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.