Image: A full house enjoys 'Bach & Bachianas' at Southbank Centre's Purcell Room
An imaginative and
experimental curator.
MUSIC & VISION
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APPASSIONATA ARTS
Helen works as a freelance classical music consultant under the company name Appassionata Arts. She has over 15 years' experience curating, producing and promoting classical music recitals, talks, symposia, masterclasses, festivals and other concert series across London's major venues, including Southbank Centre's Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall, St John's Smith Square, Barbican's Milton Court Concert Hall, St Martin-in-the-Fields, St James's Piccadilly, Wigmore Hall, St Peter's Eaton Square, The Other Palace Theatre and Bolívar Hall, amongst many others.
EVENT PROGRAMMING
Helen has engaged some of the most illustrious names and ensembles in the classical music world, such as John Williams, Chineke!, Paco Peña, Cecilia Rodrigo, Leo Brouwer, Celso Machado, Luis Gomes, Aidan Oliver, Carlos Fernández Aransay, La Grande Chapelle, Eduardo Martín, José Menor, Jesús León, Marcelo Bratke, Fernando Espí, Carlos Bonell, Morgan Szymanski, Onix, the Aquarelle Guitar Quartet, José Antonio Escobar, Christoph Denoth, and Nina Corti. At the same time she has also been instrumental in providing a platform for young, emerging classical musicians, and in bringing leading artists from the Luso-Hispanic world to the UK that British concert-goers would otherwise not get the chance to hear perform live.
CLIENTS & PARTNERS
Other clients and partners include the Wallace Collection, the Naval and Military ('In & Out') Club, Canning House, the Canning Club, the Caribbean Council, Linklaters, Anglo Arts, Guildhall School of Music & Drama, Seville International Guitar Competition, City of Trujillo International Song Competition & Festival (Peru), London Lyric Arts, ¡Cómo No! (La Linea Festival), KAPA Productions, Victoria and Joaquín Rodrigo Foundation, Fundación Piu Mosso, Acción Cultural Española, Journey Latin America, King's College London and many of the Latin American embassies based in London. Helen directed the London Classical Guitar Festival under the Venezuelan Embassy for six years.
PROGRAMME CURATION
Helen's ability to capture the imagination of the public in the promotion of relatively unfamiliar repertoire has led to many sell-out events. Her approach to curation is often theme-based (see PROJECTS for examples), and extends to the celebration of various anniversary events in homage to Albéniz, Granados, Rodrigo, Victoria, Villa-Lobos, Lauro, Estévez and Ginastera. She recently curated a chamber concert entitled 'Music in the Time of Goya' for The National Gallery in London, as part of the blockbuster exhibition, Goya: The Portraits. She is currently co-curating a new guitar series, 'guitarrísimo' with the Instituto Cervantes which saw its inaugural event take place in February 2016 in collaboration with Sadler's Wells and the London Flamenco Festival. In 2016 she also launched the first edition of Echoes Festival with the Iberian and Latin American Music Society (ILAMS) - a multi-venue festival across London showcasing the best in Latin classical.
A specialist in classical Iberican repertoire, Helen's discerning approach to programming is informed by an intimate and extensive knowledge of Latin culture, gleaned from five years' study in Spanish at the University of Cambridge where she pursued two degrees immersed in Hispanic culture, taking papers in History, Literature, Film, Theatre, Sculpture, Photography and Painting. A year abroad spent studying piano at the Conservatorio Nacional Superior in Buenos Aires, Argentina, initiated her into the colourful classical music canon of Latin America.
Helen continues to uncover new facets of this highly neglected hemisphere of classical music and has overseen the premiere of numerous Spanish and Latin American works by composers such as Enrique Granados, Vicente Goicoechea, Nicolás Ledesma, Amadeo Vives, Nemesio Otaño, Isaac Albéniz, Frederic Mompou, Juan Pablo Contreras, Roque Baños, Carlos Fariñas, Eduardo Martín, Agustín Castilla-Ávila, David del Puerto, Alberto Costa,
Álvaro González Cortés, Manuel López Jorge, Diego Sánchez-Haase, Alejandro Peralta, Manuel Esperón, Federico Ruiz, Lino Gallardo, Celso Machado, David Ruiz Molina, Zeltia Montes and Horacio Castillo, including bespoke commissions by pre-eminent Latin American composers, Ricardo Lorenz and Enrique González Medina.
To view a list of highlights from Helen's portfolio of events for the Iberian and Latin American Music Society click HERE
A CV of her complete portfolio of events is available on request.