Clara Mouriz
Mezzo-soprano
The concert ended with Chanson Madécasses, a trio of Madagascan songs composed from 1925-26, featuring Mouriz accompanied by piano, flute and cello. This unusual mixture provided some astonishing harmonic results that could easily be mistaken for a contemporary piece. Mouriz came into her own in these ethereal and at times starkly dramatic works; her opening attack in the political (and postcolonial avant le mot) ‘Aoua!’ was astonishing in its vividness and theatricality, and all three songs were successful, both as a result of the sensitive accompaniment by Middleton, David Mosely and Philip Higham, but also because of Mouriz’s passionate commitment to these strange songs.
Spanish mezzo-soprano Clara Mouriz has established herself as a versatile performer, who is equally at home in recital, opera and on the orchestral stage. A former BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist, she was mentored by Joyce DiDonato and Felicity Lott as a recipient of the Wigmore Hall / Independent Opera Fellowship, and has also received the International Handel Competition Audience Price and the honorary title of ‘Associate of the Royal Academy of Music’ in London.
She made her Wigmore Hall debut under the auspices of the Kirckman Concert Society in 2007 and has returned there regularly. An outstanding recitalist, Clara has appeared in radio broadcasts and at concert halls across Europe and North America, alongside a number of leading pianists including Joseph Middleton, Julius Drake, Graham Johnson, Simon Lepper, Malcolm Martineau, Melvyn Tan and Roger Vignoles. She is also one of the founding members of the Myrthen Ensemble, and has recorded for Signum alongside Mary Bevan, Allan Clayton, Marcus Farnsworth and Joseph Middleton.
