SOLOISTS

Lymington Choral Society enjoys the loyalty of a number of talented professional performers

Scroll down for a list of soloists who have appeared with the Society since 1992

After her A levels at King James’s College of  Henley,  Meryl Davies continued her studies at Trinity College of Music in London as a violinist and singer, training with Wendy Eathorne, with whom she continues to study. She has performed as soloist in many major works including the Mozart Requiem, the C minor Mass and the Brahms Requiem at Southwark Cathedral, and was invited by Sir David Willcocks to be the soloist at a Christmas concert in Poole. Her fine musicianship has enabled her to perform Twentieth Century music, including the role of Miss Beswick in Malcom Williamson’s “English Eccentrics” conducted by Lionel Friend at the Kings Theatre and she has recorded for composer Keith Hearne. Along with German lieder and French song Meryl also includes in her recital programmes music by contemporary composers such as Anton Tucapsky and Ricky Brafman. Her many concert appearances have included works by Handel, Bach, Haydn, Rossini, Faure and Mozart and her imaginative rendering of the role of Don’ Elvira in Opera Inside Out’s production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Marlborough Festival received rave reviews. She is a founder member of choral group Aliquando whose inaugural concert later this year will include Karl Jenkins’ Stabat Mater.

Stephen Brown studied at Trinity College, London and then at the Benjamin Britten International Opera School at the Royal College of Music. His career has led to roles with companies such as Almeida Opera, Kent Opera, Opera Della Luna, Castleward Opera, Raymond Gubbay at the Albert Hall, Garsington Festival, Carl Rosa Opera and the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.

 Stephen’s opera roles include Nemorino L'Elisir D'Amore, Don Ramiro La Cenerentola, Ernesto Don Pasquale and Tom Rakewell The Rake’s Progress. For Gyndebourne he has sung Pedro in Prokofiev’s Betrothal in a Monastery, Peter Quint (cover) The Turn of the Screw and Lysander (cover) A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  More recently, Elder Hayes Susannah for English Touring Opera, Belmonte Die Entführung aus dem Serail for Opera de Baugè in France, Lt Pinkerton Madama Butterfly and Alfredo La Traviata.

On the concert platform, Stephen has sung in all of the UK’s major Concert Halls and Cathedrals.  He has sung most of the major concert repertoire and is a regular for Raymond Gubbay’s concerts at the Barbican, Bridgewater Hall and Symphony Hall, Birmingham.  He regularly sings Bach’s Evangelists and Elgar’s Gerontius.  Some highlights include Verdi’s Requiem at the Barbican, Handel's Messiah in Romania, Rossini's Stabat Mater in Norway, Stradella's San Giovanni Battista in Jerusalem, Beethoven's 9th Symphony in Spain and Bach's Matthäus Passion in Iceland and in London with Peter Schreier.

Mezzo soprano Susan Legg studied piano with Clifford Benson and later with Phyllis Sellick at the Royal College of Music where she won several piano prizes. Vocal studies with Margaret Kingsley continued at the National Opera Studio after winning the National Mozart Singing Competition.

Susan has enjoyed operatic engagements with Glyndebourne, Bayreuth, Wexford Festivals and the Walton Trust, Ischia. Awards include the Richard Tauber Schubert Society Prize, Tillett Trust’s Young Artists Platform and the finals of the Kathleen Ferrier Awards and Belvedere International Singing Competition, Vienna.              

Susan has given recitals at the Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room, St. John, Smith’s Square and St. James’s Palace and for most major UK music and poetry festivals. She is an experienced oratorio and recital soloist and has broadcast for BBC and Norwegian Radio as well as recording soundtracks for the multiple award winning computer game GTR2.  

With pianist Ann Martin-Davis, Susan received international acclaim for a CD of Lutosławski chamber music for ASV Label. The duo recently commissioned song-cycles by Graham Fitkin, Howard Skempton and Gabriel Jackson and will be recording for Nimbus later this year.

Described as ‘a star in the making’ (The Age, 28 September 2004), Australian baritone Derek Welton is 24 years old and is a graduate of the University of Melbourne, holding a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in German and Linguistics.

Operatic roles Derek has performed include Mozart’s Count Almaviva (The Marriage of Figaro), Masetto (Don Giovanni), Guglielmo (Così fan tutte) and Papageno (The Magic Flute), all in Melbourne, and the title role of Salieri’s Falstaff (Dunedin, New Zealand), for which he was described as ‘majestic in the title role … opulent, authoritative tone, liquid legato, impressive agility and near-flawless English diction combining to create a memorable performance ... Welton indulges all the same in some brilliant buffoonery … a natural stage animal in remarkable command of his material who deserves a shining future’ (Prima la musica, poi le parole, 27 March 2006).

Derek relocated to London in August 2006 to commence postgraduate study at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, to which he won a full scholarship in the final of the 2005 Australian Singing Competition (Sydney).  Other competition successes include winning the the Runner-up Award (2005) and Encouragement Award (2004) in the Herald Sun Aria (Melbourne) and winning the 2004 Australian Youth Aria, the 2005 Boroondara Vocal Championship and the 2005 Geelong Aria.

Derek’s concert repertoire includes performances as soloist in diverse repertoire ranging from Charpentier to Tavener and including Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Magnificat, St John Passion and St Matthew Passion, Brahms’s Ein Deutsches Requiem, Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, Händel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Creation and Nelson Mass, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Rossini’s Stabat Mater.

Derek gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the Guildhall School Trust and The Sheila White Award as well as the forthcoming support of the Tillett Trust and the Marten Bequest.

Joanne Corbin (A.L.C.M, L.L.C.M) has been the rehearsal pianist for Lymington Choral Society for the last 3 years.  She has lived in the area almost all her life and also plays for the Brockenhurst Choir, RMDS choir ( Ringwood) and the  Grange Choral Society as well as accompanying local amateur dramatics groups. She is married with a young son.

Mark Hammond was born in Bournemouth. He began learning the organ with Geoffrey Tristram at Christchurch Priory, where he was a chorister and later Assistant Organist. He was also accompanist for the Highcliffe Junior Choir for many years.

Mark was a student on the Hampshire Specialist Music Course at Peter Symonds’ College in Winchester, studying with Martin Neary. He read music at Peterhouse, Cambridge University, where he was Organ Scholar. While at Cambridge, studying with David Sanger, Mark obtained his Fellowship of the Royal College of Organists. After graduating, he went to Durham University where he obtained his Postgraduate Certificate in Education.  

Since 1988, Mark has been Assistant Director of Music at St Margaret’s School in Hertfordshire, a girls’ independent school. With the school’s Chapel Choir he has performed in such venues as St Paul’s Cathedral, York Minster, St Alban’s Cathedral and St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh and has made several recordings. Mark also specialises in piano accompanying and is a Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music.

Since 2000 Mark has been organist of St Edmund’s Church in Northwood Hills, Middlesex.

Christina Shand (Soprano) graduated with First Class Honours from Trinity College of Music where she studied under Wendy Eathorne. At fourteen she had already sung the role of Flora in Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw and went on in her final year at school to perform the title role of the Governess.  Recent roles have included an adapted Priestess part for Priory Opera’s production of The Magic Flute, Blanche (Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites), the Queen of the Night in a production of The Magic Flute in Abingdon, Despina (Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte), Anne Truelove in a performance of excerpts from The Rake’s Progress and Lucy in Bitesize Opera’s production of The Telephone. Performances as soloist with orchestra include David Fanshawe’s African Sanctus, Vivaldi’s Nulla in Mundo Pax Sincera and  Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasilieiras No. 5.  She has worked under many renowned conductors including Lorin Maazel and James Judd, and has appeared with the Royal Philharmonic Chorus at the Royal Festival Hall.  Future engagements include a series of recitals in 2010 to support Ataxia UK and the Elizabeth Foundation.

Natalia Brzezinska (Mezzo) joined the Royal Academy Opera in September 2008. She graduated with distinction in vocal studies from the Music Academy in Lodz (Poland) before coming to the UK in 2006 to take up postgraduate studies with Anne Howells and Mary Hill at the Academy. She was a finalist in The Richard Lewis Competition (2008, 2009) and highly commended in The Flora Nielsen / Elena Gerhardt Prize Competition (2008). In addition to an extensive concert reprertoire, operatic roles include Berta in Rossini’s Barber of Seville and Fidalma in Cimarosa’s The Secret Marriage. For fifteen years Natalia has been a member of Con Vigore, a specialist chamber choir of twelve voices performing a wide range of repertoire from Gregorian chant to contemporary works at prestigious venues across the world. She has participated in masterclasses with Jadwiga Rappé, Diane Forlano, Malcolm Martineau, Rosamund Illing and Dennis O’Neill. In the last six years she has featured in the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival in Germany. As the mezzo Bach Scholar, she performs regularly as a soloist in the Royal Academy of Music/Kohn Foundation Bach Cantata Series.

Peter Davoren (Tenor) grew up in London and received early vocal training as a member of the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School’s Schola Cantorum. After the Vaughan, he went on to the University of Leeds to study Music, studying vocal studies with Alison Chamberlain, and graduated in 2007 with honours. As well as his singing, Peter was also the conducting scholar at St. Anne’s R.C. Cathedral under the direction of Benjamin Saunders, and was also the director for the University Chamber Choir, conducting Tallis’ Spem in alium in St Anne’s Cathedral and performing in many concert tours. As a soloist his work has included Schubert’s Die Schöne Müllerin, Schumann’s Myrten Lieder Wolf’s Mörike-Lieder, Mozart’s Requiem, Litaniae Lauretanae, Dvorak’s Stabet Mater Mendelssohn’s Walpurges Nacht, Elijah, Handel’s Messiah, Belshazzar, Finzi’s Dies Natalis, Puccini’s Messe di Gloria, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle, Bach’s B minor Mass, Christmas Oratorio, St John Passion, and many more. Operatically, he has performed as Don Basilio in The Marriage of Figaro and Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni and Don Jose in Bizet’s Carmen. Peter is currently a student on the postgraduate course at the Royal Academy of Music studying with Neil Mackie and Mary Hill.

Philip Tebb (Bass) studied Music at Durham University, where he was a Choral Scholar at the Cathedral, and at the Royal College of Music on the Benjamin Britten International Opera School with Russell Smythe. His studies at RCM were generously supported by the Anne Clayton Award, Stanley Picker Trust Award, the Audrey Sacher Award and the Josephine Baker Trust. At RCM he appeared in masterclasses with Valerie Masterson, James Oxley, Graham Johnson, Patrica McMahon and Petra Lang. Philip sang the roles of Demetrius in Britten A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Harasta in Janacek The Cunning Little Vixen; Nicandro in Handel Atalanta (as part of the London Handel Festival); Father Trulove in Stravinsky The Rake’s Progress and Antonio in Mozart Le Nozze di Figaro, and in scenes: Silvio, Leoncavallo Pagliacci; Zurga, Bizet Les Pecheurs de Perles; Don Alfonso, Mozart Cosi fan tutte and Demetrius Britten A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Professional opera work includes chorus with ENO, Salzburg Festival, Garsington Opera and Grange Park Opera. Last year he sang the role of Schaunard in Puccini’s La Boheme with Wedmore Opera. In October last year Philip performed Mahler Kindertotenlieder with the RCM Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Roger Norrington at St John’s Smith Square. Philip is in great demand as an oratorio soloist with many choral societies

Sally Bartholomew (Bassoon) studied the bassoon at the Royal Northern College of Music under Edward Warren and Alan Pendlebury.  Whilst at college she won the Mamie Woods prize for bassoon and further awards with the Darius Wind Quintet.  She has worked as a freelance player with many UK orchestras, including the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.  Sally is the bassoonist with Chamberhouse Winds, a wind quintet with a busy schedule of concerts in music clubs and societies.  As well as her playing career Sally enjoys teaching music to pre-school children and is involved in a variety of other education work.

Kate Flanaghan (harp) has played with orchestras including the English Sinfonia, the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, the Guildhall Symphony Orchestra and the Sarum Orchestra, working with conductors such as Marin Alsop, George Benjamin and Andrew Litton, and performing in the major concert halls in Great Britain.She has also recorded two CDs with Sarum Voices, with works including Bernstein Chichester Psalms, Janecek Otcenas and Britten Ceremony of Carols which was highly recommended on BBC Radio 3’s “Building A Library”. Katie has recently graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where she studied with Charlotte Seale. She is now continuing her harp studies with the renowned
harpist Sioned Williams.

