Edmund Connolly, baritone
Recently relocated from his native London, UK, acclaimed British baritone Edmund Connolly studied Music at Robinson College, Cambridge, where he was Organ Scholar. He undertook postgraduate study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in the City of London where he studied singing under Professor David Pollard. A year after graduating with his Master of Music degree, Mr. Connolly was appointed a Professor of Music Studies at the GSMD, a position he held from 2004-2011. He currently holds the post of Assistant Organist-Choir Director at the Cathedral of St. John, Albuquerque.
Over recent years Edmund Connolly has forged a career as an opera and concert singer, organist, piano accompanist and conductor, as well as developing a reputation as a private teacher and vocal coach to young professional singers. His students have included young singers preparing roles for companies such as Glyndebourne Festival Opera, English National Opera and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, as well as advanced students from the Guildhall School, the Royal Academy of Music and the Trinity Laban Conservatoire.
Edmund Connolly has sung major operatic roles in the UK and Europe. He has sung and understudied roles for companies including Glyndebourne Festival Opera, English Touring Opera and Garsington Opera, and his reputation as an intelligent, adaptable singer means he is in demand in music of all periods. He has also sung most major oratorio repertoire as a soloist in the UK, and performed with professional choirs including the BBC Singers, English Voices and the Gabrieli Consort under conductors including David Hill, Bob Chilcott and Paul McReesh.
In the US, Mr. Connolly has appeared as baritone soloist for Polyphony: Voices of New Mexico’s performances of Henry Mollicone’s Mass for the Homeless and Handel’s Messiah. The Albuquerque Journal’s review of the latter included the following: “Baritone Edmund Connolly, a Londoner recently moved to New Mexico, sings the bass part, impressively accommodating the treacherous passage work in his lower register. “Why do the nations so furiously rage” came forth with brilliant color and tonal character.” Edmund also recently sang the baritone solos in Fauré’s Requiem, performed by the Cathedral Choirs of the Cathedral of St. John under Maxine Thévenot. Mr. Connolly and Ms. Thévenot also perform as a voice and piano/organ duo, Air & Hammers, specializing in programs which combine established and new song repertoire.
Edmund Connolly’s experience also embraces opera education work. He has led opera and singing workshops in elementary and high schools for both English Touring Opera and English Pocket Opera. He has also taken roles in (and musically directed) two new operas, specially commissioned by ETO, which toured around England to small theaters, rural, suburban and inner-city schools.
Forthcoming appearances include the role of Christus in Bach’s St. John Passion with the New Mexico Philharmonic and Polyphony: Voices of New Mexico and recitals with Air & Hammers. For more information, please visit www.edmundconnolly.com
