Ana Silvera

Ana Silvera is a contemporary alternative London born singer-songwriter, known for the intense poeticism of her lyrics, her classical piano style and her work with choirs.
She is operatically trained, and appeared with the English National Opera and also at the Royal Opera House when she was a teenager, and studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Ana Silvera premiered her 7 part songcycle, "Oracles", at the Roundhouse Studios in February 2011 written for solo voice and choir. This was a collaboration with the Roundhouse Experimental Choir. A film was made about the process by director Kate Church (South Bank Show), entitled "Ana Silvera: Oracles". The short edit of the film had it's online debut on PORT Magazine [1]
Currently, Ana Silvera is working on a new piece to be performed in the Roundhouse Main Space, alongside the Estonian Television Girls Choir [2] in February 2012. Ana Silvera has performed and/or been played on radio stations including BBC Radio 3, (The Verb [3], Late Junction), BBC Radio 6, BBC Wales, XFM and Resonance FM.
Career historyShe has collaborated with New York based producer Brad Albetta (Martha Wainwright, Teddy Thompson),[4] renowned London-based producer Ray Singer, violinist/arranger Maxim Moston (Antony & the Johnsons, Rufus Wainwright),[5] and Jeff Langston (Antony and the Johnsons, Hercules and Love Affair)[6]
Previously, Ana Silvera has worked with producer Tony Platt[7] who has produced artists such as Bob Marley, AC/DC and more recently jazzers Clare Teal and Soweto Kinch.[8] She has also played keyboard and sang backing vocals with alt-folk singer, Yo Zushi.
[edit] BiographyAna Silvera is from Syrian/Irish descent. She grew up in North London, the daughter of a writer and a psychologist. She has spoken about her unorthodox childhood in an interview with the Camden New Journal [9]
She is operatically trained, and has performed solo roles with the English National Opera including Königskinder by Engelbert Humperdinck, (broadcast live on BBC Radio 3) as well as appearing at the Royal Opera House when she was a teenager. She is related to the actress Carmen Silvera.[10]
Ana Silvera has performed at major venues in London including the Purcell Room, Union Chapel and The Roundhouse.
[edit] Musical styleAna Silvera's writing often relates to fairy and folklore, and/or writes through personas, sometimes historical or fictional, such as Biblical figure Salome, Heloise (of Heloise and Abelard fame) or Nadezhda Mandelstam, wife of Osip Mandelstam. Her recent song cycle, "Oracles", was based on the 'traditional arc of a fairytale'. Accordingly, her lyrics are quite literary in style, and she is therefore included in the new clutch of singers who cite literary sources and classical styles of playing as their primary reference points. She also plays piano and guitar.