Michael Craddock - Baritone

Michael Craddock began his musical education with the Choir of Trinity College Cambridge, with whom he sung for four years whilst studying Mathematics. Since then, he has performed as an ensemble singer, opera and oratorio soloist both in the UK and internationally. 

He is a member of the all-male vocal ensemble The Gesualdo Six, which performs around 70 concerts a year, with recent tours to the US and Australia and upcoming trips to Canada and Europe. They have recorded 5 CDs on the Hyperion label, winning multiple awards (Gramophone Editor’s Choice, Limelight Magazine Choral CD of the Year). Other freelance consort and choral engagements include work with Gabrieli, Vox Luminis, the Marian Consort, the BBC Singers, Polyphony, the Choir of the Enlightenment and the Dunedin Consort.

In addition to this Michael enjoys oratorio solo work and consort performance. He has a particular affinity with the music of JS Bach, and has given many performances with the group Amici Voices, who specialise in one-voice-per-part performances of Bach's vocal works. In their performance of the St Matthew Passion ‘Michael Craddock … deserve(d) special mention’ (Early Music Review). He was singled out by Opera News magazine for 'beautifully shaped' solo singing, with 'comforting tone' in Amici Voices CD release of BWV 106 and 182 (Hyperion). Further oratorio solo performances include bass arias in the St Matthew Passion with the Auckland Philharmonia, and Pilate/Arias in the John Passion with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.

2020 led Michael and his partner Helen Charlston to create The Isolation Songbook, a project in which they commissioned 15 composers to write music for mezzo-soprano and baritone, working with the pianist Alexander Soares. It received its premiere in July 2020 as part of the City Music Foundation’s series at the St Pancras Clock Tower and has since been performed at the Oxford Lieder festival and recorded on the Delphian label.

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