Sunday 30th June 2024 at 7:30pm

Eccles Town Hall, Church Street, Eccles M30 0LH

Conductor - Marco Giudici

Leader -  Jon Henderson

 Soloist - Jennifer Heslop & Minduli Vithanage

Overture to Nabucco
The Flower Duet from Lakmé
Grand March from Aida
Bacchanale and Mon Coeur S’Ouvre à ta Voix from
Samson and Delilah
Overture to H.M.S. Pinafore
Carmen Suite No.1
O Mio Babbino Caro from Gianni Schicchi
and other operatic favourites

 Tickets available at the door (card payment preferred): Adults £12, under 16s and Students £6  

NB: The Orchestra reserves the right to change the programme and venue according to the availability of music, venue and players.

Jenny Heslop

Jenny Heslop studied at the Royal Northern College of Music and the London Opera Centre. After three years with Glyndebourne Festival Opera, she sang the title rôle in "The Coronation of Poppaea", conducted by Richard Hickox.

She has directed and sung in operas by Mozart in Italy and in the North West of England.

Concert performances include Ravel's "Chansons Madécasses" for the Lindsay String Quartet Festival in Sheffield, Walton's Façade for Manchester Camerata and the Lake District Music Festival, as well as Fritz Spiegl's "Public Concert of Private Part Songs" at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and in Liverpool.

She particularly enjoys collaborating with pianists on German, Russian and French Art Song repertoire and has devised and participated in presentations about the lives of composers and poets.

A concert featuring the life of Goethe, including settings of his poems by various composers was given at Oxford University and at the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland.

For the past twenty years, she has taught young people at schools in Manchester and at the Junior RNCM, which she considers a great privilege!

Minduli Vithanage 

Minduli Vithanage is an 18 year-old British-Sri Lankan Mezzo-soprano currently completing her studies at Altrincham Girls’ Grammar School.

She began singing lessons at the age of 10 and has gone on to win many regional, national and international competitions. Minduli was awarded Young Singer of the Year at the Bowdon Festival (aged 13 years), Most Promising Female Singer aged 15-25 years at the David Clover Festival of Singing (aged 16) and Winner of the Vocal Virtuoso Prize at the New Talent   (International) Music Festival supported by the Royal Academy of Music (aged 15 years). She recently performed at their Winners’ Gala Concert at the Duke’s Hall at the Royal Academy.

In 2022, Minduli started studying at the Junior Department of the Royal Northern College of Music taking joint first-study in Voice and Flute along with composing and conducting. She is currently studying  Voice under Jennifer Heslop.

She also plays flute and piccolo and has been the Principal flautist of the Trafford Schools’ Philharmonic Orchestra since 2020. She is an avid composer and has an interest in choral and orchestral conducting.

Minduli has been a member of the National Youth Choir since 2021 and has performed at the 40^th Anniversary Concert at the Royal Albert Hall.

In September, Minduli goes on to the Royal Academy of Music in London to commence her Undergraduate Studies in Vocal Performance under the tutelage of Professor Raymond Connell.

Minduli has represented Junior RNCM at several performance venues this year, including the Middlewich and Didsbury Concert Series, and is grateful to the Junior Department for these opportunities so early in her career.

Minduli’s voice has been described as possessing ‘an inherent warmth and sincerity’ and ‘maturity which belies her age’. She hopes to become an opera singer on the international stage in the future.

 Marco Giudici 

After gaining his Diploma at the Conservatorio G. Verdi in Milan, Marco Giudici was principal clarinet of the Italian Youth Orchestra for two years. He then went on to study in Germany with internationally renowned performers and tutors E. Brunner and H. Deinzer, obtaining his soloist Diploma with Distinction.

He has performed as a freelance player both in Italy and England, working with orchestras such as the OSNR (National Italian Radio Orchestra), Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Manchester Camerata, Lancashire Sinfonietta and the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.

At present he enjoys a rewarding teaching career. Some of his students have become members of youth orchestras such as the National youth Orchestra of Great Britain, Hallé Youth Orchestra, Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and were offered places to study at many music colleges.

In recent years Marco has studied conducting both at the London Conducting Academy and with Eduardo Portal. He regularly conducts school orchestras as well as the Ambleside and District Choral Society in the Lake District.