Rodney Clarke sang the title role in our March 2009 performance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah.
Rodney Clarke
Rodney Clarke studied singing with Professor Mark Wildman at the Royal Academy of Music where he was awarded the Richard Lewis/Jean Shanks Award 2001 and generously supported by the Sir Peter Moores Foundation.
He has performed with many companies including, English National Opera, Welsh National Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Birmingham Opera Company, Music Theatre Wales, Opera National de Lyon, Le Theatre du Chatelet, Paris and The Norwegian Opera. He has been recognized for his versatility, performing works by Bach, Handel and Mozart to works by Errolyn Wallen, Jonathan Dove and Glenn Erik Haugland.
He has participated in television projects for the BBC, featured in the award-winning production of Bernstein's On the Town (ENO) directed by Jude Kelly and appeared as An Officer in Kenneth Branagh's film version of Mozart's The Magic Flute. Roles in performance include Figaro, Count Almaviva Le Nozze di Figaro, Papageno Die Zauberflote, title role Don Giovanni by Mozart, Ferryman Curlew River and Junius The Rape of Lucretia by Britten, Jake Porgy and Bess by Gershwin, Tancredi Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda by Monteverdi, Mel The Knot Garden by Tippett, Anastase Sante by Emily Hall, Pig The Enchanted Pig and Ashmodeus Tobias and the Angel by Dove, Leo Rebekka by Haugland, Marquis D'Obigny La Traviata by Verdi and Thoas Iphigenie en Tauride by Gluck.
On the concert platform he has performed at St.John's, Smith Square, The Royal Festival Hall, The Purcell Room, The Royal Albert Hall and Cadogan Hall, highlights including Haydn's Creation RAH under Sir David Willcocks, Bernstein's Mass with LSO under Marin Alsop, Husky Miller in Carmen Jones at the Royal Festival Hall and title role in Porgy and Bess with the Orchestra and Chorus of Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Rome under Wayne Marshall.
Rodney recently understudied the role of Aeneas for the ROH, Covent Garden's production of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, was featured in the BBC's documentary of The Birth of British Music Handel and Purcell series, sang the title role in gala performances of Eugene Onegin in Russia and performed the role of Jake in Porgy and Bess with Nikolaus Harnoncourt at the Styriarte Festspiele, Graz in Austria. Future engagements include Jake in Porgy and Bess at Opera National de Lyon with a debut at the Edinburgh Festival, baritone soloist in the premier of One Sun One World by Peter Rose and Anne Conlon at the Royal Albert Hall, title role in Porgy and Bess in concert with the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra, Reykjavik and a recital of Hesketh songs from Music To a Distant Drum with Ensemble 10/10 RLPO at the Cornerstone, Hope and the Wigmore Hall, London.