James Oldfield (Bass-baritone) James studied at Leicester Grammar School whilst a chorister at the neighbouring Cathedral. He then held a choral scholarship at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he read Geography. James is now in his final term at the Benjamin Britten International Opera School (BBIOS) at the Royal College of Music, for whom he has played Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro, Nick Shadow in Stravinksy The Rake’s Progress, Forester in Janácek The Cunning Little Vixen and Clito in Handel Alessandro. His studies at the BBIOS have been generously supported by the Josephine Baker and Rosemary Bugden trusts. This year James holds the inaugural Independent Opera Scholarship, as well as a Sybil Tutton Award, administered by the Musicians Benevolent Fund. James’ recent concert engagements include Haydn Nelson Mass (Royal Philharmonic Orchestra), a Purcell programme at the Wigmore Hall, Sibelius Kullervo (King’s College, Cambridge), Mozart Requiem (Westminster Abbey), Tippett Five Negro Spirituals (Cadogan Hall) and a workshop on The Rake’s Progress for the National Theatre. He previously performed Messiah with Lymington Choral Society. James’ future engagements include Haydn Nelson Mass in Sheffield, Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream for BBIOS, Bruschino in Rossini Il Signor Bruschino for British Youth Opera and Figaro for Garsington Opera. For further information please see James’ website: www.james-oldfield.com

Born in Middlesbrough, Helen Bailey (Soprano) is currently a scholarship student at Trinity College of Music, London, studying on the Advanced Postgraduate Diploma course under the tutelage of Wendy Eathorne and Robert Aldwinckle. Helen holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Performance from Trinity College of Music where she was supported by a TCM scholarship and was the recipient of the Molly Ayes Trust Fund Bursary. Before coming to London, Helen read English Literature and Cultural History at Liverpool John Moores University, graduating in 2004 with First Class Honours. Opera roles include Anne Truelove in Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress, Micaela Carmen, Dido Dido and Aeneas and Dorabella Cosi Fan Tutte. Helen performs regularly as a soloist and recently performed Chausson's Chanson Perpetuelle as part of the TCM French Chamber Music Festival. Past solo engagements include Barber's symphonic cycle Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Beethoven Mass in C, Barber Hermit Songs, Handel Messiah, Britten Our Hunting Fathers, Pergolesi Stabat Mater, Britten The Company of Heaven, Mozart Requiem and the UK premier of Wurtz's Message From The Soul.Future engagements include Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro (OperaGold), Eurydice (cover) in Orfeo ed Eurydice (Blackheath Halls Opera) and the title role in Carlysle Floyd's Susannah with Hampstead Garden Opera. Helen has just been accepted to study full time on the MA course at the Royal Academy of Music in September 2009.

Thomas Hobbs (Tenor) was born and brought up in Exeter and started musical life as a trumpeter. He began singing at age sixteen, studying with Brian Northcott and deputising in Exeter’s Cathedral Choir. Thomas recently graduated in history from King’s College London. He also studied singing with Ian Partridge and now studies with Neil Mackie at the Royal College of Music where he is the RCM Peter Pears Scholar. Thomas is supported by the Josephine Baker Trust. He has recently been awarded a Susan Chilcott Scholarship, made a Royal Philharmonic Society Young Artist and given a Music Education Award from the Musicians Benevolent Fund. He is increasingly in demand as a consort singer and soloist in both England and abroad.

As a consort singer he has performed with many leading ensembles including The Cardinall’s Musick, The Tallis Scholars, The Sixteen, Polyphony, Ex-Cathedra and Ensemble Plus Ultra to name but a few. He has also recorded extensively for labels including Hyperion, ASV, Decca and Glossa.

