PATRIZIA KWELLA showed a precocious musical talent, although neither her Polish father nor Venetian mother were musicians.  She sang and learned the piano from an early age, and her love of dancing led to her auditioning for the Royal Northern Ballet School, before taking up the ‘cello and becoming a member of the Nottinghamshire County Youth Orchestra.  She then entered the Royal College of Music, achieving the very unusual distinction of being selected for three subjects, winning the McKenna scholarship for singing, and being awarded a separate bursary for the ‘cello and the piano.

She soon discovered that the ‘cello demanded hours of practice incompatible with the bright lights of London, so concentrated her solo career on singing, though remaining a ‘cellist in the RCM first orchestra and continuing her piano studies.  Her versatility was recognised by the RCM by the award of a prize as the best female student, and the Maisie Lewis Young Artists Fund awarded her a recital in the Purcell Room.  While still a student she was the soprano soloist in a televised performance of Messiah from the Royal Albert Hall and the following year, on leaving the College,  understudied Dame Felicity Lott as Anne Truelove in The Rake’s Progress (Stravinsky) at Glyndebourne.

The next year she made her first live broadcast, a performance given with “impassioned eloquence” (the Daily Telegraph) of Monteverdi’s great solo Lamento della ninfa under Sir John Eliot Gardiner from the Royal Albert Hall as part of the BBC Promenade Concert season.  Since then she has returned often to the proms, and has sung at many of Europe’s greatest music festivals and concert halls, including Salzburg, Edinburgh, Bath and Aldeburgh, collaborating with conductors including Sir Charles Mackerras, Christopher Hogwood, Phillipe Herreweghe, Harry Christophers, Richard Hickox and David Hill.

Following her United States debut with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra the San Diego Tribune said “the solo performances of one voice lifted this beyond the ordinary .. with a tenderness that was riveting”.  She has since performed with the San Francisco, Houston and Washington symphony orchestras, and following her debut with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra under David Atherton was noted by the South China Morning Post for her “stunningly beautiful voice”.  At a gala performance in the British Embassy in Paris Patrizia Kwella sang the title role in Handel's Theodora.

In May 2001 she gave the first performances of Handel’s Gloria in excelsis Deo (click here to read Clifford Bartlett’s commentary) following its discovery in the archives of the Royal Academy of Music.   Other performances of rarely heard music have included the first UK performance of Samuel Wesley's Missa de Spriritu Sancto, Haydn's Creation using Ann Hunter's recently discovered libretto and Weber's Mass in Eb.

Although perhaps best known for her performances and recordings of baroque and classical masterpieces Miss Kwella has a wide repertoire ranging from the 16th to the 20th century.  In contemporary music she has given the world premières of Colin Matthews’ Night’s Mask and Pli de Lin, the former with the Nash Ensemble at the Aldeburgh Festival and the latter with the Allegri String Quartet.  With the Nash Ensemble she subsequently recorded Night’s Mask and at the Prague Spring Festival sang the world première of David Matthews’ The Sleeping Lord, repeating the performance at the Bath Festival and in London's Wigmore Hall. She has also given the first performances of Holst’s song cycle The Dream City, orchestrated by Colin Matthews.

Patrizia Kwella's recent concert performances have included Dido in a concert performance of Dido and Aeneas, Mozart's Mass in C minor, Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony, Tippett’s A Child of Our Time, and her debut with the Ulster Orchestra under Roy Goodman singing Messiah which she repeated with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and Dvorak Te Deum in the Royal Albert Hall with the Philharmonia under Stephen Cleobury.   In three appearances with the London Mozart Players she has sung Exsultate Jubilate and both the Mozart and Brahms Requiems, while in Rochester Cathedral she sang all three soprano parts in a performance of Solomon.   She appeared in Wigmore Hall's Master Series with Florilegium, singing Boismortier's solo cantata Diana et Acteon.

Her many recordings include the title role in Esther (Handel) with Christopher Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music, L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato (Handel) with Sir John Eliot Gardiner, St John Passion (J S Bach) with Harry Christophers and Colin Matthews’ orchestration of Holst’s The Dream City conducted by Richard Hickox.  Patrizia Kwella recorded a Mozart series for EMI, from which Radio 3's Building a Library series chose as the recommended version her recording of the Coronation Mass K.317, citing “the outstanding soprano Patrizia Kwella”.   Gramophone's review of Mozart's Regina Coeli K127 simply said "above all there is Patrizia Kwella".

As part of the trio TREmusici with 'cellist Jenny Ward Clarke and harpsichordist Alastair Ross, Miss Kwella gives many shared recitals of 16th and 17th century music.  She also still awaits the opportunity to sing some 21st century music!