penny

If you require a biography for a concert programme, please email enquiries@penelopeappleyard.co.uk

“Blessed with a voice of pristine clarity”, Penelope Appleyard is known for the purity and agility of her voice, and her stylish interpretations of historical repertoire.

Penelope performs as a soloist and ensemble singer, particularly in the field of early music. She has performed at prestigious venues internationally, and has worked with ensembles including Apollo5, the Taverner Consort, the Monteverdi Choir, The New London Consort, The Academy of Ancient Music, The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Wiener Akademie, ArcangeloArmonico Consort, Ex Cathedra and the Royal Shakespeare Company, among others, and  appears on numerous recordings. Roles have included Cupid (Venus and Adonis) Dorinda (The Tempest) Shepherdess and Siren (King Arthur) Bonvica (Bonduca) Pallas (Judgement of Paris) Second Woman (Dido and Aeneas) Mopsa (Fairy Queen) and Belinda (Dido and Aeneas). Penelope appears regularly as a soloist on the concert platform, engagements having included Messiah with the Academy of Ancient Music, Bach’s B minor Mass at the Bologna Festival, Arne’s Alfred with Steven Devine, Monteverdi Vespers with Laurence Cummings, King Arthur for the Brighton Early Music Festival and Messiah as a Nevill Holt Young Artist. She made her solo debut at Cadogan Hall in 2017 deputising for Dame Emma Kirkby. Penelope has a particular love for chamber music and singing with instrumentalists, and has given recitals at Handel House, performed Purcell songs with the Orchestra of St John’s at St John’s Smith Square,  given recitals for the National Lute Society and Medieval and Renaissance Society, and is a member of the ensemble Dowland Works, led by Dame Emma Kirkby. Penelope is a member of acclaimed a cappella ensemble Apollo5, sister group of VOCES8, with whom she tours internationally as first soprano. She is co-founder of two  historical chamber groups: Fair Oriana (soprano duo with Angela Hicks) with whom she has a flourishing performing schedule and has released debut album Two Voices, and baroque ensemble Florisma, with whom she has recorded Handel’s ‘Neun Deutsche Arien’ to critical acclaim. She studies with Julie Kennard and Christine Cairns and has appeared in masterclasses with Catherine Bott, James Bowman, Michael Chance and Emily van Evera. Additionally she enjoys composing and arranging, her arrangement of Sarah McLachlan’s ‘Angel’ for Apollo5 appearing on their critically acclaimed album ‘Haven’. An experienced writer, she enjoys writing and devising creative programmes, recently having written the substantial new script for Fair Oriana’s programme ‘Venus’, premiered at Wien Konzerthaus in 2024. She also runs her own private vocal and flute teaching practice from home. Penelope graduated with Distinction from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in 2010 and in 2019 was awarded Honorary Membership. She is delighted to have been invited back to coach early music vocal students.

Works performed as a soloist:

Arne Alfred
Bach Mass in G minor
Bach Mass in B minor
Bach Magnificat in D
Bach Cantata – Jauchzet Gott in Allen Landen
Bach Cantata 131 Aus dem tiefe
Bach Cantata 140 Wachet Auf
Bach Cantata 191
Bach Cantata 110
Bach St John Passion
Bach St Matthew Passion
Blow Venus and Adonis
Bononcini Stabat Mater
Britten A Ceremony of Carols
Bush Christmas Cantata
Buxtehude Membra non justi
Carissimi Historia di Jephte
Charpentier Messe de Minuit
Charpentier Te Deum
Faure Requiem
Handel Acis and Galatea
Handel Chandos Anthem No.9

Handel Chandos Anthem No.4 I will Sing Unto the Lord

Handel Chandos Anthem No.2 In the Lord I put my Trust

Handel I will magnifyThee
Handel Dixit Dominus
Handel Joshua
Handel Messiah
Handel Neun Deutsche Arien
Handel Ode on the Birthday of Queen Anne
Haydn Creation
Haydn Heligemesse

Haydn Maria Theresa Mass
Haydn Missa Sancta Cecilia
Haydn Missa Brevis in F
Haydn Missa Brevis Sancti Joannes De Deo
Haydn Nelson Mass

Haydn Paukenmesse

Haydn Jugendmesse
Khunhau Magnificat
Monteverdi Vespers (1610)
Monteverdi Beatus Vir
Mozart Coronation Mass
Mozart Requiem
Mozart Vesperae solennes de confessore
Pergolesi Magnificat
Purcell Come ye sons of art
Purcell Verse Anthems
Purcell Te Deum & Jubilate
Purcell Bonduca
Purcell Dioclesians
Purcell Fairy Queen
Purcell Dido and Aeneas
Purcell King Arthur
Purcell and various The Tempest
Rutter PsalmFest
Salieri Mass in D
Saint Saëns Oratorio de Nöel
Schubert Magnificat
Vaughan-Williams Hodie
Vivaldi Gloria
Vivaldi Magnificat
Vivaldi Nulla in Mundo Pax Sincera
Weldon Judgement of Paris
Zelenka Magnifiact in D