Jillian Bain Christie
Originally from Aberdeen, Jillian Bain Christie moved to Glasgow at the age of 17 to study Fine Art Printmaking at the Glasgow School of Art. As part of her degree, she participated in an exchange programme with the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna (Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien), and spent three months living and working in the Austrian capital. This experience would prove to be an extremely influential one. Not only did it influence the direction of Jillian’s subsequent artwork, but also, evenings spent at the Vienna State Opera and Volksoper introduced her properly to opera, a genre with which she had not engaged fully before.
Upon graduating from Glasgow, Jillian was awarded an Andrew Grant Scholarship, enabling her to pursue a Master’s degree in Illustration at Edinburgh College of Art. During her time living in Edinburgh, she discovered singing. It would quickly become an integral part of her life.
After working for several years as an artist, Jillian decided to concentrate on music full time. Studying with soprano Irene Drummond, Jillian graduated from the University of Aberdeen in July 2012 with a 1st Class honours degree in Music. She recently completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Vocal Studies with distinction at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, London, and is now on the MFA programme at Trinity under the tutelage of Joan Rodgers and Helen Yorke.
While in Aberdeen, Jillian was awarded the Esther Salaman Memorial Bursary and the Daphne Pearce Bursary, which enabled her to attend Dartington International Summer School where she participated in masterclasses with Dame Josephine Barstow, Jessica Cash, Nicolas Clapton, Richard Edgar Wilson, and Dame Emma Kirkby. In May 2011 she was joint winner of the University’s inaugural Concerto Competition. She was also awarded the Chris Cadwur James Composition Prize in June 2012.
Jillian returned to Dartington in August 2013 as a recipient of a Helen Roll Charity bursary, and took part in classes with Linda Hirst, Joan Rodgers, Yvonne Minton and Stephen Varcoe.
Jillian’s solo concert and oratorio experience includes Canteloube’s Chants d’Auvergne, Gorecki’s Symphony No. 3, Mahler’s 4th Symphony, Händel’s Messiah, Poulenc’s Gloria, Fauré’s Requiem and Schoenberg’s Second String Quartet. Operatic experience includes Cherubino (The Marriage of Figaro), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Micäela (Carmen) and Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflöte). Scenes at Trinity Laban include Vitellia (La clemenza di Tito), Despina (Così fan tutte) and Frasquita (Carmen).
In addition to opera, Jillian has several other areas of interest. She is an experienced choral singer, and is a former scholar at the Old Royal Naval College Chapel, Greenwich. She has worked with the American composer Morten Lauridsen several times, most recently in November 2010 while recording his Madrigali with Con Anima Chamber Choir of Aberdeen. She enjoys a close working relationship with her former composition professor, the composer Paul Mealor, and has had the privilege of premiering many of his compositions, both as a chorister and as a soloist, in concert and on four recordings. It was a particular delight and honour to take part in the recent first performances of Paul’s new choral work Praise with the Rodolfus choir, singing the soprano solo in the second movement dedicated to her and husband Brian.
Recent highlights include a song cycle setting texts by Shakespeare, written for her by Ed Jones, a solo performance with harpist Flora Bramwell in the presence of HM Queen Sonja of Norway and HRH The Duchess of Cornwall, and Stockhausen’s Stimmung at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, with Trinity Laban Soloists and Gregory Rose.
Forthcoming projects include recitals in London and Aberdeen, and the role of Marn (Maiden) in a new opera The Maiden Stone by Joe Stollery and Catriona Yule, which will be premiered in Aberdeenshire in September 2014.
