Name: Diana Gilchrist
PhD Title: An exploration of vocal portamento and musical meaning through creative practice, history, recording analysis and empirical study.
Department: Reid School of Music
Supervisors: Dr Katie Overy & Dr Kathryn Whitney
Email: s1065683@sms.ed.ac.uk
Biography
I founded Ottawaʼs Opera Lyra in 1984 and served as its first Artistic Director. In 1988 I moved to Europe to pursue a solo singing career. Here I sang several Mozart roles including: Susannah (Le Nozze de Figaro), Blonde (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Zerlina (Don Giovanni) and the Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflöte) which I performed in Vienna, Paris and Berlin. Other leading roles include Zerbinetta (Ariadne auf Naxos), Gilda (Rigoletto) and the title roles in The Merry Widow and The Cunning Vixen. My opera and concert career has taken me across Europe, to North America and to the Far East. I broadcast for radio and television and perform my one woman show: Mrs. Mozart and have recorded two solo CDs. I serve as Musician in Residence for the Bader International Study Centre, UK (Queen’s University, Canada) where I also enjoy lecturing and animating student musical activities.
Research Interests
My research interests include:
- expressive vocal gestures
- history of vocal pedagogy
- performance studies and vocal performance practice
- creative practice as research
- recording analysis
- emotion in music
Musical Interests
• Mozart operas (especially those I’ve performed)
• Lieder (singing, listening and studying)
• Chamber music (especially string quartets)
• Archive recordings (especially voice and violin)
Invited Lectures & Conference Presentations
Oxford: Joint lecture-recital at the RMA ‘Authorship in Music’ Study Day, March 2015
Bader International Study Centre: Lecture-recital ‘What Makes Music Expressive?’, October 2014
University of Surrey: Joint lecture-recital ‘Radical Interpretations’, October 2013
University of London, Institute for Music Research: Lecture-recital ‘How Creative Can a Musical Practice Be?’, June 2013
IMHSD Hearing, Seeing, Imagining Workshop at Herstmonceux Castle: Lecture-recital ‘Between the Notes – Exploring Images and Character Through the Use of Portamento’ August, 2012
University of London, Institute for Music Research: Lecture-recital ‘Portamento and the Lyric’, June 2012
Bader International Study Centre: lecture-recitals on Lieder, Opera, Bel Canto, Canadian Art Song, Expressive Parameters in Vocal Music, Multiple Musical Interpretations, 1997 to present
Performances/Recordings
2015
Concerts: Strauss Vier Letzte Lieder, Schubert Shepherd on the Rock
Recordings: Schubert: Radical Interpretations of Ave Maria
1982 – 2015
Solo appearances with orchestras & chamber ensembles, radio & television broadcasts, recordings in North America, Europe and the Far East
1983 – 2010
Opera performances in Canada, Europe and the Far East
Funding Awarded
Isabel Bader post graduate scholarship (2011 to present)
Teaching
2015
At Bader International Study Centre, Herstmonceux Castle, UK (Queen’s University, Canada)
Music 102: Western Music from Napoleon to 9/11, First Year Undergraduate, Lecturer
Music 287: Opera, Second Year Undergraduate, Lecturer
Music 473: Music & Emotion, opera & film, Upper Year Undergraduate, Lecturer
Music 474: Music as Performance, Upper Year Undergraduate, Lecturer
2010 to present
Presentation skills seminars
2000 to present
Master-classes
1992 to present (UK)
Private voice teaching
Group and Event Organisation
2015
Herstmonceux Castle Choir
Ladies Chamber Choir
1997 to present
Herstmonceux Castle: concerts, workshops, choir trips and joint choral events with various Cambridge and Oxford colleges
Other
Bader International Study Centre curriculum committee