Independent Classical Podcast: Elin Manahan Thomas

Edward Seckerson

Writer and broadcaster Edward Seckerson is Chief Classical Music and Opera Critic for The Independent. He wrote and presented the long-running BBC Radio 3 series Stage & Screen, in which he interviewed many of the most prominent writers and stars of musical theatre. He appears regularly on BBC Radio 3 and 4. On television, he has commentated a number of times at the Cardiff Singer of the World competition. He has published books on Mahler and the conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, and has been on Gramophone Magazine's review panel for many years. Edward presented the 2007 series of the Radio 4 music quiz Counterpoint. He has interviewed everyone from Leonard Bernstein to Liza Minelli; from Paul McCartney to Pavarotti: from Julie Andrews to Jessye Norman.

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Elin Manahan Thomas' lovely voice has graced two of the finest specialist choirs in the world: John Eliot Gardiner's Monteverdi Choir and Harry Christophers' The Sixteen. It's a voice born to embrace the pure and ornate lines of pre-18th century music though this engaging Welsh singer rejoices in musical diversity wherever it comes from.

It's one of the most refreshing characteristics of those born and bred in the land of song. Elin read Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic at Clare College Cambridge before being whisked off on John Eliot Gardiner's Bach Cantata pilgrimage. Eliot Gardiner also entrusted her with the first performance of a lately discovered Bach Birthday Ode entitled Alles mit Gott. With The Sixteen she has benefitted from the group's desire to nurture the individual talents within its ranks and has featured on solo albums for The Sixteen's own label CORO. In her native Wales, Sain Records have bought into her growing career as a Radio and TV presenter and have released the soundtrack to her S4C TV series "Soprano World". In this exclusive audio podcast Elin talks to Edward Seckerson about the journey so far, somehow resisting to swap seats with him. Handel's sublime "Eternal Source of Light Divine" is where it all begins...

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Independent Classical: Elin Manahan Thomas by The Independent on Mixcloud