Maxine Handy

Triple-Portrait of a Countertenor Maxine Handy

Triple-Portrait traces over time a unique empathy with the voice of world-renowned countertenor James Bowman. First entranced by his May 1972 live performance of the Britten/Purcell realisation Sweeter Than Roses, the author later commissioned a Scena to mark his 50th birthday. A decade of creative contact followed, during which, James made his ecstatic music personal and even more beautiful, wrapping his listener in the dignity of Art. Describing his bass speaking voice as like a cavern in which his alto voice resonates, this transformation was expressed in the author's vision of James Bowman as Leonardo's The Virgin of the Rocks: a glorious Old Master, fading with time to become an ever more beautiful Masterpiece. Beginning with boyhood at Ely, we journey from the fens to James' alter ego Oberon, and conclude with his last London recital. Triple-Portrait meditates on what David Munrow called 'The most wonderful noise in the Universe'.