Intro
Biography
Mary Carewe
Biography
Full version
Mary Carewe's versatility ranges from musical theatre showstoppers and cabaret songs to contemporary music. She has performed under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle, Kurt Masur, John Rutter and Charles Hazlewood. Her now long-established artistic relationship with Carl Davis has led her to sing both ‘James Bond' and ‘Oscar Winners' programmes with the main British orchestras, the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra, the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, the Queensland Orchestra, the Czech National Symphony Orchestra and, in the United States, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony and the New York Pops with whom she made her debut at the Carnegie Hall in New York. Future plans include a tour of Germany with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and two concerts with the Florida orchestra in the United States.
Mary is a guest of the Ulster Orchestra, the Odense Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre National de Lille, the Sønderjyllands Symfoniorkester, the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, the Bochum Symphony Orchestra, the NDR Radiophilharmonie,the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, RTE Concert Orchestra in Dublin, the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Lahti and The Florida Orchestra.
As a recitalist, Mary frequently performs Serious Cabaret concerts with her pianist Philip Mayers, and has appeared at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Alicante Contemporary Music Festival, the Aldeburgh Festival, Djanogly Hall, Festival de l'Ile de France, the Louisiana Music Series, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Opera Butxaca, Cadogan Hall and Maison de Radio-France. Mary has also appeared at the Berlin Philharmonie with Ensemble Oriol and at the Cheltenham Festival with the Matrix Ensemble.
She sang ‘Anna I' in Kurt Weill's Die sieben Todsünden as part of the 2008 Festival Semana de Música Religiosa de Cuenca and at the Teatro Arriaga in Bilbao, Spain, and performed Schönberg's Pierrot Lunaire in Berlin and at the Cadogan Hall in London. In January 2009 she was invited to perform with the London Sinfonietta as part of the Art of News week at King's Place, London in a programme including songs by Zemlinsky, Eisler and Berio and six commissions by composers from the Royal Opera House's Opera Genesis VOX course.
Mary is involved in educational projects and has presented Cabaret songs to hundreds of young audiences in the UK with the ensemble VIVA, with whom she has also given performances nationwide of her ‘Viva la Diva' programme, a mixture of Cabaret and Jazz songs arranged for voice and seven piece ensemble. She is a much appreciated teacher giving workshops and masterclasses at UK universities as well as at the Opera Studio of Casa da Música in Porto.
Recording credits include Life Story by and with Thomas Adès for EMI, Britten on Film with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Peter Maxwell-Davies' Resurrection for Collins Classics, The Truth about Love CD for ASV, The Best of Broadway for Warner Classics, a collection of West End, Broadway and Film Music repertoire for Chandos and Silva Screen as well as numerous CDs with both the BBC Concert and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestras. Her latest recording is The Best of Bond with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Carl Davis.
October 2009
Short version
Mary Carewe’s versatility ranges from musical theatre showstoppers and cabaret songs to contemporary music. She has appeared with orchestras in the UK, Ireland, Spain, Germany, Czech Republic, the United States, Australia and Scandinavia, and has performed under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle, Kurt Masur, John Rutter and Charles Hazlewood. Her now long-established artistic relationship with Carl Davis has led her to sing both ‘James Bond’and ‘Oscar Winners’ programmes worldwide; she made her Carnegie Hall debut with him and the New York Pops in March 2009.
With pianist Philip Mayers Mary has presented her ‘Serious Cabaret’ recitals at such prestigious venues and festivals as the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Alicante Contemporary Music Festival, Opera Butxaca in Barcelona, Louisiana Musieum in Denmark and the Aldeburgh Festival. Her recital work has also taken her to the Festival de l’Ile de France, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon and Maison de Radio-France in Paris. She has appeared at the Berlin Philharmonie and at the Cheltenham Festival, and, in 2008, sang “Anna 1” in the Spanish production of Kurt Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins.Mary was part of the Art of the News week at Kings Place, London with the London Sinfonietta, and, more recently, toured Tuscany with the Toscana Orchestra under the baton of Nick Davies.
Recording credits include Life Story for EMI, Britten on Film with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Peter Maxwell-Davies’ Resurrection for Collins Classics, The Truth about Love CD for ASV, The Best of Broadway for Warner Classics, and a collection of recordings with Chandos and Silva Screen. Her latest release is The Best of Bond with Carl Davis and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with whom she records extensively.
