Léonie Maxwell is looking forward to commencing her Masters of Music in Performance later this year at the Royal Northern College of Music under the continued tutelage of Sarah Rhodes. She began her professional singing career as a chorister at Wells Cathedral. As well as singing the daily services she performed solos with Emma Kirby, Jools Holland, and with the Cathedral Choir in Handel Messiah and Pergolesi Stabat Mater. She appeared on a number of broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 and 4, and on recordings for Hyperion and Regent, including CDs of music by Leighton and Bednall; the latter being a Gramophone Editor’s Choice. Whilst studying languages at Manchester University she was a member of the University Chamber Choir, and this included taking the solo role in Tippett A Child of Our Time. Léonie is a regular member of the BBC Radio 4 Daily Service Singers. Highlights of her solo work include Flora in Britten The Turn of the Screw and Sorella Cercatrice in Puccini Suor Angelica with Manchester Opera Ensemble, Leighton Crucifius Pro Nobis, Brahms Requiem and Haydn Nelson Mass with Chester Bach Singers, and Beethoven Mass in C with Salford Choral Society. She has also been coached by Janice Kelly and Linda Ormiston to perform roles in opera scenes from The Magic Flute, The Cunning Little Vixen and Little Women.
If there is a heaven, that's what it sounds like. The soprano voices in particular were mind blowing; pure perfection to me, breaking through the audience pre-concert mumbling like a ray of light through the stained glass windows. The final madrigals were sung from the front of the church bringing a finale so natural and perfect that felt like a boat gently pulling into shore.