Diana Moore
A Celebration of Kathleen Ferrier
“Diana Moore was serenely radiant as Gerontius’ guardian Angel, quietly ecstatic in her intensity as her charge approached his Judgment (and what a climax Weaver drew from the orchestra!). Her Farewell, underscored by choral entreaties and praises, was like a sacrament.”
Building upon the critical acclaim and overwhelming audience response to the show during the Centenary year of Ferrier’s birth in 2012, Diana Moore’s A Celebration of Kathleen Ferrier is now being launched to a wider audience.
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Biography
English mezzo-soprano Diana Moore is being lauded on both sides of the Atlantic for her “emotional depth” (The Guardian), “thrilling” technical bravura (Gramophone), and “rich, evocative sound” (San Francisco Chronicle). She enjoys a varied and international career of opera, oratorio, and concert performances, and is a popular soloist at many major music festivals.
Ms. Moore's charismatic vocal quality and training place her firmly within the fine heritage of English mezzo-sopranos. She is committed to celebrating the music and musicians of her homeland and has built a reputation as a leading exponent of English song. In 2007, she devised Kathleen Ferrier — Her Life, Letters & Music, to honor that legendary English singer. The program has been endorsed by the Kathleen Ferrier Society, and a recent review called it “one of the most moving and captivating evenings I’ve spent.”
Ms. Moore’s tall and graceful stature has made her the ideal trouser-role performer on the opera stage. With conductor Nicholas McGegan and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Moore performed the role of “Medoro” in Handel’s Orlando in an acclaimed American tour at the Ravinia Festival, Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, and Tanglewood Festival. The New York Times praised her “smooth toned” and “compassionate” performance while the Chicago Classical Review raved that she “made a delightfully shameless seducer in the trouser role of Medoro.” She has also performed the role at Göttingen, Sweden’s Drottningholm Court Theatre, with the English Concert, and in San Francisco.
Other Handel roles include the title role in Rinaldo at Göttingen International Handel Festival, VlaamseOper, the National Theatre in Prague, and Versailles; Sesto in Giulio Cesare (Göttingen); and Armindo in Partenope with the Early Opera Company. The London Times commented that, “As Partenope’s true love, Diana Moore briefly fooled me into believing that she too was a man, so natural and elegant did she look in her suit... a perfectly lovely performance.”
Last season Moore made her debut with the Houston Symphony in a performance of Handel’s Messiah. Further bookings in the 2019-20 season were with Colorado Symphony (Beethoven Symphony No. 9), Bremen Philharmonic (Mahler’s Rückert Lieder), and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Munich Philharmonic (both Messiah).
Other engagements of note include performances with conductor Nicholas McGegan of Vivaldi’s Juditha Triumphans (Holofernes) with Philharmona Baroque Orchestra, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony along with selections from Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn with Royal Northern Sinfonia; Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius at Royal Albert Hall and Winchester, Ely, Gloucester, and York Minster Cathedrals; Bach’s Mass in B Minor and St. Matthew Passion, Handel’s La Resurrezione, Mendelssohn’s Paulus, and an all-Vivaldi program with The King’s Consort; St. Matthew Passion with Trevor Pinnock and the English Consort; a tour of Haydn masses in Switzerland with John Eliot Gardiner; Beethoven’s Mass in C with the Salzburg Camerata and Berlioz’s Les nuits d'été with the Northern Sinfonia, both under Sir Roger Norrington; and a performance of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde. She has performed Messiah with The English Concert/Harry Bicket, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra under Patrick Dupré Quigley, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra with Paul Goodwin conducting.
As a recording artist, Moore is a soloist on the premiere recording of Scarlatti’s La Gloria di Primavera with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, which was selected as an “Editor’s Choice” recording in Gramophone. She has also recorded Mozart’s Requiem with Winchester College and the London Mozart Players on Convivium Records, and Handel’s Messiah with Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for Naxos. Her recording of Handel's Parnasso in Festa with King’s Consort and conductor Matthew Halls was the winner of the Stanley Sadie Handel Recording Prize.
Born in Lowestoft, Suffolk, Ms. Moore studied at the University of Birmingham and the Royal Academy of Music, London where she won numerous prizes and is now an Honorary Associate.
