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Photo: Victoria Cadisch

Thalie Knights

Primary Skill:

Mezzo-Soprano

Nationality:

British, French

Country:

United Kingdom

Languages (fluent):

English, German, French

Opera

Soloist
The Golden Thread (Alice Beckwith)
Tête à Tête
2023
Andronico
Tamerlano (Handel)
Cambridge Handel Opera Company
2022
Marc'Antonio
Marc'Antonio e Cleopatra (Hasse)
Buxton International Festival
2022
Hansel
Hansel und Gretel (Humperdinck)
Trinity Orchestra
2019
Rose
Across the Sky (Michael Betteridge)
Cheltenham Arts Festival
2019
Zefka
The Diary of One Who Disappeared (Janáček)
Dartington Arts
2019
Hansel
Hansel and Gretel (Humperdinck)
Lambeth Orchestra
2019
Agrippina
Agrippina (Handel)
Dartington Arts
2019
1st Alto Chorus
Der Fliegende Hollander (Wagner)
Longborough Festival Opera
2018
Piacere
Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno (Handel)
Festival du Perigord Noir, France
2018
Prue
The Dancing Master (Malcolm Arnold)
The Malcolm Arnold Festival
2018
Mallika
Lakmé (Delibes)
Guildford Opera
2017
Third Lady
The Magic Flute (Mozart)
St John's Opera
2017
Second Lady
The Magic Flute (in English) (Mozart)
Hampstead Garden Opera
2016
Phèdre
Hippolyte et Aricie (Rameau)
Linden Baroque
2016
Armide
Armide (Lully)
Woodhouse Opera
2016
Frédéric
Mignon (Ambroise Thomas)
New Sussex Opera
2015
Bradamante
Alcina (Handel)
Opera Works, English National Opera
2015
Cornelia
Giulio Cesare (Handel)
Opera Works, English National Opera
2015
Medoro
Orlando (Handel)
Opera Works, English National Opera
2015
Mrs Kneebone
A Dinner Engagement (Lennox Berkeley)
Bute Park Opera
2014
Dog
The Cunning Little Vixen (Janáček)
AIMS
2014
Ursule
Béatrice et Bénédict (Berlioz)
RWCMD
2014
Madame de la Haltière
Cendrillon (Massenet)
RWCMD
2014
Maman
L’enfant et les Sortilèges (Ravel)
Bute Park Opera
2013
Annio
La clemenza di Tito (Mozart)
RWCMD
2013
Meg Page
The Merry Wives of Windsor (Nicolai)
RWCMD
2013
Sorceress
Dido and Aeneas (Purcell)
New Sussex Opera
2012
Andreloun
Mireille (Gounod)
New Sussex Opera
2011

Chorus

1st Alto Chorus
Fidelio (Beethoven)
Longborough Festival Opera
2017
1st Alto Chorus
Orfeo ed Eurydice (Gluck)
Longborough Festival Opera
2017
Chorus
Hugh the Drover (Vaughan-Williams)
New Susses Opera
2010
Chorus
Die Rhiennixen (Offenbach)
New Sussex Opera
2009
Chorus
The Poisoned Kiss (Vaughan Williams)
New Sussex Opera
2008

