Hello everyone, as George and I have our first concert as a married couple on 23rd November, I thought I would take this opportunity to introduce the Todică Duo to my many friends who visit my blog. I will share with you our journey highlights so far and I hope to answer any questions you may have. Now without further ado, please imagine a glorious fanfare of trumpets and multiple explosions of confetti canons.
So where did it all begin? George Todica and I were teamed up quite spontaneously to compete as a collaborative voice and piano duo. Together, we represented the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in the 2013 Kathleen Ferrier Bursary competition. We prepared the repertoire together for just over a month and then entered that competition. We went on to achieve a place in the final, where we were awarded the audience prize to commemorate the competition’s 60th anniversary.
We really enjoyed working together and sought out opportunities to enhance our collaborative skills. In 2015, we were accepted to take part in a week-long masterclass course in Bergen, Norway. Whilst there, we worked with prestigious teachers from the Grieg Academy, and experts in phonetics. The coaching culminated with a final concert in Grieg’s home in Troldhaugen, where we performed on Grieg’s very own piano. George and I created our second album “Haugtussa”, inspired by the skills we learnt on this marvellous course.
In 2016, we were invited to sing in Antwerp, (Brussels), for a masterclass lead by W. Stephen Smith. An American Professor of Voice and Opera, who is the author of “The Naked Voice”, and vocal teacher of Joyce di Donato and Christine Brewer. It was a delightful experience which encouraged us to further explore song repertoire.
In the same year, we competed in Italy and won the 8th International Competition “Giovani Musicisti – Citta di Treviso”, we went on to be finalists in the Association of English Singers and Speakers Courtney Kenny Award, and George won the accompanist prize. Inspired by our recital repertoire, we released an album called ‘Down the Rabbit Hole’, which was top on Amazon music when released and has now formed the base of a research and development project that I am undertaking and kindly supported by a DYCP Arts Council England award.
Recently, we entertained our neighbours with 16 Friday balcony concerts that we streamed live on YouTube with over a million views collectively during the lockdown, followed by a Christmas show. The concerts were spotted by the organisers of ‘The BBC Proms’ and we got a lovely mention from them in the introduction video to the 2021 Proms. During the Lockdown in 2020, we also improvised a pop-up recording studio in our own flat, in which we recorded ‘Songs From the Balcony’. This album is available to download on all major music platforms and to stream.
We have gradually developed and grown our duo over the past eight years, expanding our repertoire by performing at recitals, concerts, weddings and functions together.
We continue to share our musical ideas in our practise studio, where George coaches me on new songs with his extensive skills in musicality and inspiring knowledge of harmony and composition. I provide all the translations into English, and historical research, which enable George to understand cultural details and nuances that appear in the song or aria. It has always been an enjoyable process working together, as we find our individual skills complement each other. We are both focused on our solo performing careers, but our duo work, allows us dedicated time to spend with each other. We are thrilled to present concerts as our newly named ‘Todică Duo’.
We have our first concert together as a married couple on 23rd November 2021. It will take place at 7:30 pm and the location is:
St Michael and All Angels
Church Walk,
Great Torrington,
EX38 8BN
Tickets are available online ( Click Here )
We have put together an exciting program of Italian arias, mixed with a little bit of British operetta and a splash of American Art songs. We hope to take you on a musical vacation as we explore intense human emotions within exotic locations.
If you would like to hire us as a duo please get in touch via my contact page.
The Like Button’s vanished again…
I’ve been having that problem too Martin, I visit and it won’t accept a like but it will accept a comment if you re-log in. I hope that you had a lovely birthday.
Best wishes
Charlotte
Best wishes to the Duo.
Thank you John, we had a standing ovation which is very unusual in a church concert it made us so happy.
Best wishes
Charlotte
Excellent. You deserve it.
Gosh Charlotte, every week seems to bring giant steps on your career. Wonderful and kudos to you and George.
Thank you Don, I’ve got to start building my diary again from scratch for next year, if I’ve been busy performing away I can’t attend auditions, no auditions no work, catch 22. 😊
We had a great concert, lovely hosts and a very nice e-mail today that made our day.
Best wishes
Charlotte
Wow, what fabulous memories !!!!! All the best for you twice my friends, it’s great and sure, it will becoming fabulous !!!!!!!! xx
Merci Pascal. We had a great concert, lots of happy faces. Our program went down well. Thank you for your confidence.
Best wishes
Charlotte
Wishing you both the very best of luck for a great evening!
Thank you it was a great evening, we received a standing ovation, very unusual for a church concert. I loved it. George also had a solo piano recital earlier in the day that went superbly.
Best wishes
Charlotte
How wonderful! 🙂 And I am sure the standing ovation was well deserved! 🙂
Charlotte and George, we wish you the very best and every success as you go forward as a duo! ❤️
Thank you Lavinia, it is to nice to perform together, we had the most wonderful hosts.
Best wishes
Charlotte
Looks to be a lot of fun.
