After taking the piano and cello to Grade VIII, and playing in local orchestras, New Zealander Clare Pierard moved on to choral singing at university and was in the first world tour of the New Zealand National Youth Choir. In France, she studied voice with soprano Melanie Jackson, then with soprano Cynthia Jacoby and vocal coach David Harper.

 

Her repertoire spans from renaissance and baroque (Buxtehude, Pergolesi, JS Bach, CPE Bach, Handel) to contemporary music (world premières for 1 to 4 voices at the EAMA at the Schola Cantorum in Paris, and recitals of New Zealand and American composers). 

 

Recent concerts and recitals in Europe and Oceania have included programmes of opera, mélodie française (Fauré, Berlioz [Les Nuits d’été], Debussy, Duparc, Poulenc), lieder (Wagner, Berg, Spohr, Schubert [incl. The Shepherd on the Rock], Strauss [incl. Four last songs], Mozart), twentieth century English and American composers (Britten, Gurney, Rorem, Barber, Copland), forays into the Spanish, Czech and Russian repertoire, and oratorio appearances as guest soloist (Schubert’s Cantata vor Herr Spendou, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Schubert’s Mirjams Siegesgesang, Janacek’s Zdravas Maria) with Paris chamber choirs Les Courants d’Airs and La Petite Suite (conductor Olivier Plaisant). Clare also participates in gala concerts for humanitarian and charitable causes (Les Enfants d’Harlequin, Paris, 1999; La Sève et le Rameau, 2008; and a charity for Parkinsons, London, UK, 2018).

 

With pianist David Harper and cellist Thomas Pierard, Clare recently made a recording for the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease for the commemoration of their Centennial in 2020. Subtitled 'The Lyric History of a Disease', this collaboration is a comprehensive selection of vocal music, both song and opera, by composers and poets affected by tuberculosis (La Bohème, Traviata, Catalani, Von Weber, Grieg, Chopin, Purcell…). A second CD of duets by Brahms, Schumann, Mendelssohn and Dvořák, recorded with her sister Catherine Pierard, mezzo-soprano, and David Harper, piano, came out in 2018. Clare participates regularly in the summer festival Concerts dans la Serre de Cary Potet, at Buxy (Burgundy), of which she is a founding member.