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The English counter-tenor, Lester Lardenoye, studied Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge and sang in the Choir of St John’s College under the direction of Christopher Robinson and David Hill. After graduating, he continued his studies at the Early Music Department of the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, where his teachers included Rita Dams, Michael Chance and Peter Kooy. He is currently coached by Peter Nilsson.
Lester Lardenoye has worked with a variety of professional ensembles, including the Monteverdi Choir, the Amsterdam Baroque Choir, Nederlandse Bachvereniging, Kammerchor Stuttgart, Zürcher Sing-Akademie and English Voices. With the latter he has performed with conductors such as René Jacobs and Ivor Bolton at the Festival of Aix-en-Provence and Piers Maxim at the Beijing Music Festival.
Lester Lardenoye has appeared in opera and oratorio across Europe. Roles include the part of Nutrice in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea with Glen Wilson, Ottone in George Frideric Handel’s Agrippina with Hernán Schvartzman and one of the Pastores in Monteverdi’s l’Orfeo with René Jacobs at the Festival of Aix-en-Provence. Oratorio roles include Joad in G.F. Handel’s Athalia and David in G.F. Handel’s Saul, both with Richard Egarr at the Snape Proms in the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme.
Recent recitals include the Festival Européen Jeunes Talents in Paris and the fringe programme of the Utrecht Early Music Festival. In the past year he performed as a soloist in J.S. Bach’s Matthäus-Passion (BWV 244) on a tour of Israel with the Academy of English Voices and the Israel Camerata Orchestra Jerusalem, conducted by Avner Biron. Recently, he sang the alto solos in the Messe de Minuit and Te Deum by Charpentier on a European tour with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir, conducted by Ton Koopman.
Recurring engagements include Matthäus-Passion (BWV 244), Johannes-Passion (BWV 245), Magnificat in D major (BWV 243), Weihnachts-Oratorium (BWV 248) and Mass in B minor BWV 232 Matthäus-Passion (BWV 244), Johannes-Passion (BWV 245), Magnificat in D major (BWV 243), Weihnachts-Oratorium (BWV 248), Mass in B minor BWV 232 and numerous cantatas by J.S. Bach, Messiah and Dixit Dominus G.F. Handel, and many works by other composers, including Leonard Bernstein, Dietrich Buxtehude, Carissimi, Johann Adolf Hasse, Monteverdi, W.A. Mozart, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Purcell, Antonio Vivaldi and Jan Dismas Zelenka. |
