Tessa Bonner RIP
It is with deep sorrow that we announce the death of the renowned early music soprano, Tessa Bonner, at the age of 57.
The family of Tessa Bonner have issued the following notice:
"After secretarial training at the BBC Tessa worked as a production assistant on such programmes as Blue Peter and Face the Music, and then, as a mature student, obtained a music degree at Leeds University. Her first instrument had been the piano (a junior exhibitioner at the London College of Music) but she had sung in the local choral society since the age of sixteen and also with the BBC Symphony Chorus. It was at Leeds that she turned towards vocal study and took singing lessons with Honor Sheppard of The Deller Consort. Returning to London, she attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where her teachers were Margaret Lensky and Ellis Keeler. She sang professionally with many ensembles, including the Taverner Consort, The Tallis Scholars (over one thousand concerts), the New London Consort, the Lute Group, the Gabrieli Consort, The King's Consort, and Musica Secreta. As a soloist her numerous recordings include Monteverdi's 1610 Vespers (for The Taverner Consort, The Gabrieli Consort and The New London Consort), Orfeo and Il Ballo delle Ingrate with the New London Consort, Bach's St John Passion with the Taverner Consort, the Purcell Odes with the King's Consort, the Vivaldi Gloria and Bach Magnificat with Richard Hickox, and Purcell's sacred music with Philippe Herreweghe.
In January of 2008 she was diagnosed with oral cancer and, after major surgery, returned to the concert stage in May. She sang her last concert on November 27th and the following day was admitted to Lewisham Hospital and was diagnosed with a new and totally unrelated cancer. She returned home on December 22nd where she was cared for by Laura, her daughter; Peggy, her mother; and Don, her long-time partner. She died peacefully on December 31st."
Tessa's family have requested that those wishing to make a donation in her memory should support the St Christopher's Hospice without whose extraordinary support they would never have managed to provide the care necessary for Tessa to be able to stay at home during her last days. Donations can be made online by clicking on this link:
https://www.stchristophers.org.uk/page.cfm/Action=Form/FormID=7/t=m
Tessa sang with The Tallis Scholars in Bath Abbey on 10th June 1983, the first of exactly 1,100 concerts with the group. Her last performance was with The Tallis Scholars on 27 November 2008 in the Church of St James the Greater, Leicester. Tessa also recorded 37 CDs with The Tallis Scholars for Gimell Records.
On hearing the news, Peter Phillips said, 'it is almost impossible to pay adequate tribute to a singer who for 25 years played such a central role in the life of the Tallis Scholars: her voice went a long way towards characterising the sound of the whole group'.
