Charles Daniels is an English tenor, particularly noted for his performances of baroque music. He is a frequent soloist with The King's Consort, and has made over 25 recordings with the ensemble on the Hyperion label.
Biography
Born in Salisbury, Charles Daniels attended the choir school at King's College, Cambridge where he was a chorister, then Winchester College for his secondary education. He returned to King's College, Cambridge for his university education, where he was a Choral scholar, reading Natural Sciences and Music. After taking his degree, he studied under Edward Brooks at the Royal College of Music in London where he was awarded a Foundation Scholarship. His concert and recording repertoire extends from the Middle Ages to 20th-century composers such as Luigi Nono and Benjamin Britten. In December 2001, he was the tenor soloist in a performance of Wojciech Kilar's Missa pro pace, performed in the Vatican in the presence of Pope John Paul II. However, he is best known for his interpretations of baroque music, and in particular for the role of Evangelist in the St Matthew Passion and the St John Passion by J S Bach. Daniels has made frequent concert appearances at the Wigmore Hall and the BBC Proms, in addition to performing frequently in both European and North American music festivals. His opera performances have included Purcell's The Fairy-Queen at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, the New York City premiere of Lully's Atys and the title role in Monteverdi's L'Orfeo for its Montreal premiere at the Montreal Baroque Festival. The Montreal Baroque Festival subsequently released a recital disc with Daniels singing excerpts from L'Orfeo and songs by John Dowland and other composers of the period. He also won praise for his singing in the role of 'An Attendant on Pleasure' for the Hyperion recording of Handel's operatic oratorioThe Choice of Hercules. He was for sixteen years a member of the early music vocal ensemble the Orlando Consort. In addition to conducting master classes at the Montreal Baroque Festival, Daniels teaches Early Music Performance Practice at the Ringve Museum's International Summer Course in Norway.
Recordings
Daniels has made over 80 recordings as a soloist, including:
Purcell:The Complete Odes and Welcome Songs Volumes 1–8 Hyperion 44031/8
The Earliest Songbook in England – Medieval secular and religious songs Hyperion 67177
J. S. Bach: Matthäus-Passion, BWV 244. Charles Daniels, Peter Harvey, Joanne Lunn, Margot Oitzinger, Charles Daniels, Wolf Matthias Friedrich. Choir and Orchestra of J. S. Bach-Stiftung. Rudolf Lutz. J. S. Bach-Stiftung, St. Gallen / Radio SRF 2 Kultur, 2014.
