Aesop Ensemble / soprano, baritone, 'cello, piano
Please contact daisy@classicalmusiciansscotland.com for more information or to book The Aesop Ensemble.
Four good friends got together to put on programmes to raise funds for several worthwhile projects and the Aesop Ensemble was born, seeking to reimagine storytelling through song. Its four core members — Jessica Leary/soprano, Andrew Mctaggart/baritone, Andrew Forbes/piano, and Andrew Huggan/cello — have worked together over the last decade. Collectively, they have appeared with companies including Scottish Opera, Dunedin Consort, BBC SSO, Grange Park Opera, Bayreuth Festival (Germany), Opéra National de Lorraine (France), Le concert d’Astrée (France), RSNO and at festivals and venues including Buxton International Festival, Edinburgh International Festival, BBC London Proms, Wigmore Hall, and Barbican Centre London.
These four friends with a passion for song and storytelling, are embarking on a journey to create innovative and exciting ways of sharing repertoire new and old to audiences who love stories.
Sample programme:
I have Dreamed (Hammerstein)
Sure on this shining night (Barber)
Beau soir (Debussy)
Bach Cello Suite movement
I could have danced all night (Loewe)
Nocturnes (Chopin)
Song to the moon (Dvořák)
Oh, What a beautiful Mornin’ (Hammerstein)
Morgen ( R Strauss)
Après un rêve (Fauré)
Jessica Leary, soprano
Described as ‘a polished and radiant soprano’ (Opera Magazine), Jessica Leary has worked throughout the UK and abroad with companies including Scottish Opera, Bayreuth Festival, Grange Festival Opera, Buxton International Festival, Iford Arts, Dunedin Consort, RedNote Ensemble, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and OAE Choir. She made her debut at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2021 as Lynne in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s A Grand Night For Singing. Her other recent performances include Second Woman in the world premiere of Wallen’s Dido’s Ghost at The Barbican Centre, London (with further performances at Buxton International Festival and Edinburgh International Festival), Bach St Matthew Passion with Dunedin Consort, the role of Tebaldo in Don Carlo for Grange Park Opera, and Euridice in Orpheus and Euridice with Scottish Opera. Jessica has appeared several times on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio Scotland, and features on recordings with Delphian records and Warner Classics.
Andrew McTaggart, baritone
Andrew graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where he attended the Alexander Gibson Opera School. His Edinburgh International Festival debut was singing Vaughan Williams’s Five Mystical Songs in the Usher Hall in 2019. Other notable concert engagements include Messiah at the Royal Festival Hall, Mozart’s Requiem at the Royal Albert Hall and Belshazzzar’s Feast with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.
His operatic roles have included Falstaff and Gianni Schicchi (Opera Bohemia), Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Samuel in The Pirates of Penzance, Garibaldo in Rodelinda, Yamadori in Madama Butterfly, (all Scottish Opera), Lakai in Ariadne auf Naxos (Opera de Lorraine) and Gasparo in Rita (West Green Opera). Andrew sang the roles of Noye in Noye’s Fludde and the premiere of An Cadal Throm with the Lammermuir Festival whilst working with the community groups to create the performance. He created the role of Duncan in the European première of Tom Cunningham’s chamber opera The Okavango Macbeth (recorded on Delphian Records). Returning to Opera de Lorraine in 2019, Andrew gave a recital in the Musikfestspiele Saar, as well as singing Josef in Bernard Herman’s Wuthering Heights.
Andrew Huggan, ‘cellist
Scottish ‘cellist Andrew Drummond Huggan gained a place at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama Junior department, under the tutelage of Timothy Paxton in 2005. He continued his studies at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland gaining his BMus (hons) with Rudi De Groote and baroque ‘cello under Alison McGillivray.
Since leaving the RCS Andrew has performed with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony orchestra, Manchester Camerata, Scottish Philharmonic, Concert and Festival orchestras, British Philharmonic orchestra, Scottish Ballet and in 2010/11 was awarded an apprenticeship with Scottish Opera, with whom he now plays on a regular basis. Andrew’s passion for theatre has seen him tour internationally, performing with ensembles and as a soloist across Europe, USA, Canada, China and Oman. 2018 saw Andrew’s debut at the Lincoln Centre, New York.
In September 2019 he collaborated with his twin brother, Calum, an internationally acclaimed Marimba player performing for a live BBC broadcast.
Aside from his busy freelance career Andrew holds the post of part-time lecturer at the RCS.
Andrew Forbes, pianist
Andrew Forbes is an innovative Scottish organist whose dynamic style of playing creates ‘a symbiosis between artist and instrument’ (The Montrealer). Appointed as Director of Music at Glasgow Cathedral aged 21, he is a winner of the Northern Ireland International Organ Competition and the RCS Prize for Early Music. A versatile artist, Andrew was hailed by The Scotsman for his ability to transform the organ into ‘the most sublime of musical conduits’. A growing international reputation sees Andrew performing throughout Europe, with solo appearances at the Philharmonie de Paris, Šv Matu International Organ Festival (Lithuania), St Paul’s Cathedral (London) and Westminster Abbey.
Andrew teaches organ and historical keyboards for Glasgow University and RCS Junior Conservatoire. Originally from Perth, he studied at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and Glasgow University, and now learns with Dame Gillian Weir, supported by awards from the Hope Scott Trust and the McGlashan Charitable Trust.
Performances:
2:30pm, Sunday 21 July 2024, Cowdray Hall, Aberdeen Art Gallery
Friday 29 September 2023 – Order of St John Soirée, Ross Priory
