On the 12th of July, acclaimed countertenor, Derek Lee Ragin will be performing as part of the Oundle International Music Festival 2009. Derek Ragin is one of the first countertenors to have gained a worldwide reputation. He uses a voice that is higher than that of a tenor, which is the highest male adult singing voice. The impressive sound is reached through the use of falsetto. The American Record Guide has written, ‘Derek Lee Ragin’s singing is exquisitely beautiful, almost otherworldly in its purity and strength.’

Now resident in Oundle, Derek was born in Newark, New Jersey. ‘When I was four years old, I remember being able to sing. That was probably the beginning of my musical awareness. I came from a very musical family: both my mother and father sang.’ Particularly because of his mother’s strong musical influence, he was encouraged to focus on music and was soon inducted into the Newark Boys Chorus and the Newark Community Centre. He studied at the Oberlin Conservatory, and credits his mentor Ursula Stechow with encouraging him to pursue a solo career and a classical path. After taking up the suggestion that he move to Europe and sing for John Eliot Gardiner, he started his singing career. His interpretation both of Baroque and of contemporary music is internationally acclaimed and his career has coincided with a global revival of Baroque opera, a bold, exuberant and emotional style.

Derek’s career highlights are noteworthy. In 1988 he made his Metropolitan Opera debut in Handel’s Giulio Cesare. Derek sang at the 1990 Salzburg Festival in Gluck’s Orfeo, and in 1984 made his London debut at Wigmore Hall. In 1995 he won a Grammy Award for his performance in Missa Brevis with the Atlanta Symphony, a Gramophone award in 1992 for his recording of Giulio Cesare, and a Golden Record for his part in the award-winning film Farinelli, about the famous 18th century castrato of that name – his voice was digitally merged with that of a soprano to create the unique castrato sound. Gerard Corbiau, director of Farinelli, said Derek’s voice was ‘physical, in which one could feel humanity. A voice that would reveal emotion’. Derek won the Purcell-Britten Prize for Concert Singers in England and first prize at the 35th International Music competition in Munich.

His recital at the Oundle International Music Festival will include songs by three major composers who are celebrating their anniversaries this year: Handel, Purcell and Mendelssohn as well as piano solos by Derek’s accompanist, Christopher Glynn. The second half will feature 20th century American composers including Charles Ives and Ned Rorem. The evening will end with a selection of Negro Spirituals. This concert precedes a recording session in Switzerland and a tour of the UK with English Touring Opera later this year.