March 2010
Discography
Mary Carewe
Discography
2008
The Best of James Bond
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Carl Davis (Conductor)
RPO
SP 017
2006
Best of Broadway
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Nick Davies, conductor
RPO
Warner Classics 2564640782
Britten on film - Coal Face, Night Mail & Other film scores
Birmingham Contemporary Music Group
Martyn Brabbins, conductor
NMC D112
2003
Here Come The Classics - Musicals
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Nick Davies, conductor
RPO
Volume 7
2002
Here Come The Classics - Christmas
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
David Arnold, conductor
RPO
Volume 5
2000
Tell Me the Truth About Love
ASV
CD WHL 2124
1999
The Film Music of Georges Auric
CHANDOS
CHAN 9774
1998
Crazy for Gershwin - with the BBC Concert Orchestra
Bellevue Entertainment
1126-2
Celebrating Jerry Herman
BBC RADIO 2
WMEU 0033-2
Celebrating the Musicals
BBC Concert Orchestra
BBC RADIO 2
WMEU 0020-2
Celebrating Sondheim
BBC RADIO 2
WMEU 0018-2
Celebrating New York, New York!, Chicago! Cabaret!
A Tribute to Kandor and Ebb
BBC RADIO 2
WMEU 0017-2
1997
Love & Romance
BBC Concert Orchestra
ASTRION
1072-2
A Tribute to Fred Astaire
BBC Concert Orchestra
Bellevue Entertainment
1121-2
1995
Life Story by Thomas Adès
EMI DEBUT SERIES
5 69699 2
Showcase - The Musicals
BBC Concert Orchestra
Carlton Classics
330367 00672
Davies Resurrection
Collins Classics
70342
Lloyd Webber - The Greatest Songs
Cinema Café / Silva Screen
FILMXCD302
Original Scores from the MGM Classics
CHANDOS
CHAN 7053
Jenkins - Adiemus, Adiemus II - Cantata Mundi, Adiemus IV - The Celts
Virgin / Silva Screen
CDVE 925, 932, 952 (3CD's)
Magische Musical Melodieën
Readers Digest
Repertoire
Mary Carewe
Repertoire
Programmes with piano
| A Stranger Here Myself (Kurt Weill - Emigré) |
| The songs of Kurt Weill and his contemporaries Weill, Waxman, Hollander, Spoliansky, Blitzten
|
I Can Cook Too! |
| In this programme of cabaret songs from Classical composers, Broadway and the Silver Screen, marvel at the lengths some women will go to to get their man - or to lose him! Bernstein, Kander and Ebb, Bolcolm, Rodgers, Sondheim, Weill |
Life...Love...and the British |
| From folk songs to contemporary classics via music halls and theatre, Mary and Philip have a look at the British way of living and loving. Walton, Coward, Britten, Novello, Adès, Porter, Weill |
The Truth About Love |
| Songs of passion, lust and despair, this is a wry look at love, sex and relationships in the 20th Century as seen through the eyes of many serious and not-so-serious composers who have flirted with cabaret, theatre and jazz. Coward, Bernstein, Schoenberg, Weill, Barber, Poulenc, Adès, Muldowney, Vine, Cage, Berberian, Bolcolm |
Programmes with Orchestra
| Symphonic Cabaret |
|
Where the symphony orchestra meets the spontaneous accents of popular song and jazz. This is the 20th Century at its most eclectic with music that breaks the mould, bringing the drama of music theatre and the intimacy of cabaret to the concert stage. Classical composers interpret popular music, and popular composers turn loose their imaginations on the full orchestra.
