As a principal soloist, Pippa has sung for major opera houses throughout Europe and the UK, including Paris Opera, ENO, ROH, Glyndebourne and in major festivals such as Frankfurt, Firenze Maggio Musicale, the BBC Proms, Edinburgh, Aldeburgh, Covent Garden Festivals and in the Royal Festival Hall, Purcell Room, Royal Albert Hall, Vredenburg, Utrecht, Snape Maltings, Kings Place and Wigmore Hall; with orchestras, RPO, Philharmonia, BBCSO, and Hallé. She has also performed at the Hay on Wye, Cheltenham and Bath Festivals, and in the Caribbean, Spain and Africa.
‘Irresistable gripping theatre, with a vigorously projected performance
from Pippa Dames-Longworth’ The Times
She has performed with conductors such as Simon Rattle, George Solti, Roger Norrington, Andrew Davis, Jirí Bélohlãvek, David Robertson and with the Hallé Orchestra, RPO, Philharmonia and BBC Symphony Orchestra as well as with the Brodsky Quartet, Schubert Ensemble and Tippett Quartet. She has also worked with Theatre de Complicité and Muziktheater Transparant.
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She has recorded for Radio, for TV, for Sky Arts and for Film and, as one half of 'Operaplayhouse', with colleague, Karl Daymond, was the subject of a BBC documentary.
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Pippa has given Masterclasses throughout the UK as well as in Moscow, Africa, Spain and Prague and is a specialist advisor for Trinity College of Music. She was on the board of Trustees for Lancing College responsible for Child Protection and as Arts advisor and she was also for some years involved with The Shannon Trust, an educational charity to help prison inmates with communication skills.
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Her directorial work has included ‘Dido and Aeneas’ for The Brighton Early Music Festival, developing community pieces for Chepstow Museum and devising and directing performances for her group, 'Singing Salon'.
Her vocal repertoire ranges from Monteverdi through Handel, Janacek, Wagner and Britten to contemporary works. Initially having sung as a soprano, she now sings as a mezzo-soprano. Recent performances have included her debut at Paris Opera, Verdi's Requiem, Elgar's Dream of Gerontius and recitals at Gravetye Manor and in King George IV’s Music Room in The Royal Pavilion, Brighton.
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Pippa lives in East Sussex with her husband, John Berry CBE, former Artistic Director of English National Opera, and currently Creative Advisor of The Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow, Artistic Director and Founder of the newly formed Charity, Opera Ventures, and Co-Director of Scenario2.
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Full Biography
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Pippa is a graduate of Trinity College of Music and Drama and of Guildhall School of Music and Drama (where she won the coveted Ricordi Opera Prize). As a youngster, Pippa studied with Sir Peter Pears, with Rudolf Piernay, in France with Gerard Souzay and more recently, at the Brereton International Music Symposium with Birgit Nillson, Renato Scotto, Shirley Verrett, Birgitte Fassbaender and Thomas Hampson.
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She made her professional operatic debut at The Royal Opera House in Tavener’s ‘Therese’ and went on to sing throughout Europe in both Concert and Opera. As a soprano, her roles included Amelia in ‘Un Ballo in Maschera’, Tatyana in ‘Eugene Onegin’, Donna Elvira in ‘Don Giovanni’, Countess Almaviva in ‘Le Nozze di Figaro’, Katya in ‘Katya Kabanova’, Ellen Orford in ‘Peter Grimes’ and The Marschallin in ‘Der Rosenkavalier’. She has performed with conductors such as Sir Georg Solti, Sir Andrew Davis, Sir Roger Norrington, Pierre Devaux, Sergio Siminovitch, Robert Craft, David Robertson, Jirí Bélohlãvek and Jan Latham Koenig and in Festivals such as Edinburgh (Brunnhilde's ‘Immolation Scene’ with Elgar Howarth), Aldeburgh, Covent Garden, Maggio Musicale, Florence, Frankfurt, the BBC Proms; at Musica nel Chiostro, Batignano, English National Opera, Opera Holland Park, The National Theatre, Brno, Czech Republic, with Theatre de Complicité, The Randers Byorkester in Denmark, Muziktheater Transparant in Belgium and has worked with Opera North, Teatro Real, Madrid and Glyndebourne Festival Opera.
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Television appearances include Fiordiligi in ‘Cosi fan Tutte’, directed by Elisabeth Schwarzkopf for BBC 2, Bach’s ‘Coffee Cantata’ for RAI TV, filmed in Venice, 'Monteverdi in Mantua' for BBC 2 and the world premiere of Micheal Torke’s ‘King of Hearts’ for Channel 4.
Recordings include Birtwistle’s ‘Mask of Orpheus’ with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Sir Andrew Davis (which won the coveted Gramophone Award), Gluck’s ‘Il Parnaso’ with Sir Roger Norrington and Stravinsky’s ‘Rossignol’ and ‘The Flood’ both with the Philharmonia and Robert Craft. In Rome, with conductor Sergio Siminovitch and the Centro di Musica Antica, she performed a series of lesser known Handel oratorio over eight or more years. She has also recorded much film and television music, including Christopher Gunning’s Bafta and Novello nominated score ‘The Big Battalions’.
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Now singing as a mezzo-soprano, Pippa has sung the Mother and Witch in ‘Hansel and Gretel’ for Lyric Opera, Dublin, Venus in Cavalli’s ‘L’Orione’ for Venetian Opera, Queen of the Fairies in ‘Iolanthe’ with Carl Davis and the Hallé Orchestra at The Bridgewater Hall, Florence Pike in ‘Albert Herring’ for New Kent Opera, ‘The Cunning Little Vixen’ for Opera Theatre Company Ireland in Brno, Czech Republic, ‘Saul’ with Sir John Tomlinson, Beethoven’s ‘Missa Solemnis’ in St. Albans Cathedral, a series of solo recitals for Dartington, new works for the Royal Opera House Crush Bar and recently made her Paris Opera debut. Pippa sang Marcellina in ‘The Marriage of Figaro’ for Savoy Opera, Duchessa Federica in Verdi’s ‘Luisa Miller’ for Opera Holland Park and the Mayor’s Wife in ‘Jenufa’, Theodorine in Offenbach’s ‘Island of Tulipitan’ and the title role of Purcell’s ‘Dido and Aeneas’ in Krakow, Poland with Fresco Sonare.
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She has performed in concert with the Brodsky Quartet in Utrecht and Blackheath, with the Tippett Quartet at Kings Place, with the Schubert Ensemble in Snape Maltings, the Bridge Quartet in the Jimena de la Frontera Festival, in addition to performances at the South Bank, Royal Albert Hall and Barbican.
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As co-director and performer of Operaplayhouse, she has sung throughout the UK, Spain, the Caribbean and Kenya, for SkyArts TV and at the Hay-on-Wye, Cheltenham and Bath Festivals and was also the subject of a BBC documentary about Operaplayhouse with her colleague, Karl Daymond. Pippa has given Masterclasses for the Advanced Opera students at the Akademie in Prague, at the invitation of the conductor, Jiri Bélohlàvek, as well as in Spain, Africa, Russia and for the highly regarded Dartington International Summer School.
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Recent work includes her debut for Paris Opera singing Ludmila in Smetana's 'The Bartered Bride' under the baton of Jirí Bélohlãvek, Verdi’s ‘Requiem’, Elgar’s ‘Dream of Gerontius’, Mahler’s orchestral song cycle of Rückert Lieder, Mendelssohn’s ‘Elijah’, Britten’s ‘Charm of Lullabies’. Recent recitals include performances at Gravetye Manor and in King George IV’s Music Room in The Royal Pavilion, Brighton.