Thank you Timothy, I do like to leave a concert with everyone smiling and we did that. A lovely couple of days.
Best wishes
Charlotte
Congratulations!!!!
Thank you Rebecca 😃.
Best wishes
Charlotte
I think you both must feel great to be able to work together. Wonderful!
We really do enjoy working together. We gelled from the first time we met.
Best wishes
Charlotte
Toasting you with my green drink! Knowing that you two were brought together to not only take the world by storm, but to enhance each other’s gifts with every breath you take. Celbrating your every success.
What a lovely message Annette, thank you my friend.
Best wishes
Charlotte
This was a fun reprieve of your story, Charlotte and George! I was especially surprised that your trip to Bergen was six years ago. SIX years! My goodness, doesn’t time fly?
Good luck and best wishes to you both for your concert in Devon on Tuesday!
I know Clare when I was putting this together I was stunned at the speed of the passage of time. Covid put the brakes on us both so I just hope next year roars back to life. Devon went very well, a lovely part of the Country.
Best wishes
Charlotte
Fantastic journey! Making music together is the best!
I know your concert will be awesome!
Absolutely Sheila, making music together is fabulous. We are still working on our Down the Rabbit Hole program in the background.
Best wishes
Charlotte
Fantastic!!!!!
Thank you Shehanne, a duo made in Scotland 🏴 😊.
Best wishes
Charlotte
Congratulations to both of you!!
Thank you very much 🙂
Best wishes
Charlotte
Dear Charlotte and George, from the bottom of my heart I wish you both every success in your professional and personal life together. Your are both so talented and show so much initiative. Good luck with this first concert at the Todica Duo.
Aww thank you that means a lot. It went fabulously well, we got a standing ovation unusual for a church concert but I love to end on a high note.
Best wishes
Charlotte x
Wonderful and best wishes to you both!
Thank you Lauren, it was a great concert. Lovely hosts. We are both very happy.
Best wishes
Charlotte
I also wish you the best but because both of you are of sound mind you should not have problems. I am flattered to know you. Break a leg.
Thank you so much Mario. We appreciate your encouragement.
Best wishes always,
Charlotte
I wondered if you heard this piece: https://savioni.wordpress.com/2023/06/25/movement-through-the-air/.
It reminds me of you.
You look so joyful as you introduce these stages of you journey together. May the next one be long and fruitful
Thank you Derrick I appreciate your lovely message.
Best wishes
Charlotte
I’ve watched you grow and mature over the years – and now – you grow together with George! I’ve been proud to know you and now, George. Thank you!
I’ve just celebrated another birthday, the years are disappearing. Ten years since I started at The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and 12 years if I count my time in Royal Northern College of Music Juniors. I appreciate your friendship and constant encouragement and support.
Best wishes
Charlotte
How fantastic for you both. Congratulations on your amazing successes. Very best wishes for tomorrow evening.
Thank you, we had a fabulous concert a lovely audience and great hosts.
Best wishes
Charlotte
Hello
Hello 👋 I found your message in my spam file don’t know why but WP is acting up just lately.
Best wishes
Charlotte
A marvellous journey!
Thank you and I appreciate you coming along for the ride.
Best wishes
Charlotte
An inspiring day! May this day be another memorable one that will spark vivid, joyful memories (and blog posts) for years to come.
Thank you 😊 we had a lovely concert, our hosts were lovely and it did create another great memory for us to treasure.
Best wishes
Charlotte
Lovely post, Charlotte, and all the best for the husband-wife debut concert tonight!
Thank you Arti, we told the audience that we were newly married such a lovely appreciative audience. New songs in our program together to we were relieved they enjoyed the programming.
Best wishes
Charlotte
There are duos and then there are DUOS! Your development has been magical and I am delighted to see you both take your places as leaders in your artistic fields! Together!
Aww Noelle that is a nice message. I wish we were leaders in our field but it is certainly an aspiration for the future. It is nice to work together because the concerts are like mini-breaks.
Best wishes
Charlotte
What an amazing few years and what a privilege it has been to follow them thanks to your generous sharing (I have no idea how you find the time). My sister-in-law emailed after seeing your mention on the proms! Word is getting around, and I’m sure your concert last night was a great success.
Thank you Hilary. It was a privilege to get a mention on the Proms, we were thrilled. I must admit I’ve been working all hours just lately, its given George plenty of time to work and get two whole new recitals practiced, our new piano is fabulous and has a silent function so he can practice away late into the evening.
We had a standing ovation at the end of the concert which was fabulous I love to make people smile. Thank you, always, for taking the time to follow us.
Best wishes
Charlotte
To hear the storyline of the Duo and the bright future ahead ~ it will be a great holiday season for you all. 🙂
Must have been a walk down memory lane reviewing you and George’s career highlights together xx
Charlotte,
This post is a gem.
I was going to reblog on Art Gowns, but there is no reblog button. I Tweeted instead!
Cheers,
Resa