Duo Oriana: How Like a Golden Dream

About This Event

The PCC of Wickhambrook All Saints' is delighted to host “Duo Oriana” for their only date in East Anglia during their “How like a golden dream” UK tour..

Soprano Sinéad White and lutenist Jonathan Stuchbery form Duo Oriana, a Toronto based duo breathing life into song traditions that span centuries and evolve in the present day. Noted for their “impeccable rhythmic ensemble” (La Scena Musicale), White’s “luminous” soprano, and Stuchbery’s “energizing precision” (The Whole Note), they are quickly becoming a well known ensemble across Canada. They have presented themselves at series and festivals, including Early Music America, Musique Royale, Festival Montréal Baroque, Hammer Baroque, and Living Room Live. Their emphasis on creative, and thematic programming is displayed on their 2023 album ‘How Like a Golden Dream’, which explores the symbolism of the night-time reflected across centuries of poetry and music making.

‘How Like a Golden Dream’ is Duo Oriana’s first release with the Canadian label Leaf Music, and was highlighted on the Whole Note magazine’s “Listening Room”. Duo Oriana engage themselves not only as interpreters, but actively as composers and arrangers through the writing of new music for lute and soprano, and the arrangement of traditional music that forms an important part of their repertoire.

A film version of their 2021 concert ‘Early Music from Ireland and Great Britain’ is available on youtube, as well as their 2022 Early Music America showcase concert. In 2022, Duo Oriana were also appointed artists in residence at St. James Cathedral in downtown Toronto. September 2023 brings them to the UK and Ireland on tour in support of ‘How Like a Golden Dream’.

Sinéad and Jonathan both have extensive experience in the discipline of historical performance. Sinéad is currently a DMA student at the University of Toronto, and Jonathan a graduate of the Masters in Interpretation of Early Music at ESMUC in Barcelona.

Their formation in this field grounds them in performance practice, yet also inspires the creativity of their arrangements and compositions. Individually, they are recognized performers in the Canadian early music scene, and they can also be heard together in larger ensemble contexts, such as with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir, indie early music company Aureas Voces, and Theatre of Early Music.