Summer Watson

Summer Watson (born 14 September 1977) is an English soprano.

Background Watson grew up in East Sussex and Oxfordshire as her parents' only child. She began to play the recorder at the age of four, and continued with the flute and the piano later on. She was also singing hymns from an early age, and took part in local music competitions throughout her childhood. At the age of nine, Watson began to learn singing. Watson vacillated between pursuing French or music, but by the age of 16, she had decided to pursue a career in music. studying with Jendrick Springer at the Vienna State Opera from 2007 through 2008.

Career In her final year at the Royal College of Music, Watson organised a debut concert, which attracted the Duke and Duchess of York as well as Elle Macpherson, George Michael and others.

Over the years, Watson has also sung in various benefit concerts. She has performed for Children in Crisis, Watson has also performed on behalf of a Sir Winston Churchill charity at Blenheim Palace in England and for the Anti-Human Trafficking Campaign for the United Nations at Hofburg Imperial Palace in Austria.

In 2009, Watson performed as a soloist with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Priory Park, Southend-on-Sea, England, as part of the annual benefit concert series, Concerts in the Park, organised by the Rotary Club of Rayleigh Mill. Watson also performed with The Celtic Tenors in Los Angeles and the RDS Concert Hall in Dublin, Ireland. In 2010, Watson sang at The 2010 Genlux Britweek Designer of the Year Award and Fashion Show in Los Angeles, honouring the British designer Matthew Williamson, and travelled to Iceland, exploring the country and headlining a major Christmas concert with Paul Potts and Alexander Rybak in Reykjavík.

As of 2011, Watson has been spending time in Los Angeles, where she has also recorded for DreamWorks films.

Summer

Watson signed a £1 million recording contract with Sony Classical in 2002. The programme of her self-titled debut album Summer, created by Watson herself and producer Nick Patrick, is a collection of classical, popular and world music, including pieces and arrangements of music by Ludwig van Beethoven, Antonín Dvořák, Gabriel Fauré, Geminiano Giacomelli, Benjamin Godard, Ennio Morricone, Stanley Myers, Joaquín Rodrigo, Sting, Richard Strauss and others.

The album was recorded at Abbey Road Studios with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted and arranged by Nick Ingman. Other recording studios included Air Lyndhurst and Townhouse Studios, while the London Session Orchestra provided additional strings. Watson worked with various musicians during the recording of the album, including Pino Palladino, Richard Harvey, Nigel Hitchcock, Dominic Miller and John Parricelli. She also had Roger Vignoles as her accompanist in Sposa son disprezzata, and Marcelo Álvarez as her duet partner in Tutta La Vita by Matteo Saggese. Choirs on the album are the London Oratory School Schola and Metro Voices. Summer was released internationally in 2003, while Arena named her as "the Norah Jones of 2003". The Daily Express described the album as "very chilled out in a classical way."

Personal Watson names Renée Fleming and Joan Sutherland as her inspirations. She says that Annie Lennox and Sting have had a big impact on her, while Paul Oakenfold has been a major influence as well. Watson also loves Joshua Bell's albums of violin music, and enjoys going to Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London. Her other musical favourites include the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós.