“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 adaptability between styles. (She is also known for finding herself playing a tambourine in concert with surprising regularity, and having a disproportionately loud finger click.)
Penelope has established herself as a highly versatile, creative musician and specialist in early music. Comfortable in styles from polyphony to pop and everything in between, she performs internationally as a soloist and ensemble singer. A natural performer, she sings with sincerity and emotion in every genre.
She has performed at prestigious venues internationally as both soloist, choral and small ensemble singer, with groups 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 extracts 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. As a recitalist she has performed 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 recitals of domestic music to be performed in historically accurate settings as well as concert venues. An experienced writer, she writes original scripts and, combined with historical research and a hint of theatre, produces entertaining programmes. First of these, and new for 2025 is a collaboration with pianist Jonathan Delbridge who owns an 1814 Broadwood square piano. ‘Sense & Musicality’ is about music in the life and works of Jane Austen. More info here: Sense & Musicality. She recently wrote an entire script in rhyming couplets for Fair Oriana’s new programme ‘Venus’, which premiered in the 2024 Resonanzen Festival at Vienna’s Konzerthaus.
Penelope sings with Apollo5, with whom she has a busy international 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 been recorded for upcoming disc ‘Anam’ and folk song ‘The Snow it Melts the Soonest’ appeared in their ‘Live from London’ Christmas concert 2024. She is co-founder and one half of soprano duo Fair Oriana, alongside Angela Hicks, with whom she has released debut album Two Voices, and been a finalist at the NCEM York Early Music Competition. They have been featured online by Classic FM, on Radio 3, and have appeared in concert throughout the UK and Europe. Additionally in 2018 she released a solo album of Handel’s ‘Neun Deutsche Arien’ to critical acclaim.
Penelope graduated with a Distinction in Vocal & Operatic studies from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in 2010, having won First Prize in their early music competition and an award for specialist historical vocal tuition. In 2019 she was awarded Honorary Membership, and returned in 2020 to coach early music vocal students.
She runs her own vocal and flute teaching practice from home (and on Zoom) and would be delighted to hear from potential new students. She holds a First Class degree in English and Music, and Distinction for her MA in Performance from the University of Chichester, as well as a flute diploma with ABRSM. She is available to deliver workshops and masterclasses for choirs and choral societies.
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
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