Winner of the 2019 Bath Opera Isobel Buchanan Award, Welsh counter-tenor Kieron-Connor Valentine recently completed the opera course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. He previously earned his Master of Music in Vocal Performance from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Cardiff, and his Bachelor of Music in Vocal Studies from the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester.
This summer, Kieron covered the role of Nireno in Giulio Cesare with Glyndebourne Festival Opera, jumping in to perform the role at short notice. He also covered the role of Voice of Apollo in Death in Venice for Welsh National Opera. In 22/23 season he made his debut with English Touring Opera as Adalberto in Handel’s Ottone and covered Andronico in Handel’s Tamerlano. He returned in the spring to sing Nireno and cover Tolomeo in Giulio Cesare, and covered the role of Farnace in Mozart’s Mitridate for Garsington Opera. He has also covered the role of Mago Cristiano in Handel’s Rinaldo for Glyndebourne Touring Opera.
Whilst at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama he performed the role of Fate e in Judith Weir’s Miss Fortune and Orphée in Charpentier’s Orphée aux Enfers. At the Royal Northern College of Music, he performed L’Humana Fragilità in Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, conducted by Roger Hamilton; Oberon in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, conducted by Andrew Greenwood; and Didymus in Handel’s Theodora, also conducted by Roger Hamilton. In 2018, Kieron-Connor joined the Britten-Pears Programme at Aldeburgh Festival in the role of Didymus in Theodora. In summer 2017, he recorded the soundtrack for a new Welsh opera film, commissioned by Welsh National Opera and S4C and composed by Stephen McNeff, based on the life of World War I poet Hedd Wyn.
Concert highlights include a recital of Renaissance and Baroque songs at Cadogan Hall, Chelsea, as part of the London Master Class Series; a UK tour with the Military Wives; and his BBC Proms debut as The Lost Boy in the world premiere of The Water Diviner’s Tale, conducted by David Charles Abell. He has performed Beethoven’s Mass in C Major conducted by Ian Chesworth at St. Michael and All Angels Church, Macclesfield; Handel’s Messiah conducted by Owen Roberts at St. Giles Parish Church, Wrexham; Jenkins’ The Armed Man conducted by Owen Roberts at William Aston Hall, Wrexham; Orff’s Carmina Burana conducted by Richard Lea at the Metropolitan Cathedral, Liverpool; and Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms conducted by John Powell at the Royal Northern College of Music Concert Hall.
September 2024
