Rachel Zeffira (born Rachel Anne Santesso) is a

Canadian Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

, composer and multi-instrumentalist, currently based in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. 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 as half of the duo Cat's Eyes. Early life Born in Bexley, Kent on 21 September 1986 to a Palestinian father and Englis ...

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

Life and work

Early life

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

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, 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 type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...

at the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay, British Columbia, Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1903 as Victoria College, British Columbia, Victoria Col ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. She is a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a learned society that champions innovation and progress across a multitude of sectors by fostering creativity, s ...

, 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. List of awards and nominations received by Lily Allen, Her accolades include a Brit Award, alongside nominations for a Grammy Award and a Laurence Olivi ...

, who has credited Zeffira as a

mentor Mentorship is the patronage, 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 perso ...

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: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...

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

church organ Carol Williams performing at the West_Point_Cadet_Chapel.html" ;"title="United States Military Academy West Point Cadet Chapel">United States Military Academy West Point Cadet Chapel. In music, the organ is a keyboard instrument of one or mo ...

and choir during a service at

St. Peter's Basilica The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican (), or simply St. Peter's Basilica (; ), is a church of the Italian High Renaissance located in Vatican City, an independent microstate enclaved within the city of Rome, Italy. It was initiall ...

. Cat's Eyes were signed by

Polydor Polydor Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a 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 ...

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 Robert Gillespie ( ; born 22 June 1961) is a Scottish musician, singer-songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He is the lead singer, founding member, primary lyricist, and sole continuous member of the alternative rock band Primal Scream. He wa ...

Primal Scream Primal Scream are a Scottish rock music, rock band originally formed in 1982 in Glasgow by Bobby Gillespie (vocals) and Jim Beattie (musician), Jim Beattie (guitar). The band's current lineup consists of Gillespie, Andrew Innes (guitar), Simon ...

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 publishing company founded in 2002 and based in Toronto. History The label was created to focus on the Toronto-area indie rock music scene. Initial si ...

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 Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' 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 28 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 th ...

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

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

's ''

All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...

'', 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 o ...

show '' Q'' with

Jian Ghomeshi Jian Ghomeshi (born June 9, 1967) is a 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 the 2000s, he became ...

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, includi ...

'', 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 pres ...

Discography

As conductor and choral arranger

Cat's Eyes

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

) * ''

'' (2015, RAF/

Caroline International Caroline may refer to: People * Caroline (singer) (born 1981), Japanese glitch pop musician * Caroline (given name), a feminine given name * J. C. Caroline (1933–2017), American football player * Jamie Caroline (born 1999), British racing driv ...

) * '' 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"
''

The San Francisco Examiner The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and has been published since 1863. Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst and the flagship of the H ...

''. 2 February 2011. *

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

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