" A stunningly dramatic performance from the bass, Frederick Long, marks him out as a singer who can do both character and lyricism " (Early Music Review)
Frederick Long is garnering an international reputation for bringing vivid communication to both the operatic and concert stage. He is currently in particular demand in the music of the baroque, to which his rich and flexible bass-baritone is ideally suited.
A recent performance of Christus in Bach's St Matthew Passion with the Irish Baroque Orchestra was hailed by the Arts Desk as a "revelation...he lives the Passion with youthful intensity, its anguish etched onto his face as well as the fully-fledged bass-baritone voice". This summer he makes his debut at the Leipzig Bachfest, in a performance of Bach's Magnificat at the opening concert with the Gewandhaus Orchestra.
As well as IBO, with whom he also features on a new recording of Messiah (Gramophone editor's choice), he is privileged to work with other leading ensembles including the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra (as a guest soloist in performances of Bach and Handel at La Scala, Milan, and Carnegie Hall, New York), and the Dunedin Consort, with whom he made an acclaimed debut this year in Bach's St Matthew Passion (see Early Music Review clipping above).
A recent performance of Christus in Bach's St Matthew Passion with the Irish Baroque Orchestra was hailed by the Arts Desk as a "revelation...he lives the Passion with youthful intensity, its anguish etched onto his face as well as the fully-fledged bass-baritone voice". This summer he makes his debut at the Leipzig Bachfest, in a performance of Bach's Magnificat at the opening concert with the Gewandhaus Orchestra.
As well as IBO, with whom he also features on a new recording of Messiah (Gramophone editor's choice), he is privileged to work with other leading ensembles including the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra (as a guest soloist in performances of Bach and Handel at La Scala, Milan, and Carnegie Hall, New York), and the Dunedin Consort, with whom he made an acclaimed debut this year in Bach's St Matthew Passion (see Early Music Review clipping above).
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He has also been lucky enough to be invited to join boundary-pushing vocal consorts including Solomon's Knot (St John Passion, Wigmore Hall) and I Fagiolini (Monteverdi Vespers, Kings Place). Further afield, he has collaborated with Scandinavian baroque-stars Barokksolistene in performances of Dido and Aeneas ("charismatic, agile and authoritative in voice and movement", The Arts Desk), and O/Modernt, with whom he will perform the same work later in the year at the Elbphilharmonie.
Since making his debut at Glyndebourne as the Lackey (Ariadne auf Naxos) with Vladimir Jurowski and covering the title role in the Barrie Kosky production of Saul, he has been engaged by the major opera houses in the UK including ENO, WNO, Opera Holland Park, Opera North and the Royal Opera, performing and covering a range of roles including Mozart's Figaro and Papageno, Schaunard (La bohème), Lieutenant Ratcliffe (Billy Budd) and Sam (Ballo in Maschera). He also developed a successful association with English Touring Opera, for whom his performances as the Sorceress in Dido and Aeneas, Ismenor (Dardanus) and Guglielmo (Cosi fan tutte) received widespread critical praise. Equally at home in contemporary repertoire, he performed Medeiros (The Yellow Sofa) for Glyndebourne on Tour, Leporello (Giovanni) for Silent Opera (a digital reimagining of the original), and covered Janitor in Tansy Davies’ Between Worlds for ENO. With Royal Academy Opera he created the role of Willi Graf in the world premiere of Peter Maxwell Davies’ Kommilitonen!. |
Frederick's repertoire encompasses most of the great oratorios, and sees him in demand on the concert platform at home and abroad. Other concert highlights include a semi-staged St Matthew Passion at the York Early Music Festival, Messiah with the Academy of Ancient Music, Altomaro (Fernando, Re di Castiglia) at the London Handel Festival and Haydn's Creation with the London Mozart Players. He extends into the larger-scale romantic works, with performances including Mendelssohn's Elijah, Elgar's The Kingdom and the Verdi Requiem (English Festival Orchestra) with a chorus of two thousand at the Royal Albert Hall. When avoiding work, Frederick can be found with his wife Emily and young children, pottering about the cider presses of Somerset. |