Oratorio/Concerts

Alto soloist
Requiem (Mozart)
Sussex Festival Chorus
2023
Soloist
Paulus (Mendelssohn)
Rochester Choral Society
2023
Turio
Caio Fabbricio (Hasse)
London Early Opera
2022
Alto Soloist
Stabat Mater (Dvořák)
Eye Bach Choir
2022
Alto Soloist
Petite Messe Solennelle (Rossini)
East Sussex Bach Choir
2021
Soloist
Kindertotenlieder (Mahler)
The Whitehall Orchestra
2019
Soloist
Sheherazade (Ravel)
The Whitehall Orchestra
2019
Soloist
Shéhérazade (Ravel)
Sheffield Youth Orchestra
2019
Alto Solo
Nelson Mass (Haydn)
Fleet Choral Society
2019
Alto Soloist
Requiem (Mozart)
University of Surrey Chorus and Orchestra
2019
Alto Soloist
Dixit Dominus (Handel)
Abingdon Choral Society & Orchestra
2019
Alto Soloist
Elijah (Mendelssohn)
Eye Bach Choir
2019
Alto Soloist
Messiah (Handel)
East Sussex Bach Choir
2018
Alto Soloist
Nelson Mass (Haydn)
Folkestone Choral Society
2018
Alto Soloist.
Requiem (Mozart)
Fleet Choral Society
2018
Alto Soloist
Messiah (Handel)
The Suffolk Ensemble
2018
Alto solo
Requiem (Mozart)
Eastbourne Choral Society
2017
Alto Soloist
Gloria (Antonio Vivaldi)
Fleet Choral Society
2017
Alto Soloist
Te Deum (Bruckner)
St John of Jerusalem Festival Chorus
2017
Alto Soloist
Nelson Mass (Haydn)
Eastbourne Choral Society
2017
Alto Soloist
Mass in D (Dvorak)
Harpenden Choral Society
2017
Alto Soloist
Gloria (Antonio Vivaldi)
Fleet Choral Society
2017
Alto soloist
Gloria (Antonio Vivaldi)
Eye Bach Choir
2017
Alto Soloist
Te Deum (Bruckner)
St John of Jerusalem Festival Chorus
2017
Alto soloist
Bach Magnificat (Bach)
Fleet Choral Society
2016
Micah
Samson (Handel)
East Sussex Bach Choir
2015
Alto soloist
Messiah (Handel)
Sussex Festival Choir
2014
Alto soloist
Christmas Oratorio (Saint-Saëns)
Kent Sinfonia
2013
Alto Soloist
The Phoenix Cantata (Helen Glavin)
Lewes
2012

Covered Covered & Performed Scenes Premiere of New Work Concert COVID-cancelled

'Asie' (Shéhérazade, Ravel) 2019

I bought this suitcase in New York (Minskwoman) - Flight, Dove - Thalie Knights

'Ogni Vento' - Agrippina, Handel

Handel's 'Messiah', Snape Maltings

Marc'Antonio e Cleopatra, Hasse

Recital

Tamerlano, Handel

1st Prize Oratorio Class, Croydon Music Festival (2010)

"...her warm mezzo was stylish and well matched to Ellie Neate's bright, controlled Cleopatra - both persuasive stage presences in this intense two-hander" Flora Wilson, The Guardian (Marc'Antonio e Cleopatra, 2022) (2022)

"In the role of Andronico, Tamerlano’s war ally and love rival, she brought a welcome inward quality to her most deeply-felt arias, gradually increasing in power as the evening progressed." William Hale, Lark Reviews (Tamerlano, 2022) (2022)

"Thalie Knights cultivates a richly mellow musical character for Antonio, expressing calm and composure as he contemplates the consequences of his defeat at Actium, however flustered any of the music written for the part becomes." Curtis Rogers, The Classical Source (Marc'Antonio e Cleopatra, 2022) (2022)

"Thalie Knights sang Antonio with warm mellow tones capturing the character's essential melancholy and suggesting vacillation. There was little attempt to make Knights look overtly masculine, but she successfully conveyed this persona." Robert Hugill, Planet Hugill (Marc'Antonio e Cleopatra, 2022 (2022)

"Thalie Knights's plush mezzo pricked up the ears in Turio's music" Hugh Canning, Opera (Caio Fabbricio, 2022) (2022)

"Among many other notable items, Thalie Knights' balm-like aria 'O Rest in the Lord' stood out" Basil Abbott, Diss Express (Elijah, 2019) (2019)

"...Knights' impressive control and poise, which brought all the passion and drama of any Italian opera" Elinor Bishop, Early Music Today (Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno, 2018) (2018)

"Mezzo Thalie Knights brought a dramatic edge to the Gloria, and beautifully led off an exquisite Agnus Dei." Eastbourne Herald (2017)

‘’Thalie Knights made a strong, passionate Armide. Tall and distinguished, she had a commanding stage presence making Armide's sense of power quite believable. Knights gripped us from beginning to end.’’ - Robert Hughill, Planet Hugill (Armide) (2016)

''...Thalie Knights in the travesty role of the alternative male love interest Frédéric, made good impression.'' Hugh Canning, Opera (Mignon) (2015)

Bach Cantatas
Britten-Pears YAP
2016
Opera Works
English National Opera
2014–2015
Postgraduate Music Diploma
Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama
2012–2014

