Fiona Gillespie
"Soprano Fiona Gillespie’s vocals combine youthful sheen and mature sentiments. She’s a spirited reveler in Beethoven’s “Come Draw We Round a Cheerful Ring” and a world-weary narrator in Haydn’s tale of intimidating courtship, “My Boy Tammy.” Gillespie’s clear diction and Celtic accent add to the authenticity and poise of the music. She also tosses off well-executed trills and melismas in Beethoven’s “Sunset” and a moving upper register in Weber’s harmonically vibrant “The Soothing Shade of Gloaming.”
-Early Music America
"Vocalist Fiona Gillespie opts for a distinctly folky voice production, but her delightfully pure voice and subtle ornamentation represent a winning combination."
-Early Music Review
"Gillespie was a standout, singing with power, polish, and idiomatic...inflection"
-Chicago Classical Review
ABOUT
Fiona is a folk and Classically-trained singer, songwriter, composer, and music educator. Raised in a family of traditional Celtic musicians Fiona grew up step dancing, singing ballads, and playing the Irish whistle, on which she competed nationally and internationally until 2006. She holds degrees in voice performance from Westminster Choir College (BM) and the University of North Texas (MM).
Fiona's half hour folk-rock cantata of the traditional Scottish balladTam Lin, with co-composer Elliot Cole, (scored for voices and 12-piece band of historical, modern, and electronic instruments), released in 2021. Her album of Scottish folk songs arranged by composers of the Viennese School, Wisps in the Dell released in 2019, followed by The Gallant David Rizzio (2022). All three were created with New York-based ensemble Makaris, which focuses on musical projects exploring Scottish culture and heritage.
2023/2024 collaborative and performance projects include a story-telling concert of the famous ballad Barbara Allen told through songs and tunes of the Scotch-Irish diaspora into Appalachia created with The Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado, (The Rose and Briar), Irish and American folk crossover programs with Apollo's Fire Baroque Orchestra, a collaboration with Tiny Glass Tavern and NY composer Doug Balliett in a program entitled "The Hagiography: a musical pilgrimage through the lives of the saints" featuring all new works, and Scottish Baroque programs with Makaris, Ruckus Early Music Band and Elm City Consort.
Fiona is a co-founder and manager of the Celtic/Early Music band The Chivalrous Crickets with whom, in addition to playing concert series and festivals, she produces concert theater events recreating historic Celtic and British Isles traditional folk festivals, such as Twelfth Night and May Day. She has taught voice at DeSales University, Muhlenberg College, where she led opera workshop courses and music directed main stage productions, and Lycoming College, where she directed opera and co-taught courses on Baroque music, as well as leading folk singing workshops with organizations around the country.
gillespiefi@gmail.com
RESUME
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