Voice
Biography Voice
Voice
is an exciting, female vocal trio. In their fifteen years together, they have built a dedicated fan-base across the world; a rich, varied repertoire of their own arrangements, new commissions, and rarely performed Early Music; and they have honed a truly unique sound. Victoria, Clemmie, and Emily first began singing together in Oxford as members of the Oxford Girls’ Choir, before going on to form the trio in 2006 as well as forging their own successful, diverse careers. They draw on their individual musical interests and experiences to create thrilling timbres and a blend that has been described as ‘one voice’.
As collaborators with composers, musicians, artists, and poets, Voice has devised and commissioned a number of sought-after projects, many of which bring together Early and Contemporary music in the same programme. The trio has performed across the UK, Europe, and the USA and has received funding from Arts Council England, Performing Rights Society Foundation, and the British Council.
Clemmie, Emily, and Victoria’s interest in Early Music can be traced back to their performances and recordings of the medieval chant of Hildegard of Bingen, which they learned as members of Stevie Wishart’s group, Sinfonye. The singers still perform with Sinfonye today and as a trio, Voice continues to perform Hildegard’s music and have commissioned new works inspired by her words and chant.
Voice collaborated with the Dufay Collective, directed by William Lyons, at Dartington International Festival (2013), on the English Medieval album I Have Set My Hert So Hy (released on Avie July 2015), and continues to work with the group including a tour of northern Spain in 2019. Voice has performed their Early Music programme, A Life of Love and Joy, at the Oxford Early Music Festival and the Petworth Festival described as “an absolute triumph of history and music”. In 2018, the trio participates in the Brighton Early Music Festival’s mentoring and development scheme, Early Music Live! Through this scheme, Voice are exploring medieval repertoire, especially songs of the French and Italian Ars Nova (13th to 15th centuries).
The trio has released two albums Musical Harmony (2013) “…a stunning body of work destined to prick up the hairs on the back of one’s neck” Tim Hughes (Oxford Times & Mail) and Patterns of Love (2015), which features four commissions by British female composers, made possible with Arts Council England funding.
Voice has toured the USA three times with Baylin Artist Management, most recently in collaboration with internationally renowned ‘cellist, Matt Haimovitz. Closer to home, Voice has enjoyed several performances in Brussels, at the West Cork Chamber Music Festival (2016 – 18), the inaugural Finding A Voice Festival, celebrating International Women’s Day (2018), and Three Choirs Festival (2017) where they premiered a suite of pieces for Voice and ‘cello, composed by Roderick Williams.
Illustrating the breadth of repertoire Voice performs, their recording of Leoš Janáček’s Ríkadla “Nursery Rhymes” and Diary of one who disappeared with Julius Drake, Nicky Spence was released on Hyperion Records in July 2019 to great acclaim “The arrival of the siren-like trio… (the diaphanous Voice) is heart-stopping and haunting in equal measure.” Gramophone – Recording of the Month. The album won best vocal performance for a BBC Music Magazine Award 2020.
In 2021 Voice launched a new exciting collaborative programme Hildegard Transfigured: a medieval trance for the 21st Century with psychedelic visual artist Innerstrings and composer Laura Moody supported by Help Musicians Fusion Fund. They will release an album of this programme on SOMM Records in June 2022.
“**** Voice (Victoria Couper, Emily Burn and Clemmie Franks), one of several such groups competing for the slot left by the reputed imminent dissolution of Anonymous 4. They sound excellent” (Gramophone)
“Victoria Couper, Clemmie Franks and Emily Burn wove their distinct voices into an all-encompassing sound that served as a reminder that the human voice, when in the proper hands, needs no amplification or digital distortion to prove its power” (Planet Hugill)
