Nancy Argenta
Nancy Maureen Herbison Argenta is one of Canada's most famous and important singers. She has won international acclaim, and is considered by many as the leading Handel soprano of her time.
She was born in Nelson, a small city in eastern British Columbia, in the scenic Kootenay Mountain region. The closest large cities are Calgary, Alberta, and Spokane, WA (U.S.).
At the age of 11 she started formal voice lessons with Dr. Amy Ferguson of Nelson, and sang with one of the school choirs at L.V. Rogers High School in Nelson. By that time, she was frequently making the rather long trip to Vancouver, British Columbia, so she could hear musical events and have additional singing lessons. After graduation from high school in 1975, she attended the Vancouver Community College, then completed her degree at the University of Western Ontario in 1980. A grant from the Canada Council enabled her to go to Europe for private lessons in Düsseldorf (with Gérard Souzay) and in London with Vera Rozsa and Sir Peter Pears.
Her soprano voice is light, clear, and flexible, with a sound that is ideal for classical-era and earlier music. Her professional operatic debut was in two roles in Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie at the 1983 Aix-en-Provence Festival. In 1990 she received the Virginia P. Moore Prize, an annual award from the Canada Council for development of the career of a young Canadian classical musician.
Even before then, she was in demand to perform with period instrument organizations. These have included the Academy of Ancient Music and The English Concert, and such prominent conductors in the movement as Trevor Pinnock, Christopher Hogwood, John Eliot Gardiner, and Roger Norrington. She is particularly noted for her performances of the vocal music of the two leading figures in English music during the Baroque era: George Frideric Handel and Henry Purcell. When she returned to the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 1990, it was to sing in the latter's The Fairy Queen. She has performed most of the major Handel operas and oratorios. She also sings all the large-scale Bach choral/vocal works (B Minor Mass, the Passions, the Christmas Oratorio, and several of the cantatas).
In the classical era she is noted for performances of Haydn masses (some of which she has recorded with Pinnock and Richard Hickox), Haydn's Creation, the role of Zerlina in Don Giovanni and Despina in Così fan tutte. However, she sings music of all eras. She has recorded Schubert for the Virgin Classics label, and has sung in performances of music by Mahler and Schoenberg.
She performs at the world's major music festivals (Mostly Mozart, Schleswig-Holstein, and the BBC Promenade Concerts, for instance), and has sung with leading orchestras of England, the U.S., Canada, and Australia. She is a leading recitalist, and gives chamber performances as well as appearing in full-scale symphony concerts.
She makes her home and bases her career in England.
© TiVo
Discography
17 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Bach, J.S.: Advent Cantatas BWV 61, 36 & 62
Classical - Released by Archiv Produktion on 1 Jan 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Solomon
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1985
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
A Portrait of Love: Music for the French Court
Cantatas (secular) - Released by harmonia mundi on 12 Oct 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Apollo e Daphne & Crudel tiranno Amor
Simon Standage, Collegium Musicum, Nancy Argenta, George Michael
Cantatas (secular) - Released by Chandos on 1 Aug 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach, J.S.: Cantatas BWV 106, 118 & 198
Classical - Released by Archiv Produktion on 1 Jan 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach : Cantatas
Nancy Argenta, Monica Huggett, Ensemble Sonnerie
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 28 Mar 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Henry Purcell - Songs
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 29 Jan 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach, J.S.: Christmas Oratorio - Arias and Choruses
Classical - Released by Archiv Produktion on 11 Nov 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
PURCELL / HANDEL: Theatre Music (George Frideric Handel - Henry Purcell - John Dryden)
Classical - Released by CBC on 1 Jan 1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Jauchzet, frohlocket!
Classical - Released by Archiv Produktion on 11 Nov 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Cantates
Klaus Mertens, Nancy Argenta, La Petite Bande, Sigiswald Kuijken, Petite Bande, La
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by Accent on 1 Jan 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: Gloria / Scarlatti: Dixit Dominus
Nancy Argenta, Catherine Denley, Ashley Stafford, Stephen Varcoe, The English Concert, Trevor Pinnock
Classical - Released by Archiv Produktion on 1 Jan 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel : La Resurrezione
Opera - Released by Warner Classics International on 6 Apr 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lost Is My Quiet: English Music in Purcell's Time
Classical - Released by ATMA Classique on 1 Oct 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
J.S. Bach: Mass in G Major, BWV 236, Mass in F Major, BWV 233, Trio Sonata, BWV 529 (Lutheran Masses, Vol. 2)
Nancy Argenta, Michael Chance, Mark Padmore, Peter Harvey, Purcell Quartet
Masses, Passions, Requiems - Released by Chandos on 1 Feb 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Mass in B Minor
Collegium Musicum, Richard Hickox, Nancy Argenta, Catherine Denley, Mark Tucker, Stephen Varcoe
Masses, Passions, Requiems - Released by Chandos on 1 Sep 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
MESSE EN SI MINEUR
Nancy Argenta, Catherine Denley, Mark Tucker, Stephen Varcoe, Collegium Musicum, Richard Hickox
Sacred Vocal Music - Released by Chandos on 1 Sep 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo