Jess Dandy

Cumbrian born Jess Dandy is the foremost British contralto of her generation and has been praised for her instrument of velvety plangent timbre, and her artistic remarkable immediacy. Jess studied Modern and Medieval Languages at Trinity College, Cambridge and the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, and is an alumna and Fellow of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Highlights of the 2024/25 season include her return to the BBC Proms for Holst’sThe Cloud Messenger with the BBC Symphony conducted by Sakari Oramo, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Boston Symphony conducted by Hannu Lintu at Tanglewood, Thomas Adès Totentanz with Leipzig Gewandhausorchester conducted by Thomas Adès, Mozart’s Requiem with Aalborg Symphony conducted by Sofi Jeannin, Handel’s Messiah with Tampere Philharmonic conducted by Matthew Halls, Bach’s St Matthew Passion with Concertgebouworkest conducted by Riccardo Minasi and Berlioz Romeo and Juliet with Bergen Philharmonic and Bryn Terfel, conducted by Sir Mark Elder.

On the recital stage, Jess will return to the Oxford International Song Festival for a programme entitled Eternity in an Hour with Keval Shah, to the Wigmore Hall for a recital with Dylan Perez and to the University of York for a recital with Ben Goldscheider, Fenella Humphreys and Martin Roscoe, amongst others.

Recent engagements include Mahler's Symphony No. 8 with Bergen Philharmonic conducted by Edward Gardner, a studio performance of Mahler's Rückert-Lieder with BBC Symphony Orchestra and Kristian Sallinen, Elgar's Sea Pictures with Tokyo Symphony, Mozart's Requiem with Tampere Philharmonic conducted by Matthew Halls, Brockes Passion with the English Concert, Handel’s Esther (Mordecai) with the London Handel Orchestra, Handel’s Messiah with the Hallé, Royal Northern Sinfonia, The Glyndebourne Sinfonia and Il Gardellino, and Julia Perry's Stabat Mater and Bach's St John Passion with the BBC Philharmonic.

Jess has appeared on the concert platform with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, The English Concert, The Academy of Ancient Music, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Bergen Philharmonic, Tampere Philharmonic, Orchestre révolutionnaire et romantique, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Symphony Orchestra, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra, Salzburg Kulturvereinigung, BBC National Orchestra & Chorus of Wales, BBC Welsh National Opera, BBC Symphony Orchestra, The Dunedin Consort, Les Arts Florissant, Opera Settecento, Hallé Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic; collaborating with conductors including Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Harry Bicket, Laurence Cummings, Osmo Vänskä, Trevor Pinnock, Gemma New, John Butt William Christie, Kristian Bezuidenhout and Stephen Layton.

Jess finds a natural habitat on the recital platform and enjoys working with a range of pianists, including Martin Roscoe, Dylan Perez, Malcolm Martineau, Chris Glynn, James Baillieu, Julius Drake, Gary Matthewman, Keval Shah, Ian Tindale, Sholto Kynoch, Anthony Hewitt, Gavin Roberts, Iain Burnside, Simon Lepper, Huw Watkins and Wolfram Rieger. She appears regularly at Wigmore Hall and Oxford International Song Festival amongst others.

In 2021, Jess was shortlisted for a Royal Philharmonic Society Award in the category of Young Artist. She is a multi-faceted artist with a keen interest in ecology, body psychology and spirituality. She is the co-founder of SongPath, a mental health initiative creating musical walking trails in nature for better mental health. With composer Alex Mills, she developed the Music & Being Collective, an open laboratory space exploring music and our sense of self through interdisciplinary dialogue.

Updated September 2024