As a soloist, Thomas’s repertoire is varied. Recent concert engagements include the role of Evangelist in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion in Exeter Cathedral and in Rennes, the reconstructed Bach St. Mark Passion at St John’s Smith Square, Monteverdi’s Vespers in the Three Choirs Fesitval, Finzi’s Dies Natalis, Beethoven’s Choral Symphony and Berlioz Te Deum, whilst in recital he has given performances of Schubert’s Die Schˆne M¸llerin, Schumann’s Liederkreis Op.39, Vaughan Williams’s On Wenlock Edge, Finzi’s Young Man’s Exhortaion and Britten’s Abraham and Isaac. On Stage, he has performed the role of Acis in Handel’s Acis and Galatea, and Ferrando, Cosi Fan Tutte and Conte, Barber of Seville for RCM opera scenes. Future plans range from productions at the RCM to lieder recitals and concert appearances both in England and abroad. Highlights will include Handel’s Saul at St John’s Smith Square, On Wenlock Edge with the Edinburgh Quartet in Aberdeen and Edinburgh, Carmina Burana in Norwich Cathedral and St John Passion in Edinburgh, London and the South West.

Karina Lucas (Mezzo Soprano) is from London and is of Spanish and English parentage. She studied at the National Opera Studio in 2005 where her studies were supported by the Peter Moores Foundation and Glyndebourne. Previously, she trained at the Royal Northern College of where she graduated with a First Class Honours Degree and with Distinction for her Post Graduate Diploma. She now studies with Graeme Danby. Karina appears regularly throughout the country with solo performances in opera and oratorio.

Roles include Pinocchio (The adventures of Pinocchio) and 3^rd Lady (Magic Flute) for Opera North; Sara (Tobias and the Angel) for the Young Vic and the Oundle Festival; Dorabella (Cosi fan tutte) and Leila (Iolanthe) for Grange Park Opera; Witch (Macbeth) and cover Rosina and Zerlina for Scottish Opera; Baba the Turk (The Rakes Progress) at the RNCM.

Her concert performances include Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music (Wigmore Hall); solo recitals of song at Ripon Cathedral, The Purcell Room and St Martin-in-the-Fields; Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer for Stockport Symphony Orchestra and Elgar’s Sea Pictures for Bath Philharmonia.

Solo performances in Oratorio include Rachmaninov’s Vespers and Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb (Huddersfield Choral Society - Martyn Brabbins), Mozart’s Requiem (Viva - Nicholas Kok);  Mendelssohn’s Elijah (Ulverston Choral Society and the St Peters Singers, Heswall); Bach’s St John Passion (Sheffield Bach Choir): Handel’s Messiah (Salford and Blackburn Choral Societies); Bach’s B minor Mass (Formby Choral Society); Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle and Vivaldi’s Gloria (Wetherby Choral Society), Haydn’s Nelson Mass (Ripon Cathedral); Rossini’s Stabat Marter and Elgar’s Music Makers (Lythm Choral Society): Bach’s Magnificat (Oxford Harmonic Society) and Jenkins’ The Armed Man and Rutter’s Requiem (Brockenhurst Choral Society).

Although he is the piano soloist in tonight’s performance of the Choral Fantasia, Geoffrey Pratley (Piano), born in Essex, has been well-known to concertgoers for over four decades as one of Britain’s leading accompanists and duo pianists. Even before completing his studies at the Royal Academy of Music he was invited to teach piano accompaniment and coach singers there, retiring only in 2005. In his last year as President of the RAM Club he organised a Warlockathon – a performance by RAM students on Peter Warlock’s 111th birthday of all 123 songs by this great songwriter. Among the hundreds of RAM students he coached during 40 years is the famous Welsh mezzo Katherine Jenkins, now known worldwide.   In his performing career he has accompanied many of the world’s top artists, especially the great French cellist Paul Tortelier and Dame Janet Baker, the top British mezzo of her time, both for 24 years in concerts and broadcasts on radio and television in many countries, notably in Tortelier’s memorable TV Cello Masterclasses. He partnered the famous British violinist Ralph Holmes in dozens of recitals for 20 years till his tragic death in 1984. Other world class artists include Jack Brymer, Leon Goossens, Rita Streich,  Placido Domingo (at his first concert in Britain in 1968) and the brilliant blind violinst Takayoshi Wanami, amongst many others.

One of his earliest recitals was for Lymington Music Club on December 4th 1961 when he played for the Canadian violinist Dennis Simons, both 3rd year RAM students at the time.  Dennis’s E string suddenly broke during  Ravel’s Tzigane, and he went off to replace it; when Geoffrey stayed seated rather shyly at the piano, the club secretary came over and whispered in his ear. Next day Dennis told his teacher that he had never before played Ravel’s Tzigane with a break halfway for a Chopin Nocturne!     