Bernstein, Ellington, Stravinsky, J.P. Johnson, Shostakovich, Ives, Weill, Gershwin |
Jazz Fusion ***Programme for teenagers*** |
| Programme on American music especially designed for teenagers (with conductor Arthur Post with works by Bernstein, Gershwin, Milhaud, Ives, Joplin, James P. Johnson, Weill. We all know ‘West Side Story’, but do we know where this music really comes from? |
| The rest of her programmes with orchestra can be found on |
reviews
Mary Carewe
reviews
Concerts
|
Sing for your Supper – Cadogan Hall Denn mir der Britin M.C stand eine Sängerin, Jazzerin und Entertainerin dew Sonderklasse auf der Buhne, die nicht nur jede kleinste Nuance der zahlreichen Filmmusiken "intus" hatte. |
| Berio: O King - Kings Place London Berio's O King, a piece for voice and five instruments dedicated to Martin Luther King, was excellently delivered. Soprano Mary Carewe took on the difficult role of articulating stretched vowel sounds amidst the violin's and clarinet's violent blows. Musical Criticism.com, January 2009 |
|
Broadway - Bochum |
| Cole Porter Night - Cadogan Hall Mary Carewe does truly great versions of 'My Heart Belongs To Daddy', 'Donw in the Depths' and 'Always True to You in My Fashion', with plenty of oomph." Michael Darvell, classicalsource.com, August 2008 |
| "Nevertheless, the two female leads, Maria Friedman and Mary Carewe, were on immaculate form." Clive Davis, The Times, August 2008 |
| Bond Concert with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra - USA "As the singer of such popular melodies as Goldfinger, Nobody Does it Better, For Your Eyes Only and Live And Let Die, Carewe's job wasn't easy. She had to envoke, without impersonating, such diverse voices as Shirley Bassey, Carly Simon, Sheena Easton and Paul McCartney. Yet with a crisp delivery and a versatile vocal range at her command, Carewe performed admirably." The Star Telegram, January 2008 |
| Sondheim Concert with the Royal Philharmonic Orhcestra – Cadogan Hall |
|
"Mary Carewe sings the magnificent Miller's Song with effortless clarity." **** |
| Michael Billington, The Guardian, 8th August 2007 |
| Bond Concert with Honor Blackman and the Northern Sinfonia – The Sage Gateshead |
| "Singer Mary Carewe stepped into the shoes of Shirley Bassey, Gladys Knight and Tina Turner and belted out show-stoppers such as Diamonds are Forever, Licence to Kill and Goldeneye with great gusto. It would have been easy for Carewe to imitate these three divas, but she managed to bring a fresh approach to many of the old standards. Carewe really shone however during the less familiar songs and her rendition of the most recent Bond theme, Casino Royale’s You Know My Name, was probably her best performance of the night. |
| Lucy Crossley, The Journal, 27th April 2007 |
| Ulster Orchestra – Film Night, Carl Davis, conductor |
| "Soloist Mary Carewe’s voice was very versatile, intoxication with piercing uses of classical vibrato for one minute, a whispering breathy blend of jazz the next. Her rendition during Diamonds Are Forever and Goldfingerm in particularm received a deservedly rich response from the audience." |
| Rathcel, North West Telegraph, March 2007 |
| BBC Concert Orchestra – Charles Hazlewood, conductor |
| "… the ritzy urbanity of Michael Nyman's L'Orgie Parisienne, with Mary Carewe belting out Rimbaud's text for all she was worth." |
| Tim Ashley, The Guardian, October 2006 |
| Royal Scottish National Orchestra – James Bond, Carl Davis, conductor |
| "Her interpretation was just right and her voice and delivery was superb. She also showed she could mix the power with the peaceful with a lovely Nobody Does It Better, a marvellous song written by Marvin Hamlisch, and the theme from Moonraker." |
| Garry Fraser, Dundee Courier & Advertiser, January 2006 |
| Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, with the Hallé Orchestra |
| "It was great entertainment, too, and one reason for that was Mary Carewe, a vocalist who manages to impersonate Shirley Bassey, Dusty Springfield, Lulu, Carly Simon and Gladys Knight, among others….she's a singer with her own individuality and the versatility to take numbers made famous by others and make them her own." |
| Manchester Music – 31 December 2004 |
| "…The task of performing material written for artists as diverse as Shirley Bassey, Louis Armstrong, Lulu and Aha fell to the formidable cabaret singer, Mary Carewe. She had fun with the dirty lyrics of The Man with the Golden Gun, and caressed Goldfinger seditiously rather than belting it." |
| The Guardian - January 2002 |
| Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra |
| "It required the versatility of singer Mary Carewe to encompass a range of hits sung variously by Shirley Bassey, Nancy Sinatra, Paul McCartney, Lulu and Carly Simon. She did so with unflinching ease… The “wow” factor in these raised the temperature to boiling point." |
