Arundel Festival: family affair for Joanne

Joining her on stage will be her husband Andrew Rees for a performance of classics from opera, well-known show songs and music from Puccini, Cole Porter, Mozart, Kurt Weill and Rodgers & Hammerstein.

Also joining her on stage, though not quite ready to be unveiled to the world, will be their new son who will be born in October.

These are exciting times for the family, who have just moved from Haywards Heath to Newick in East Sussex, in search of somewhere better suited to their growing numbers.

“We were in Haywards Heath for about four years and before that we were in Burgess Hill. We were both at college in Manchester but we both ended up working at Glyndebourne,” says Joanne who won a scholarship from the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company before embarking on an operatic career.

“We both just ended up settling down here. It’s easy connections to London and it is nicer all round than being in London!

“We’ve got our son Will now and we have got another on the way, due in October. We are having another boy. We didn’t find out with Will because we wanted a surprise, but with this one we wanted to think about all the practicalities of whether we keep the baby clothes!

“I hope to keep working right until I can, but obviously you don’t know until you get there. I have got concerts booked in September, but I will only have a couple of months off. I am doing Raymond Gubbay in London next year; they are doing Aida at the Royal Albert Hall. I am contracted to do that in February. The baby will be 12 weeks old by then. I was back at Glyndebourne when Will was 12 weeks old as well. The contracts are quite short, but it will still be a manic couple of months!”

Joanne’s and Andrew’s Arundel Festival concert will be in The Baronsʼ Hall, Arundel Castle,

on Monday, August 22 at 7.30pm.

Castle grounds & gardens open: 5.30pm; Castle doors open: 7.00pm; Performance starts: 7.30pm. Tickets: £25 includes admission to gardens from 5.30pm for picnics and a complimentary glass of wine in the interval.

Joanne hails from Thornton, Lancashire. At the age of three she began dancing classes. This marked the start of her love for the theatre. She began her vocal training at the age of thirteen and at nineteen went on to study opera at the RNCM graduating four years later with an honours degree in music.

Joanne spent four years with the Glyndebourne Festival Chorus where she understudied various roles and performed in many recitals, oratorio and master classes. She has sung with a number of UK opera companies and features on Joseph Mc Manners debut album.

In 2002 Jo was signed by Sony BMG as an original member of the opera band Amici Forever.

With Amici she sang to huge audiences worldwide in prestigious venues including the Sydney Opera House, Windsor Castle (for HRH The Prince of Wales), The Royal Albert Hall, The Queen Elizabeth Hall (for the Queen and Prince Philip), Wembley Stadium, Cardiff Millennium Stadium, the state Opera House in Kiev and on board the QE2. Joanne left the group to pursue a solo career.