Since 1990 Geoffrey has taught at Trinity College of Music, and has examined for the Associated Board since 1971, undertaking 25 foreign tours to many parts of the world. In August he will be examining in China, and next year he will visit the Arabian Gulf States. His recital arrangements of vocal and instrumental works are published by OUP, Faber, Stainer and Bell, and Kevin Mayhew. He is a busy Festival adjudicator, and gives frequent masterclasses for performers as well as demonstration seminars for piano teachers on examination pieces and exam matters. He has a piano duet partnership with the pianist Anne Applin and they give recitals for clubs as well as 2-3 day duet courses and duet days around the country. 

Alice Pratley (Violin) was born in London and started playing the violin at the age of three. 5 years later she won a scholarship to the Junior Department at the Royal Academy of Music, where she studied for the next nine years. During this period she also pursued and won awards for singing, piano and composition. She continued her tuition at the Royal College of Music where she studied with Frances Mason and Rodney Friend and held many principal positions in the RCM orchestras and ensembles.

 Since graduating from the RCM in 1998, she has played extensively throughout Europe and has worked with several UK orchestras including the BBC Concert Orchestra.

In 2003, she collaborated with her colleagues to form the Sound Collective, a small orchestra committed to giving maximum rehearsal time to a programme combining less well known works by the great masters with contemporary music. World and London Premieres have included music by John Simpson, Matthew Taylor and Luke Anthony.

Alice has also performed with a number of theatre companies across the UK, notably at the National Theatre and as solo violinist for an award winning production at the Edinburgh festival.

For the last 10 years, Alice has been a member of the string quartet “Graffiti Classics”. They were sponsored by Live Music Now! (Yehudi Menhuin’s scheme for young professional musicians) for five years and regularly toured the UK with particular interest in children and adults with special needs.

The group’s TV debut appearance on ‘The Late Late Show’ in 1999 led to frequent performances on Irish TV and they toured Ireland extensively with their own education scheme. To date they have performed to nearly half a million primary school children.

Graffiti Classics also made their prom debut in St David’s Hall, Cardiff, in 1999 and shortly after were honoured to become the first musicians to perform at the Welsh Assembly.

In 2002, they were approached by Naxos to arrange and record a CD of music by the Norwegian composer, Thorbjorn Egner. This was launched to great acclaim and subsequently they performed many sold out concerts throughout Norway.

They continued to expand their flair for entertainment and were soon performing at numerous Festivals and Theatres and in 2004 they performed in 29 countries all over the world.

Alice has performed, recorded and arranged material with many international artists of different genres ranging from Meatloaf to Shapeshifters to Amy Winehouse. She also played the violin on a few films including ‘Bridget Jones’.

Since 1999 Alice has also toured extensively with The Bold Balladiers, Michael Goldthorpe’s Victorian and Edwardian ensemble.

Tamsin Coombs (Soprano) was born in London and studied at both Trinity College of Music and the Royal College of Music. She currently studies with Philip Doghan. 

Tamsin made her Glyndebourne debut as Barbarina and has since performed the roles of Alice/ Le Comte Ory , Tina /Flight and the Cretian Woman/Idomeneo for them. Roles for other companies include Ninetta /La Finta Semplice for the Classical Opera Company at the Linbury Studio ROH, Susanna in Figaro’s Wedding for the Savoy Opera Company, Mimi/ La Boheme for English Touring Opera and Opera Theatre Company Dublin, Morgana/Alcina for English Touring Opera, Estrella in Schubert’s Opera Alfonso und Estrella for University College Opera, Isabella in The Taming of the Shrew for Bampton Opera and Echo in Ariadne auf Naxos for Garsington Opera. For English National Opera she has covered the roles of Ginevra in Ariodante, Cupid/Nymph in King Arthur and Susanna in Figaro's Wedding. She has performed recitals and oratorios throughout England and France. Tamsin is now a member of the Royal Opera House chorus.

Andrew Rupp (Baritone) was born in Canterbury and started singing there as a Cathedral Chorister. He was subsequently a choral scholar at St John’s College, Cambridge where he also studied Natural Sciences.

