From Vienna for the Festival of Chichester
Now established in Vienna, soprano Tamzin Barnett returns to Chichester for a recital entitled Flowers and Flirtations on Wednesday, July 3 at 1.30pm.
Tamzin has been a regular at the Festival of Chichester over the years – as indeed have her sister Zoe and mother Linda who both also feature in this year’s festival.
Zoe’s guitar recital is in St John’s Chapel, St John’s Street, Chichester on Friday, July 19 at 7.30pm; and classical guitarist Linda Kelsall-barnett joins poet Barry Smith for Pastoral Idyll on Friday, July 19 at 3pm, also at St John’s Chapel.
Tamzin is delighted to be able make the festival a family affair: “I love the festival and I think Chichester was an amazing place for me to grow up. At the time there was a lot of government funding into the arts and I was part of the West Sussex Music Service on a Saturday morning. I worked with so many inspirational teachers and it was my social life as well. I met many people through those Saturday mornings and I really think that the West Sussex Music Service has a lot to do with where I am now. And actually I'm working with children. I'm even working with six-month-old babies but I also teach adults. And I really also owe a lot to the Regis School of Music at that time.
“I'm in Vienna now and I started in this job in October 2021. I'm currently working for an English-speaking music school called Musical Munchkins.
"We are a team of English speakers from all over the world and I do really love Vienna. It is really working for me as a city and I'm really enjoying my work here. I love the emphasis on the arts and culture and the love for the arts that you have in Vienna. There so many exciting things happening and I go to the opera very frequently and really quite cheaply.”
Tamzin’s career at the moment is a mixture of teaching and performing. She performed in Berlin last year and is looking forward to performing in Berlin again this summer. But she comes back to the UK often to see family: “Thankfully I'm earning enough to keep myself afloat and can come back during the holidays.”
She last performed in Chichester with her mother and sister last year, a concert that was dedicated to her late grandfather John. This year's concert Flowers and Flirtations is dedicated to her late grandmother Marian.
“It has been a dream of mine for a while to perform a recital with an emphasis on literature about flowers and I guess I have a big interest in that coming from my grandparents who were both very interested in nature. This one is in my grandmother’s memory.
She always really supported my journey.
“For the concert I think I've always been drawn to these fun and flirtatious and light-hearted pieces that I will be singing in the first half.”
The programme will be: Le Violette – Scarlatti; Hush! Ye pretty warbling quire – Handel; As when the Dove – Handel; Deh vieni non tardar – Mozart; Mein Herr Marquis - J Strauss; Frère, voyez… Du gai soleil – J Massenet; Les Filles de Cadix – Delibes; Richard Strauss, Mädchenblumen
– 1 Kornblumen; 2 Mohnblumen; 3 Epheu; 4 Wasserrose; Maurice Ravel – Manteau de fleurs; and Roger Quilter – Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal. Tickets £15, students £5, children free; from the Festival of Chichester box office.