Meet The Operettes
The Operettes are a professional trio made up of Sopranos Joanne Mayling & Harriet Hunter and Pianist Dellal McDonald. They perform at recitals and private concerts across Staffordshire.
Joanne Mayling
Soprano
Soprano Joanne Mayling studies with renowned vocal teacher Christine Cairns and has a Postgraduate Diploma in Vocal Studies from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. She has studied at Birmingham Conservatoire and trained with English National Opera on their prestigious Opera Works Programme.
Joanne sang with the chorus of English National Opera in productions of Carmen and The Pilgrims Progress; and has performed with organisations such as British Youth Opera, Welsh National Youth Opera, Welsh National Opera Community Choir and BBC National Chorus of Wales. Recordings include Verdi Macbeth, conducted by Edward Gardner for Chandos.
Joanne has performed as a soloist with the Dulwich Symphony Orchestra, LSE Symphony Orchestra, Lichfield Sinfonia and the British Police Symphony Orchestra at Birmingham Symphony Hall.
Roles include Marenka in Smetana The Bartered Bride (Thrapston Plaza Opera), Theodora in Handel Theodora (ENO Opera Works Showcase and Benslow Music Trust (Cover)), Suor Genovieffra in Puccini Suor Angelica (RWCMD), Asphodele in Chabrier L’Étoile (RWCMD) and Belinda in Purcell Dido & Aeneas (Musica Rediviva). She recently sang the role of the Angel in Paul Henley's Bethlehem Junction.
Harriet Hunter
Soprano
Harriet Hunter was educated at Cambridge University, where she was a choral scholar and studied Land Economy at St Catharine’s College. She has since been awarded Diplomas in Concert Singing and Opera Performance by Birkbeck College, University of London, both with distinction. In 2009 she completed her studies as a postgraduate student under the tuition of Christine Cairns at Birmingham Conservatoire where she was the winner of the Cecil Drew Oratorio Prize and the Postgraduate Certificate Prize, awarded across all departments.
Harriet enjoys performing regularly as a recitalist and concert soloist, both in the Midlands and further afield. Previous engagements include Bach’s solo Wedding Cantata BWV 202 with The Darwin Ensemble Chamber Orchestra, under the baton of Philip Scriven; and Schubert’s Mass in G for Ronald Corp and the London Chorus. Equally at home on the stage, Harriet’s operatic roles have included First Lady, The Magic Flute (Birmingham Conservatoire); Iris, Semele (Operamus); Nannetta, Falstaff (Opera Moriarty); Ida, Die Fledermaus (Alternative Opera); First Witch, Dido & Aeneas (most recently Ingestre Festival) and operatic performances have taken her to venues which include the former Opera House in Tunbridge Wells (now a Wetherspoons pub!), a Circus tent in the Black Forest and a canal boat in Northamptonshire! She was delighted to have recently had the opportunity to record for BBC television and was excited to re-launch her chamber opera group Drawing Room Opera in the Midlands in 2015.
Further information can be found at www.harriethunter.com.
Dellal MacDonald
Piano
Dellal McDonald was born in Baghdad, Iraq and moved to England when she was 9. She studied piano performance at the Royal Academy of Music under Professor Guy Jonson (where she gained her ARCM and LRAM diplomas) and her further piano studies were with Peter Feuchtwanger. She gave many recitals in London as a soloist and accompanist. Since moving to Staffordshire from London in the 1990s she has established herself around the region both as a solo performer and as an accompanist.
In 2010 Dellal , along with soprano Joanne Mayling, (with whom she has given many recitals ) founded the Birchwood Choir but left in the summer of 2018 to devote more time to her own playing. In 2016 she formed a piano trio called The Amabile Piano Trio with fellow musicians Nigel and Julie Stubbs. They gave various recitals including at the Stafford Music Festival. Dellal has a network of talented musicians with whom she is planning many chamber music concerts. Every August Dellal is Pianist in residence at the Choir Festival of Les Contamines Montjoie in the alps in France.
After being inspired by a concert at the Abbotsholme Arts Society by Trevor Pinnock, Dellal bought a harpsichord and is taking lessons with Robin Bigwood at the Birmingham Conservatoire. This is to indulge her love of Baroque music. She has been teaching piano for the last 40 years or so but has reduced her practice to a handful of students now so that she can devote her time to playing.
Book The Operettes
If you wish to find out more about The Operettes performing at your event please get in touch with us.