In 1996 Andrew gave up a career in the City and made his operatic debut as The Vicar in Britten’s Albert Herring for British Youth Opera.

He has a wide concert and oratorio repertoire and has performed throughout the UK and Europe as well as in the USA and the Far East. Recent concert appearances include The Dream of Gerontius in Canterbury and Five Mystical Songs in Wells, London, Canterbury, Marlborough and Malvern along with Handel’s Acis and Galatea and Britten’s Praise we great men for the Aldeburgh Festival. He was a soloist in the première of The Veil of the Temple and in its revivals in New York, the Royal Albert Hall, and festivals in Amsterdam and Brighton. He premièred Tavener’s Hymn of Dawn at the Waterfront Hall, Belfast. He has also recently performed The Sea Symphony at both the Royal Festival Hall with the RPO and the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, the work‘s Chinese debut.

Earlier this year he sang the role of Sharpless in Raymond Gubbay’s production of Madam Butterfly at the Royal Albert Hall. He is currently touring with a production of Boesmann's Miss Julie, including performances at The ROH Linbury Theatre. In the New Year he is due to appear as Balstrode in Opera North's production of Peter Grimes. Other forthcoming engagements include Aeneas in Dido & Aeneas at the Temple in London and Dancairo in Carmen at the Royal Albert Hall.

Andrew is a member of the BBC Singers and lives in Lewes

After studying  ‘cello and voice at the Trinity College of Music Junior Department, Sam Boden initially commenced his studies as a chef.  At nineteen, however, he decided to return to his primary interest and Trinity’s senior college.  Under the tuition of John Wakefield,Sam gained first class honours for his BMus degree in the summer of 2006. Sam has sung the tenor solo in Tippett’s Child of Our Time, Monteverdi’s Vespers, Britten’s War Requiem and various smaller roles including several solo recitals. He won the Ricordi Opera Prize in 2005 for his portrayal of the title role in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo to great critical acclaim in Opera Now magazine.

Other roles include ‘Der Knirps’ in Das Wundertheater by Henze and ‘Billy’ in Kurt Weill’s Mahagonny Songspiel at the International ‘Cantiere’ Festival in Montepulciano, Italy, under Jan Latham-Koenig and Alfred Kirchner. Sam has recently finished a tour of the UK with English Touring Opera, playing the role of ‘Orfeo’ in their outreach project, Crossing the Styx’. His forthcoming engagements include several solo recitals and the tenor solo in Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle.  He will also be taking part in the ‘Songmaker’s Almanac’ in February 2007, with Graham Johnson.

Meryl Davies studied at King James College, Henley and later at Trinity College of Music in London as a violinist and singer and continues to study with Wendy Eathorne. She has performed as soloist in many major works including the Mozart Requiem, the C Minor Mass and the Brahms Requiem at Southwark Cathedral and was invited by Sir David Willcocks to be the soloist at a Christmas Concert in Poole. Her fine musicianship has enabled her to accept Twentieth Century music including Miss Beswick in Malcolm Williamson's English Eccentrics at the Kings Theatre and she has recently recorded music by Keith Hearne. Meryl also includes in her recital programmes music by the contemporary composers Anton Tucapsky and Ricky Brafman.Her many concert appearances have included works by Handel, Bach, Haydn, Rossini, Fauré and Mozart and her imaginative rendering of the role of Don Elvira in Don Giovanni at the Marlborough Festival received rave reviews. Her next major work will be a performance of the Four Last Songs by Richard Strauss.

International bass baritone James Rutherford graduated in Theology from Durham University. A scholarship from the Countess of Munster Musical Trust enabled him to study full-time at the Royal College of Music with Margaret Kingsley and during 1998/99 he was a member of the National Opera School in London, supported by The Royal Opera. He won second prize in the 1997 Kathleen Ferrier Awards and first prize in the English Singers' and Speakers' Competition, as well as the Alfreda Hodgson Bursary from the National Federation of Music Societies. His critically-acclaimed operatic performances include the title role in Falstaff for British Youth Opera, Theseus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Opera North and Nick Shadow In Stravinsky's The Rake’s Progress for English Touring Opera. This is the twelfth time James has sung in Lymington since 1994, on ten occasions with Lymington Choral Society. He also sang in the 1997 and 2000 'Voices for Hospices' Messiah.

