Clare McCaldin
Artist Reviews
McCaldin herself was magnetic, holding her audience within her power absolutely. Brittle and difficult to like, she shattered herself by the end into fragments of a woman who, we believed, might yet rebuild herself in softer, warmer form. McCaldin's coolness, her careful deployment of vocal colour-now breathy-conspiratorial, now exaggerated and mocking, now finding tone flngertip-soft for a lullaby for the phantom baby Mary would never give birth to-cut against the score's more indulgent instincts, briskly unsentimental to the end.
At the centre of it all, holding the stage with girlish, flickering fingers and a pitiless thrust of the chin is mezzo-soprano Clare McCaldin’s Mary. McCaldin is an outstanding singer and actress, catching and shaping the shifting moods of a show whose episodic, aleatoric structure mirrors the eddying political currents of this most uncertain period in English history.
"From the first moment, Clare McCaldin lived within, and drew us into, the atmosphere, the emotion and the meaning of each song. She was in command of a natural, ringing voice of great range of pitch, tone and dynamics, always at the service of the music. Gesture and expression of a natural actor were integral to the interpretation." Howard Layfield reviewing Hexham Abbey Festival recital
"McCaldin is superb with wonderful control and accuracy… (her) upper mezzo range is terrific… superbly accomplished singing."
"McCaldin gave a remarkable performance. Remarkable perhaps because in its complete identification with Vivienne and its intensity she made you forget that this was sung at all and the work became simply drama of the most involving kind."
"This is a powerful disc, and McCaldin demonstrates the wide range and adaptability of her voice across such a broad range of repertoire, but it is in Vivienne that her dramatic abilities are most impressively in evidence."
"Clare McCaldin brought huge personality, colour and vivacity to her solos... She was a joy to both watch and to listen to, demonstrating tremendous engagement with the audience."
Biography
Mezzo-soprano Clare McCaldin began her singing life as a choral scholar at Clare College, Cambridge. Described by The Independent as “an outstanding singing-actress”, she brings charm, charisma and passion to her live performances.
In oratorio she has performed with the Academy of Ancient Music/King’s College, Cambridge (Bach B Minor Mass), The Three Choirs Festival (Mozart Requiem, Handel Messiah), Barokksolistene (Bach, St Mark Passion), the Orchestra of the Golden Age (Messiah), the Northern Sinfonia (Bach, B Minor Mass), Harrogate Choral Society (Rossini Stabat Mater), Ryedale Festival and St Albans Bach Choir (Rossini, Petite Messe Solennelle). She made her solo debut at the 2012 BBC Proms in Debussy’s The Martyrdom of St Sebastian with the BBCSO, which also opened the 2014 Edinburgh International Festival.
Clare is in demand as an ensemble musician, working with artists such as Libby Burgess, Iain Burnside, Simon Lepper, Andrew West, the Brodsky Quartet and Berkeley Ensemble. She has appeared in recitals at the Royal Opera House, Ludlow English Song Weekend, Oxford Lieder and Presteigne Festival.
Clare has recorded songs by Hugh Wood (NMC) and Ned Rorem (Champs Hill Records) as well as a significant body of mezzo-soprano repertoire written especially for her, notably Stephen McNeff’s Madrigali dell’Estate and Vivienne. She has also recorded the role of Miss Tina in Michael Hurd’s The Aspern Papers (Lyrita) and Mrs Fairfax/Hannah in John Joubert’s Jane Eyre (Somm).
Clare has sung as a soloist with Sir Antonio Pappano, Vladimir Jurowski and Esa Pekka-Salonen. Her operatic roles include Fox The Cunning Little Vixen/Örsze Hary Janos (Ryedale Festival) Meg Page Falstaff (Iford Arts), Oreste La Belle Helene (Diva Opera), In contemporary opera, Clare has appeared as the Stardust Seller (The Gentle Giant, ROH Linbury), the Mezzo Actor (A Night at the Chinese Opera, Scottish Opera) and Mezzo Cautioner (Cautionary Tales, Opera North), as well as works in development at ROH, Opera North, WNO and Aldeburgh Music. Clare’s one-woman operas Vivienne (2013) and Mary’s Hand (2018) were reviewed with ✮✮✮✮✮ by the Evening Standard and Independent respectively.
Website: Clare McCaldin
Project: Just One of Those Things
Project: Mary’s Hand
For oratorio and concert repertoire please scroll down:
| Oratorio and concert rep | |
| Composer | Work |
| Bach C.P.E. | Magnificat |
| Bach J.S. | B Minor Mass |
| Cantatas 30, 62, 78, 91, 106, 109, 130 | |
| Christmas Oratorio | |
| Magnificats in D major and Eb Major (alto and 2nd soprano) | |
| St John Passion | |
| St Mark Passion | |
| Beethoven | Choral Fantasia |
| Mass in C | |
| Bruckner | Mass in F minor |
| Copeland | In the Beginning |
| Dvorak | Mass in D |
| Requiem | |
| Stabat Mater | |
| Durufle | Requiem |
| Elgar | The Dream of Gerontius |
| The Music Makers | |
| Sea Pictures | |
| Handel | Belshazzar (Cyrus) |
| Dettingen Te Deum | |
| Dixit Dominus | |
| Messiah | |
| Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne | |
| Samson (Micah) | |
| Semele (Juno) | |
| Haydn | Caecilienmesse |
| Harmoniemesse | |
| Kleine Orgelmesse | |
| Missa Brevis in F | |
| Nelson Mass | |
| Nicolaimesse | |
| Paukenmesse | |
| Stabat Mater | |
| Theresienmesse | |
| The Storm | |
| Jenkins | The Armed Man |
| Stabat Mater | |
| L’Estrange | And the Stones Sing |
| McDowall | Magnificat |
| Mendelssohn | Elijah |
| Mozart | Requiem |
| Missa Brevis in C | |
| Solemn Vespers | |
| Great Mass in C minor (2nd soprano) | |
| Pergolesi | Magnificat |
| Stabat Mater | |
| Rossini | Petite Messe Solennelle |
| Stabat Mater | |
| Scarlatti | Missa Santa Cecilia |
| Vivaldi | Gloria |
| Wood C | Holy Week |
| Requiem | |