Lunchtime Music

Juliet White trumpet
Joanne Sealey piano

Françaix Sonatine
Enesco Legend

Ellen Smith (pictured) mezzo-soprano
Elizabeth Haughan piano

Clarke The Seal Man
Anderson Draem Flooers
Shetland traditional Da Bressay Lullaby (Baloo Balilee)
Dvořák from Cigánské Melodie
Dvořák Cigánské Melodie
1. Když mne stará matka (songs my mother taught)
7. Dejte klec jestřábu (Give a hawk a cage)
Mahler Wer hat das Liedlein erdacht? (Des Knaben Wunderhorn)
Austrian Traditional Erzherzog Johann Jodler

Rebecca Clarke’s The Seal Man conjures impressions of watery folklore and, from here, mezzo-soprano Ellen Smith draws on traditional folk songs from her Shetland home, and teams them with two of Dvořák’s Gypsy Melodies, a rustic song from Mahler and the Archduke Johann yodel from Austria. 

Juliet White 

Juliet White is a trumpet player from Northamptonshire. She began to play music in primary school on the violin, but quickly swapped to brass and began learning the cornet aged eight, before moving on to the trumpet. Throughout school she played in her school Symphony Orchestra, Wind Orchestra and Big Band. She also joined the Northamptonshire Music and Performing Arts Trust (NMPAT) and gained the position of principal trumpet in the Youth Orchestra (CYO) and Youth Concert Band (CYCB) as well as participating in the Youth Big Band (CYBigB), in which the ensembles achieved platinum awards at festivals such as Music for Youth and the National Concert Band Festival (NCBF).

In 2021 Juliet gained a place on the undergraduate course at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, and in her third year was a finalist of the Alfred Corfield Trumpet Prize. At RBC, Jules has studied under Alan Thomas, Jason Lewis and Andy Stone Fewings, as well as Richard Thomas for Natural Trumpet tuition.

Now in her fourth year of Conservatoire, Jules has had many opportunities for professional development, such as playing principal trumpet for CBSO Youth Orchestra as well as playing Natural Trumpet in an English Heritage project at Kenilworth Castle.

Ellen Smith

Hailing from the most northerly tip of the UK, Ellen Smith - ‘The Shetland Mezzo’ – is the first Islander in her generation to forge an Operatic career. Proud of her island roots, she is passionate in sharing her unique Shetland Dialect and specialises in performing the lesser-known folk songs of her remote home.

Recent Opera credits include The Witch in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel (RBC Opera), and she looks forward portraying Mrs Herring in RBC’s Spring Opera, Albert Herring.

Oratorio is another passion of Ellen’s, and she was delighted to earn first place in the Birmingham Festival Choral Society’s Oratorio Prize. She is quickly becoming in demand with choral societies across the UK.

Ellen feels privileged to have undertaken her Masters at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, with generous contributions from RBC, Help Musicians, Ex Cathedra and The Snowdon Trust. She is continuing studies with Amanda Roocroft on the conservatoire’s Advanced Postgraduate Diploma programme.

The Shetland Mezzo

Running time approx. 55 minutes