Rachel Zeffira (born Rachel Anne Santesso) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

soprano, composer and multi-instrumentalist, currently based in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. She is also one half of the duo Cat's Eyes, the other being

Faris Badwan Faris Adam Derar Badwan (born 21 September 1986) is an English musician, best known as the lead vocalist of the Horrors, and more recently as half of Cat's Eyes. Early life Born in Bexley, Kent on 21 September 1986 to a Palestinian father and ...

the Horrors The Horrors are an English rock band formed in Southend-on-Sea in 2005, consisting of lead vocalist Faris Badwan, guitarist Joshua Hayward, keyboardist and synthesizer player Tom Furse, bassist Rhys Webb, and drummer and percussionist Joe Spu ...

Life and work

Early life

Zeffira studied voice and organ at the Conservatorio Di Musica F.E. Dall'Abaco di

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

and

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. ...

at the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary insti ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and in 2001, founded the

Capital Children's Choir The Capital Children's Choir is a children's choir based in London, England. The choir was founded in 2001 by Artistic Director Rachel Santesso and is currently made up of 120 members aged seven to eighteen. As well as performing classical repert ...

, which she also directs. Several videos of the choir's covers of contemporary songs such as "Chances" and "Untrust Us" received media attention and went viral. Zeffira released several albums with the Capital Children's Choir, and in 2015, the choir performed on the soundtrack for the film '' Pan''. As a soprano, she released two albums, ''The Songs of Louis Vierne'' (2005) and ''The Sacred Heart of Nino Rota'' (2007). Zeffira taught briefly at a primary school in

, where she taught a young

Lily Allen Lily Rose Beatrice Allen (born 2 May 1985) is an English singer-songwriter and actress. She is the daughter of actor Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. Her music career began in 2005 when she made some of her vocal recordings public ...

, who has credited Zeffira as a

mentor Mentorship is the influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. In an organizational setting, a mentor influences the personal and p ...

Cat's Eyes

While Zeffira was working as an opera singer and classical musician, she met Badwan. The two friends began to write songs together and formed the band Cat's Eyes. The duo made their first public appearance at the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

, where they performed one of their songs as a mass setting, with

church organ Carol Williams performing at the United States Military Academy West Point Cadet Chapel.">West_Point_Cadet_Chapel.html" ;"title="United States Military Academy West Point Cadet Chapel">United States Military Academy West Point Cadet Chapel. ...

and choir during a service at

St. Peter's Basilica The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican ( it, Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply Saint Peter's Basilica ( la, Basilica Sancti Petri), is a church built in the Renaissance style located in Vatican City, the papal e ...

. Cat's Eyes were signed by

Polydor Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States ...

in 2010 and released their eponymous debut album in April 2011. The album received positive press and critical acclaim. During this time, Zeffira appeared in ''

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'' magazine, and was shot by the photographer Rankin for the cover of '' Dazed & Confused'' alongside Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream.

Solo work

Zeffira's first solo album, ''The Deserters'', was released 10 December 2012 on RAF Records in Europe and

Paper Bag Records Paper Bag Records is a Canadian independent record label, artist-management company, and music publisher founded in 2002 and based in Toronto. History The label was created to focus on the Toronto-area indie rock music scene. Initial signing ...

in North America. The title track was chosen for the trailer to the final season of the TV program '' Skins''. Zeffira received positive press for the debut and the album was listed in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' Top 5 albums of 2012 in spite of its late release date. Zeffira also received critical praise for her live performances. In June 2013. she was the opening act for

Glastonbury Festival 2013 The 2013 Glastonbury Festival, Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts was held from 26 to 30 June 2013. It followed a fallow year, in which there was no festival. Ticket sales On 20 June 2012 it was announced that tickets for the ...

. In April 2013, Zeffira made her American radio debut on

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

's ''

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'', and later made her Canadian radio debut with a live session on

CBC Radio One CBC Radio One is the English-language news and information radio network of the publicly owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is commercial-free and offers local and national programming. It is available on AM and FM to 98 percent of C ...

show '' Q'' with

Jian Ghomeshi Jian Ghomeshi (born June 9, 1967) is a British-born Persian-Canadian broadcaster, writer, musician, producer and former CBC personality. From 1990 to 2000, he was a vocalist and drummer in the Thornhill-based folk-pop band Moxy Früvous. In ...

Film score compositions

Zeffira is listed as composer, arranger, orchestrator, conductor, musician and soprano on the Cat's Eyes soundtrack (released in February 2015) for the 2014 film ''

The Duke of Burgundy ''The Duke of Burgundy'' is a 2014 British erotic romance drama film written and directed by Peter Strickland, and starring Sidse Babett Knudsen as Cynthia and Chiara D'Anna as Evelyn. The film was screened at various film festivals, includin ...

'', directed by Peter Strickland. The score received positive press and majority 5-star reviews. On 7 November 2015, it was announced that Zeffira and Badwan had won the

European Film Award for Best Composer The European Film Award for Best Composer is one of the awards presented by the European Film Academy. It was first presented as a Special Jury Award in 1998 received by Yuri Khanon for the music of '' Days of Eclipse''. A set of nominees was pre ...

Discography

As conductor and choral arranger

Cat's Eyes

* '' Broken Glass'' EP (2011, Polydor) * '' Cat's Eyes'' (2011,

) * ''

'' (2015, RAF/

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) * '' Treasure House'' (2016,

Kobalt Label Services Kobalt Music Recordings is a division of Kobalt Music Group. KLS provides record label services to artists, receiving a share of revenues, while allowing artists to retain ownership of their master recordings. The company was founded in 2012 wh ...

)

Solo

* ''The Deserters'' (2012, RAF)

Singles

*"Here on In" (2012, RAF) *"Break the Spell" (2012, RAF)

References

Other sources

* Lanham, Tom
"The Horrors’ Faris Badwan sees new success with Cat’s Eyes"
''

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''. 2 February 2011. *

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

interview
"Horrors' Faris Badwan launches new band at the Vatican"
24 January 2011.

External links

Cat's Eyes official website

WNYC interview in the Soundcheck studio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zeffira, Rachel British women singers Living people Year of birth missing (living people) British sopranos Canadian sopranos Canadian people of Italian descent Paper Bag Records artists 21st-century British conductors (music) British women conductors (music) Canadian women conductors (music) 21st-century women musicians