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Biography

Nathan Mercieca started singing as a boy chorister in the London Oratory School Schola, with whom he recorded the soundtracks to, among others, The Lord of The Rings and Finding Neverland. He went on to study at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, where he was Senior Choral Exhibitioner, and subsequently completed postgraduate studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Theresa Goble.

 

 Operatic roles include Peisander (cover) in Monteverdi The Return of Ulysses (Royal Opera House), “JL” in John Ramster’s staging of Handel’s Messiah (Merry Opera), Xerse in Cavalli Xerse at the Grimeborn Festival (Ensemble OrQuesta), and Sorceress/Spirit in Purcell Dido and Aeneas (Armonico). A keen exponent of contemporary opera, he created several roles: all the male parts in Clare Elton and Lila Palmer These Wondering Stones (Barbican Centre/Museum of London), St. Catherine in Anna Rose-Prynn and Tom Floyd The Blue Margin (Outland Opera/Ruth Knight), CJ in Warboy & Stewart Fierce Love (Tête-à-Tête), and Daryl/the Devil in Muelas+Ward A&E (Tête-à–Tête). He workshopped the role of Yoël in Na’ama Zisser’s Mamzer/Bastard (Royal Opera House), and recorded the role of Jack in Mark Bowler and Gareth Mattey’s chamber opera Little England.

 

His solo concert appearances include Handel’s Messiah at Wigmore Hall (Irish Baroque Orchestra/Peter Whelan), Purcell “Hail, Bright Cecilia” at St John’s Smith Square (Wond’rous Machine/Joel Sandelson), and operatic arias by Handel remixed by live DJ at the London Handel Festival (Festival Voices/Greg Batsleer). With Solomon’s Knot he has appeared at Wigmore Hall, the Aldeburgh Festival, and the Concertgebouw Bruges in a solo-voices performance of the J. S. & J. C. Bach Motets—a programme which was recorded for CD at the Bachkirche Arnstadt—and at the London Handel Festival, Thüringer Bachwochen, and De Singel Antwerp in Handel, Bach, and Scarlatti.

 

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Much in demand as an ensemble singer, Nathan has performed across Europe with le Concert d’Astrée, Sestina, The Carice Singers, the Mogens Dahl Kammerkor, Opus Anglicanum, and the London Choral Sinfonia. As a member of His Majesty’s Chapel Royal at St James’s Palace he is honoured to have sung at many events of international importance, including most recently the State Funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and the Coronation of Their Majesties the King and Queen.

 

This season includes further appearances with Solomon’s Knot at the Montreal Bach Festival and across the UK; a European Tour of Amos Gitaï’s groundbreaking verbatim play House, appearing at the Berliner Festspiele, the Barbican Theatre, and the Teatro di Roma; and a recording of Handel’s Messiah with the Irish Baroque Orchestra and Peter Whelan.

 

Equally accomplished as a musicologist, Nathan holds a PhD in music from Royal Holloway, University of London. He researches topics in the analysis and philosophy of music and supervises a number of historical and analytical topics at Cambridge University, as well as appearing as a guest lecturer at the Royal Academy of Music.