Praised for her “impressive control and poise” (Early Music Today) and her “commanding stage presence” (Planet Hugill), French bi-lingual Thalie trained with English National Opera on their distinguished Opera Works programme (2014/15) and was a 2016 Britten-Pears Young Artist performing Bach Cantatas under the guidance of tenor Mark Padmore. A finalist of the 2017 London Song Festival Lieder competition, in January 2018 Thalie was selected by Malcolm Martineau to take part in his residential song masterclass series with her duo partner Nico de Villiers, in Crear, Scotland. She is an alumna of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

Recent engagements include her festival debut at Buxton International Festival as Marc'Antonio Marc'Antonio e Cleopatra, Andronico Tamerlano (Cambridge Handel Opera Company), Turio Caio Fabbricio (London Early Opera) and her Tête à Tête Opera Festival debut as soloist in The Golden Thread - a contemporary cantata composed by Alice Beckwith for mezzo soprano and large chamber ensemble. With themes of renewal, hope, and feminine strength, the piece depicts a young woman’s encounter with the Green Man and his more sinister counterpart, the Erlking.

Piacere Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disginganno (Le Festival de musique du Périgord Noir), Prue The Dancing Master (The Malcolm Arnold Festival), Hänsel Hänsel und Gretel (Trinity Orchestra and Lambeth Orchestra respectively) and a role debut as Rose Across The Sky - a new commission for Cheltenham Music Festival which was subsequently nominated for a Royal Philharmonic Society Award under 'Community Opera'. Thalie also sang the title role in Handel's Agrippina and Zefka in The Diary of One Who Disappeared alongside tenor Tom Randle (Dartington Arts Festival).

In 2024, Thalie will cover Dame Sarah Connolly in the title role of Zarka a new commission by Australian Composer Lee Bradshaw, conducted by Pablo Gonzalez, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

In concert, Ravel's Shéhérezade (City of Sheffield Youth Orchestra), Mahler's Kindertotenlieder (The Whitehall Orchestra) and Rückert-Lieder (Lewes Symphony Orchestra). Thalie will join Julian Perkins in performing a series of Handel Cantatas as part of the 2021 Cambridge Summer Music Festival, and a recital series - L'étranger - with Nico de Villiers; repertoire including Ravel Shéhérezade, Debussy Chansons de Bilitis and Delage Quatre poèmes hindous.

(Unfortunately due to Covid, Thalie's return as a 2020 Britten-Pears Young Artist - exploring the works of Mahler and the Late Romantics, under the tutelage of Malcolm Martineau and Anne Schwanewilm, was cancelled.)

At ENO, Thalie studied Bradamante Alcina, Cornelia Giulio Cesare and subsequently sang Medoro Orlando in the final performance - Landscape - at the Bloomsbury Theatre, London. Operatic roles include Mallika Lakmé (Guildford Opera), the title role in Lully's Armide (Woodhouse Opera), Phèdre Hippolyte et Aricie (Linden Baroque), Second Lady The Magic Flute (Hampstead Garden Opera), Frédéric Mignon (New Sussex Opera), Mrs Kneebone A Dinner Engagement (Bute Park Opera), Maman L’enfant et les Sortilèges (Bute Park Opera), Dog Cunning Little Vixen, Sorceress Dido and Aeneas, Andreloun Mireille, and chorus in The Poisoned Kiss, Hugh the Drover and Die Rheinnixen (New Sussex Opera). For Longborough Festival Opera, Thalie has sung Chorus for their productions of Wagner's Der Fliegende Holländer, Beethoven's Fidelio and Gluck's Orfeo ed Eurydice.

RWCMD roles in scenes have included Annio La Clemenza di Tito, Ursule Béatrice et Bénédict, Madame de la Haltière Cendrillon and Meg The Merry Wives of Windsor.

A frequent performer of Oratorio, roles consist of Micah Samson, Alto soloist in Handel’s Messiah, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Saint-Saens’ Christmas Oratorio, Bach's Magnificat, Haydn's Nelson Mass, Bruckner Te Deum, Vivaldi's Gloria and Mozart's Requiem. She has performed as a concert artist at The Royal Albert Hall, St John Smith Square, The Royal Courts of Justice, Cadogan Hall and the beautiful 12th Century Cathedral of Saint Amand-de-Coly in France.

Contact Thalie Knights

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