Pergolesi Magnificat
Purcell Come ye sons of art
Purcell Verse Anthems
Purcell Te Deum & Jubilate
Purcell Bonduca
Purcell Dioclesians
Purcell Fairy Queen
Purcell Dido and Aeneas
Purcell King Arthur
Purcell and various The Tempest
Rutter PsalmFest
Rutter Magnificat
Salieri Mass in D
Saint Saëns Oratorio de Nöel
Schubert Magnificat
Vaughan-Williams Hodie
Vivaldi Gloria
Vivaldi Magnificat
Vivaldi Nulla in Mundo Pax Sincera
Weldon Judgement of Paris
Zelenka Magnifiact in D
If you require a biography for a concert programme, please email enquiries@penelopeappleyard.co.uk