JANE AUSTEN & COLETTE: Writers and Musicians

After training at LAMDA Harriet Walter began her career working in fringe theatre, with political and community groups. She then moved on to the Royal Court, the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company where over several seasons she performed many of the leading classical roles including Viola, Helena in All’s Well that Ends Well,  Lady Macbeth and Cleopatra. She won the Laurence Olivier Award for her performances in Twelfth Night, Three Sisters and A Question of Geography. She was made an honorary associate artist of the RSC in 2015 when she played her most recent part with the company, that of Linda Loman in Death of a Salesman. 

Between 2012-2017 Harriet took on some of Shakespeare’s leading male roles at the Donmar Theatre’s all-female Shakespeare trilogy directed by Phyllida Lloyd. Also with Lloyd, Harriet played Elizabeth I in Schiller’s Mary Stuart for which she won the Evening Standard Award and a Tony nomination when the production transferred to Broadway.

Harriet has also created several original roles in new plays and has worked with some of the great writers of our time including Tom Stoppard, Caryl Churchill, Harold Pinter, Howard Barker, Simon Gray Timberlake Wertenbaker, Moira Buffini, Yasmina Reza and Alice Birch. 

Harriet’s recent TV credits include Silo, Sky Atlantic’s The End, Succession, Ted Lasso, Killing Eve, Belgravia, The Crown, Downton Abbey, and Law and Order UK. 

Her film credits include The Last Duel, Rocketman, Herself, The Sense of an Ending, Sense and Sensibility, Star Wars; the Force Awakens; Man Up, The Wedding Video, Atonement, and Louis Malle’s Milou en Mai. 

She has written 5 books. She was awarded a CBE in 2000 an Honorary Doctor of Letters at the University of Birmingham in 2001 and became a Dame in 2011 and an honorary fellowship of her alma mater LAMDA in 2022.

Born in the USA, Maggie has made her home in the UK for the past 40 years. During this time, she has enjoyed a career playing harpsichord, fortepiano and piano. She will always be grateful for the superb tuition received here, most notably from Jill Severs on harpsichord, and for the extraordinary opportunities that living in Europe has brought to her. She is harpsichordist with Britten Sinfonia and has performed with members of the OAE, The Nash Ensemble and London Sinfonietta in music that ranges from JS Bach to Henri Duttileux. A particularly fond memory for Maggie is a rehearsal of “Les Citations” with Duttileux present and his thanking her for “bringing my music to life”.

Maggie has recorded a diverse repertoire which includes on harpsichord, Scarlatti and Soler solo sonatas, Bach’s Goldberg Variations, his violin sonatas with Catherine Mackintosh and his flute sonatas with Philippa Davies . Another particular delight was in recording Poulenc’s “Concert Champêtre” with Richard Hickox and the City of London Sinfonia. On fortepiano she has recorded trios by Haydn and Beethoven with Trio Goya, ‘Mozartiana with Sebastian Comberti and a CD of Boccherini cello sonatas with Steven Isserlis. She can be heard on modern piano in a recording of romantic flute music by Philippe Gaubert with Idit Shemer.

Maggie is professor of fortepiano at the Guildhall School of Music and teaches all three keyboard instruments from her home in West London. 

Soprano Katharine Dain performs opera, chamber music, orchestral repertoire, song, and oratorio on international stages; she is also a curator of unusual programs, a writer, and a probing collaborator on artistic projects of many kinds. Her 2020 album “Regards sur l’Infini” with pianist Sam Armstrong, featuring works of Messiaen, Debussy, and others, won the 2021 Edison Klassiek for Best Debut: “fearless ... beautifully controlled ... exquisite” (Gramophone). The duo’s second album together, “Forget This Night” (2023), featured works of Lili Boulanger, Szymanowski, and Bacewicz and was just as highly praised, winning BBC Music Magazine’s disc of the month in its category.

Noted for Mozart roles, Katharine has recently sung Konstanze (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), and Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) in the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. She was the 2022-23 Artist in Residence with Finland’s Tapiola Sinfonietta, performing works of Barber, Beethoven, Copland, and Saariaho. Other recent highlights include repeat appearances with the Orchestra of the 18th Century, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Dutch Chamber Orchestra, and Asko|Schönberg; solo recital debuts in two Concertgebouws—Amsterdam and Bruges; residencies at numerous chamber music festivals; and the premiere of a new work for soprano by Bram Kortekaas with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, later released on their Horizon premieres series. She lives in Rotterdam.