Victoria Davies

Victoria studied the harp under Daphne Boden at the Royal College of Music Junior Department and at the Royal Academy of Music with Skaila Kanga, where her studies were generously supported by a Star Award from the Countess of Munster Musical Trust, and the Musicians’ Benevolent Fund. She also read Music at Christ Church, Oxford, where she was an Academic Scholar and Instrumental Exhibitioner. While at the RAM she won the Guy McGrath Harp Prize and received the Katie Thomas Memorial Fund award, graduating in June 2005 with a Postgraduate Diploma with distinction. She was winner of the London Harp Competition in 1999 and 2001, and in 2000 was Principal Harp of the National Youth Orchestra.

 

Victoria has worked extensively with the Cathedral Choir of Christ Church, Oxford, with whom she has made 3 CDs. She has appeared with Christ Church choir in ‘Britten’s Children’, a BBC 2 documentary about Benjamin Britten’s music for boys’ voices; at St John’s Smith Square, the Aldeburgh Festival, and on BBC Radio 3’s ‘Choral Evensong’. As soloist, she has performed live on the BBC Radio 3 programme In Tune, presented by Sean Rafferty, and on Howard Goodall’s BBC Radio 2 programme.

 

From January 2006-July 2007 Victoria was resident harp teacher at the Tamnak Prathom Harp School in Bangkok, Thailand, where she gave solo and chamber performances, and played with the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra and Opera, including Bangkok Opera’s 2006 performance of Wagner’s ‘Das Rheingold’ (the first performance of a Wagner opera to be given in Thailand), and their 2007 tour to Vietnam for performances of Britten’s ‘Rape of Lucretia’. In February 2007 she recorded a CD of Asian and European contemporary harp duet music with the harpist Ema Mitarai, (‘Images Orientales’), with whom she gave concerts in Japan and the UK in April 2007. Victoria is currently a participating artist in the 2007-08 and ’08-09 Countess of Munster recital scheme. Future engagements include recording Howard Goodall’s Requiem and a concert in St John’s Smith Square on 15th December 2008.

 

 

Selected recent performances:

CD recording for Down’s Syndrome charity, Windsor Parish Church, Harpmakers Salvi showrooms in London, St George’s Church, Ramsgate, St. John’s Church, Waterloo with the Ernest Read Symphony Orchestra, ‘Aida’ with the Windsor and Eton Operatic society, Howard Goodall ‘O Mistress Mine’ for treble solo and harp at The Queen’s College, Oxford, Roxanna Panufnik Westminster Mass at Douai Abbey, Reading, with Singscape Choir, Debussy Danses for Harp and String Orchestra at the Duke’s Hall, Royal Academy of Music, Britten ‘A Ceremony of Carols’ at Aldeburgh International Festival, with Christ Church Cathedral Choir, conducted by Stephen Darlington Janacek Otèenáš (The Lord’s Prayer) at Eton College Chapel, Uppingham School, with Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Ravel Introduction and Allegro for Harp and String Orchestra at Farnham Castle, Handel, arr. Grandjan, y Prelude and Toccata, ‘In Tune’, BBC Radio 3, Britten A Ceremony of Carols, with Magdalen College Choir, conducted by Grayston Ives, Magdalen College Chapel, Debussy Danses and Ravel Introduction and Allegro, with Christ Church Festival Orchestra, conducted by James Ross, Christ Church Cathedral, Robin Nelson An Avebury Carol for harp, bells, and choir, with Christ Church Cathedral Choir and students from Marlborough School, Marlborough Chapel, Britten A Ceremony of Carols with Christ Church Cathedral Choir, St John’s Smith Square, London, Britten A Ceremony of Carols with Oxford Girls’ Choir, conducted by Richard Vendome, Blenheim Palace, Mozart Flute and Harp Concerto with Rebecca Clarey, flute, and the Welwyn Garden City Orchestra, conducted by James Ross, Performance given at the 8th World Harp Congress in Geneva, ‘Focus on Youth’ concerts, Performance given at the 5th European Harp Symposium in Amsterdam, Charity concerts for ‘Speakability’ at Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire, and St. David’s, Exeter, with Kathryn Harries, Boieldieu Harp Concerto, with the Manresa Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Gregory Wheeler, Boieldieu Harp Concerto with the Charterhouse Orchestra, conducted by David Wright, Concerts at Coverwood Lakes with Kathryn Harries, Jean Treadaway, Linda Ormiston and Donald Maxwell , BT ‘Voices for Hospices’ concert at the Foreign Office, accompanying tenor José Cura and mezzo-soprano Kathryn Harries, Judith Weir ‘All the ends of the earth’ (for chamber choir, harp and percussion) with members of the National Youth Orchestra, Cheltenham International Festival, Handel Harp Concerto in B flat with the Guildford Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Darrell Davison, Performance at Buckingham Palace, (representing the National Youth Orchestra), for Her Majesty the Queen, Foyer concert given in Birmingham Symphony Hall by the Harp Section of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, (ensemble works and solo given by Victoria), Performance with Kathryn Harries at Surrey Proms.

 

Recordings:

  • with choir: ‘The Golden Vanity’-Music for Boys’ Voices by Benjamin Britten (including the Missa Brevis, The Children’s Crusade and A Ceremony of Carols) Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, conducted by Stephen Darlington. Lammas LAMM 146D
  • Janácèk ‘The Lord’s Prayer’—Choral and Organ Music—Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Oxford, directed by Stephen Darlington. Griffin GCCD 4042
  • ‘A Tudor Christmas’ (featuring solo harp consort pieces by Henry VIII)—The Choir of Christ Church, Oxford, directed by Stephen Darlington. The Gift of Music CCL CDG1098
  • ‘The Christmas Story’ (featuring carols with harp) Harlow Chorus directed by Sarah Tenant-Flowers and Southend Boys and Girls Choir directed by Roger Humphrey, with readings by Margaret Howard and Bernard Palmer. The Gift of Music CCL CDG1101
  • solo and ensemble: ‘Kathryn Harries and Friends’ (featuring artists from the Coverwood concerts. Panda Productions PP 0199 orchestral:
  • ‘Deep River’—choral music by John Rutter, Bob Chilcott and Harvey Brough (Jacqueline Dankworth, Oxford Pro Musica Singers, Oxford Company of Musicians, conductor Michael Smedley). OxRecs DIGITAL OXCD-96

 

Recent Radio and TV Broadcasts:

  • Janáèek ‘The Lord’s Prayer’ with Christ Church Cathedral Choir, live broadcast, BBC Radio 3, May 2003.
  • Handel, arr. Grandjany ‘Prelude and Toccata’ on ‘In Tune’, presented by Sean Rafferty, live broadcast from Magdalen College, Oxford, BBC Radio 3, December 2003.
  • Howard Goodall ‘We are God’s Labourers’ (commissioned for the Dean of Christ Church’s installation), with Christ Church Cathedral Choir, live broadcast, BBC Radio 3, May 2004.
  • ‘Britten’s Children’ (programme on Britten’s music for boy’s voices), with Christ Church Cathedral Choir, directed by Stephen Darlington, BBC 2 2004.

 

Overzicht