Over the Ridge of the World

Over the Ridge of the World

Joanne Roughton-Arnold soprano
Nigel Foster piano

Songs by Rebecca Clarke, Cecilia McDowall, Madeleine Dring and Dame Gillian Whitehead.

From the big skies and ancient monuments of the beautiful Welsh Marches to the forests and lakes of New Zealand, this programme explores the intersectionality of time, place and our impact on the landscape.

Joanne Roughton-Arnold is a lyric soprano equally at home in well-known and new repertoire, on the opera stage and concert platform. She discovered her vocal talent while a postgraduate violinist at Trinity College of Music, London, before going on to become a prize-winning vocal student at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.

She commissions and gives performances of new music with astonishing emotion and vision, from leading composers in the UK and abroad. In 2015 she commissioned Dame Gillian Whitehead and Fleur Adcock CNZM OBE to write Iris Dreaming, a one-woman chamber opera based on the life of celebrated New Zealand writer and feminist, Iris Wilkinson. She gave the world premiere at the 2016 Grimeborn Festival, followed by the NZ premiere at the Adam Chamber Music Festival, broadcast by Radio NZ.

She sings with Paraorchestra under Charles Hazlewood: The Nature of Why (Hong Kong No Limits Festival, Perth Festival, shortlisted for a 2019 Royal Philharmonic Society Award); Kraftwerk: Re-werk (WOMAD, Colston Hall, The Marble Factory, Sky Arts).

She is the soprano soloist on the soundtrack for Rising Phoenix, Netflix’s award-winning feature-length documentary on the Paralympics.

She combines her vocal work with her leadership role as Co-Founder, CEO & Creative Director of formidAbility, a female- and disability-led professional opera company breaking down barriers on- and off-stage and challenging perceptions of disability and inclusion in the arts.

Nigel Foster studied at the Royal Academy of Music and Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London with Geoffrey Pratley, Roger Vignoles, Graham Johnson and Iain Burnside.

He has since been appointed a Steinway Artist. An association with Sir Georg Solti led to work with Renée Fleming, Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu, and he has since played for singers including Dame Sarah Connolly, Roderick Williams, Nadine Benjamin, Lotte Betts-Dean, Kate Royal, Julien Van Mellaerts and Nicky Spence.

Nigel founded and directs the London Song Festival, which showcases the song repertoire and provides a performance platform for young singers and pianists. He has performed in song recitals across Europe and in Asia, New Zealand and north and south America, and has given masterclasses and led workshops in the song repertoire in the UK, Belgium, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Luxembourg, and the USA.

His CD of songs by Betty Roe, with Robin Tritschler, Madeleine Mitchell and others received five-star reviews, and his CD of Russian Romances with Iestyn Morris, issued in 2023, is the first time these songs have been recorded by a countertenor. He has broadcast on BBC Radio 3, appeared on television in several European countries and features on the soundtrack of the French film L'Homme est une femme comme les autres.

Running time approx. 55 minutes.