| The Scotsman – 23 June 2004 |
| With Orquesta Pablo Sarasate |
| "No hubo injerencias extrañas entre la amplificacíon de los cantantes y el tutti orquestal. En este sentido la voz de Mary Carewe, así como su estilo, musicalidad y fraseo, fueron cercanos, sin estridencias y entusiasmaron al público" |
| "There was no interference between the amplification of the singers and the orchestra. Therefore, Mary Carewe’s voice, as well as her style, musicality and phrasing, were very clear, with no buzzing, and enthused the audience." |
| Diario de Noticias – 20 April 2004 |
| With Ulster Orchestra, Waterfront Hall |
| "The question is not whether this music [musicals] is at home in the cultured environment of a classical concert, but whether the performers are at home in the style. Mary Carewe certainly is." |
| The Irish Times – 29 March 2004 |
| With VIVA Orchestra |
| "Mary Carewe is a true diva of the concert platform, a dynamic servant of text and music. Viva, the East Midlands orchestra, have been celebrating their 21st anniversary in various ways, none more agreeable than this. Solo after gorgeous solo showed each of them in prime form." |
| Nottingham Evening Post – 16 May 2003 |
| Kammerakademie Potsdam, Berlin, New Year’s Eve Concert |
| "…Mary Carewe… let herself be carried away in delightful irony. Marvellous!" |
| Märkische Allgemeine – 2 January 2002 |
| "The presenter… promised a firework with Cathy Berberian’s ‘Stripsody’. And indeed Mary Carewe offered a show in which comedy, slapstick, voice, and variety performing unite. This was superb…" |
| Potsdamer Neueste Nachrichten – 3 January 2002 |
| Djanogly Hall, Nottingham, serious cabaret concert |
| "Here was musical comedy reminiscent of the great Cathy Berberian….this splendidly cosmopolitan evening had not much sugar but plenty of spice!" |
| Nottingham Evening Post – 16 February 2001 |
| Royal Festival Hall, with the New York Ballet Stars |
| "…Life Story, very well given by the soprano Mary Carewe and the pianist Philip Mayers." |
| Financial Times – 9 August 1999 |
| "…with the soprano Mary Carewe making the most of every nuance in Thomas Adès’s setting of a bitter poem by Tennesse Williams." |
| The Independent – 7 August 1999 |
| Wigmore Hall, chamber concert |
| "…The soprano is directed to model herself on Billie Holliday, something which Carewe managed with engaging panache." |
| The Guardian – 22 February 1999 |
| Oxford Festival of Contemporary Music 1998, with the Orchestra of St John’s Ltd |
| "…Dominic Muldowney’s Six Irish Songs were given by the mezzo Mary Carewe – a nonpareil Brecht/Weill interpreter – with vocal panache and a delightful, snappy attack. As the composer said, “a trained voice, but an actor’s perspective.” She was vibrant … and moving…" |
| The Independent – 28 October 1998 |
| Philharmonie, Berlin, serious cabaret concert |
| "…This singer from Great Britain is an all-round talent ….who is increasingly crossing the borders into ‘new’ music….She can trumpet the high soprano notes just as well as the smoky, sharp, erotic notes which are available to her – everything the well brought up classical soprano is not allowed to do." |
| Der Tagesspiegel, Berlin - 26 July 1998 |
Recordings
The Best Of Bond RPO SP 017 - 2008
"Carewe is well known for belting out these numbers thanks to various appearances on concert stages around the world and it's true to say she puts her own stamp on them, while at the same time sticking close to the vocal style of those who did them originally. Highlights of course include ‘Goldfinger' and ‘Diamonds Are Forever', though she gives equally fine turns in Barry's ‘You Only Live Twice' and ‘Licence To Kill', not to mention the highlight that is David Arnold's ‘Surrender' from Tomorrow Never Dies. Her fine voice does what it can with Conti's weak melody in ‘For Your Eyes Only' and is the best thing about ‘Nobody Does It Better', on which she is supported by a random chamber arrangement."
Michael Beek
Tell Me The Truth About Love - 2000 - ASV CD WHL 2124
"Mary Carewe, whose voice travels effortlessly from contemporary classical to Broadway and Hollywood, has a sweet-toned soprano with a dash of lemon and spice."
The Times - 21 March 2000
"In a brilliantly chosen collection of songs, Mary Carewe hits the ideal balance between cabaret style (with a touch of the old-fashioned belter) and art-song style with a clean, firm vocal attack. In Britten's five settings of Auden poems Carewe's full-blooded approach brings them refreshingly to life."
The Guardian - 10 March 2000
"Mary Carewe's definition of the cabaret song is attractively wide. Her three Weill numbers, beautifully delivered and a wonderful anecdote to the mauling they usually get....An engaging collection."
The Guardian - 18 February 2000