Ruby Hughes - About

The BBT Award has been an invaluable support for me. It has enabled me to continue having regular singing lessons, vocal and language coaching. I have been working with baroque music specialist David Vickers, researching and discovering some wonderful arias written by Handel, Smith, Arne, Hayes and Ciampi, all for Guilia Frasi. I have become utterly fascinated by Frasi, an ambitious and indomitable woman who so inspired Handel in his last years. With this CD, together with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Laurence Cummings, we have captured the diversity of changing styles, tastes and activities in mid-18th century musical culture as well as provided a remarkable insight into the career of Giulia Frasi. This project would never have been possible had it not been for the generous support of the Trust.

With a wide repertoire ranging from the Baroque to contemporary, British soprano Ruby Hughes has forged a career both on the concert platform and on disc that is both innovative and investigative. Her themed recitals and recordings find new and satisfying connections between disparate repertoire, from Handel via Mahler to the likes of Errollyn Wallen, with whom she often performs.

Having won both First Prize and Audience Prize at the 2009 London Handel Singing Competition, it was no surprise that Ruby chose to concentrate her BBT Award on a Handel recording for Chandos, based on the life of one of Handel’s muses, Guilia Frasi, and released to critical acclaim. Ruby also participated in BBT’s 20th anniversary celebrations at Bold Tendencies in London as a soloist in Kate Whitley’s Verified with the Multi-Story Orchestra and Young Creatives.

Ruby was supported with a BBT Award between 2014 and 2018.

For a current biography please visit rayfieldallied.com

Read a blog by Ruby, Who was Giulia Frasi?, here

Press Release: Giulia Frasi: Handel’s Last Prima Donna

Photographs by Phil Sharp and Barry Hale