La Nuova Musica
biography
Having sung for some the world’s finest early music exponents including Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Andrea Marcon and Marc Minkowski, it was in 2007 that countertenor David Bates was inspired to establish and direct his own early music ensemble – La Nuova Musica. This dynamic group comprises some of Europe’s finest early music specialists who share a common desire to shed new light on standard repertoire and bring neglected gems to the fore.
2009 saw LNM’s first year of real success. In February they performed Handel’s Acis and Galatea in The London Handel Festival. Richard Morrison (The Times) wrote: “he [Bates] breathed life, meaning and shape into every phrase. His speeds were properly brisk and his little band responded with playing of robust vigour.”
As part of the Easter Aldeburgh Festival they performed Bach Motets and Schütz's Musikalische Exequien. Of this performance the Eastern Daily Press reviewed: “La Nuova Musica proved to be one of the sensations of the weekend in a riveting concert at Blythburgh culminating in a rare performance of Schütz's funeral mass, Musikalische Exequien, while a trio of Bach's burial motets were effortlessly sung by a handful of singers firmly in the grip of their brilliant young music master, David Bates.”
Another highlight for the group was their 2009 Wigmore Hall debut in a programme of Monteverdi’s Vespero Della Beata Vergine 1610 and motets by Alessandro Grandi, having been given the opportunity by Aldeburgh Music to prepare the programme on an a residency at The Maltings, Snape. In November LNM presented two recitals at King's Place, London's newest chamber music venue.
Buoyed by the success of last year’s concerts LNM looks forward to return visits in 2010 to the London Handel Festival performing Handel’s Apollo e Dafne, to the Aldeburgh Summer Festival for a programme of Schütz 's Sinfoniae Sacra III 1650, a performance of John Blow’s Venus and Adonis at the Spitalfields Festival, London and six performances of Handel's Serse for Iford Arts in early July.
With the record label 'Somm' LNM has released their debut disc of madrigals by Monteverdi and Caccini and is awaiting the release of their second disc, 'Britain, Thou now art great' - songs and instrumental music by Henry Purcell and John Blow. LNM has also recorded an album for Collegium Records with John Rutter and the Cambridge Singers - 'The Sacred Flame' which is receiving universal praise. In summer 2010 LNM will record the 1712 version of Handel’s Il Pastor Fido with an outstanding line-up of singers including Lucy Crowe, Anna Dennis, Katherine Manley, Clint Van Der Linde, Madeleine Shaw and Christopher Purves.
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David Bates, director
biography
David Bates studied voice at the Royal Academy of Music, London and Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, Switzerland. As a professional singer David has sung roles at Theater Basel, Switzerland under the direction of Andrea Marcon and whilst at Royal Academy Opera he sang the role of Ottone in Monteverdi’s ‘L’Incoronazione di Poppea’ directed by Laurence Cummings. Most recently he sang the role of Trasimede in Handel’s ‘Admeto’ at Internationale Händel-Festspiele Göttingen directed by Nicholas McGegan.
He has also enjoyed further stage work understudying countless roles at Glyndebourne Opera and English National Opera. On the concert platform he has sung and recorded Purcell’s ‘Ode to St Cecilia’ with Les Musiciens du Louvre and maestro Marc Minkowski and is a regular soloist and consort singer with the English Baroque Soloists and the Monteverdi Choir. Under Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s direction, he has sung the countertenor solos in Bach’s ‘Johannespassion’ in Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Schütz ‘Musikalische Exequien’ in the major Spanish Cathedrals, and ‘Israel in Egypt’ in the Edinburgh Festival at Usher Hall and Pisa Cathedral. In 2010 he will embark on a European tour as soloist in Bach’s B Minor Mass.
