CHRISTINE CAIRNS

PRESIDENT

 

Christine has sung all over the world in concerts and recitals and has become best known for her interpretation of the late romantic repertoire, particularly Mahler. In 1985 Christine was propelled into an international career when a chance audition with André Previn led to concerts with him and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra a month later and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London immediately after that. Since then, she has sung throughout the USA, most notably with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, The Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony with conductors such as Previn, Sir Simon Rattle, Yuri Temirkanov and Vladimir Ashkenazy. In Europe she has worked with the Vienna Philharmonic and Berlin Philharmonic amongst others. In the UK, Christine has performed with the BBC Orchestras and all the London Orchestras, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and many others. She has also sung in Japan, Israel, Scandinavia, Singapore and China.

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A few years ago she took some time out when her younger son was diagnosed with autism. She and her husband, conductor John Lubbock, set up a charity called Music for Autism to give concerts and make recordings to raise much-needed funds for, and raise awareness of, this devastating condition.

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Christine taught at the Birmingham Conservatoire for almost 20 years and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She now has a very busy private practice at home in Oxfordshire and enjoys giving master classes, adjudicating  at various festivals, examining in London and doing Choral workshops - “especially with the Wantage Choral Society!!”, she declares.

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She has proved an enormously supportive President. As well as attending our events and often finding wonderful soloists for our concerts, each year she has run a very popular workshop to help us improve our vocal technique.