Jeanette Ager began her singing studies at the age of 12 and was awarded an Exhibition to study at the Royal Academy of Music where she won numerous prizes. She is now continuing her studies with Linda Esther Gray. Jeanette has won the Gold Medal in the Royal Over-Seas League Music Competition, the Richard Tauber Prize for Singing and an award from the Tillett Trust Young Artist Platform. As a soloist, Jeanette's concert and oratorio work has included: recitals and other appearances at the Wigmore Hall; Handel’s Messiah at St David’s Hall, Cardiff; Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius at the Queen Elizabeth Hall; Tippett’s Child of our Time at Salisbury Cathedral; Beethoven's 9^th Symphony at the Barbican Concert Hall and the Missa Solemnis at York Minster, Truro and Exeter Cathedral. In addition to performances at many of the leading venues in the United Kingdom, Jeanette's concert work has taken her to Bermuda, the Czech Republic and Spain. Her operatic work has included solo roles for Kent Opera, Broomhill Opera and Diva Opera, with whom she has performed Cherubino in England, the Channel Islands and France. With the Royal Opera House she appeared as one of the Apprentices in Wagner's Meistersinger at Covent Garden. Recently she sang the lead role of Thea in Tippett’s The Knot Garden in Montepulciano. As a soloist, Jeanette has recorded for Hyperion, Deutsche Grammophon and Philips. Most recently she has recorded Haydn's Stabat Mater at Christchurch, Oxford. Future concerts include Mozart’s C minor Mass and various Berio Folk Songs.

Katherine Bond began her vocal studies with the Highcliffe Junior Choir, Sainsbury’s Choir of the Year 1996.  In 2000 she graduated with First Class Honours in music from Cardiff University where she was awarded the Sir Geraint Evans Recitalist Prize and Vale of Glamorgan Young Singer of the Year Award. She has since won an Allcard Award from the Worshipful Company of Musicians, the Grisi & Mario Prize, 2nd Prize in the John Warner Memorial Award, 3^rd Prize in the Great Elm Vocal Awards and the Isabelle Jay Competition.  She was also a finalist in the Thelma King Award and in the Delius Prize earlier this year. Solo concert appearances have included performances of Bach Magnif.icat at Snape Maltings Concert Hall and Cantata 209 for the Tilford Festival; Britten Les Illuminations with the Royal Academy String Orchestra; Darlow Music for Holy Week premiere at St George’s, Hanover Square; Elgar The Kingdom in Winchester Cathedral; Handel Belshazzar for the Petersfield Festival; Mozart Exsultate Jubilate. She participated in the Omaggio Festival, collaboration between the Royal Academy and the South Bank, performing Berio’s Sequenza III in concert and on Radio 3’s In tune and recently returned from a week of masterclasses with Malcolm Martineau on Debussy and Poulenc songs with the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme.  Katherine’s operatic experience includes Hippolyte et Aricie (Aricie) with Welsh National Youth Opera; Orlando (Dorinda), Idomeneo (Ilia), Dialogues des Carmelites (Blanche), Der Rosenkavalier (Sophie), The Rape of Lucretia (Lucia) in Royal Academy opera scenes; Eugene Onegin (Tatyana) with New Youth Opera; School for Fathers (Lucieta) and The Magic Flute (Papagena) with Royal Academy Opera.

Katherine is currently studying on the Royal Academy Opera programme with Jennifer Dakin and Clara Taylor. Future engagements include Handel’s Belshazzar at Winchester College, The Armed Man (Mass for Peace) and the title role in Royal Academy Opera’s Spring production of Massenet’s Cendrillon.

Katherine Bond

Born in Canada of British parentage, Sarah Cox studied at the Royal Northern College of Music, where she won the Elizabeth Harwood Prize 2001 and the Webster Booth Award 2000. RNCM roles include Baker's Wife in Into the Woods and Cis Albert Herring. She then studied at the National Opera Studio 2001/02, supported by Opera North and the Inverforth Charitable Trust. Other roles include Cenerentola Cenerentola (Mid Wales Opera), cover of Perichole La Perichole (Burton Festival), Kuchtik Rusalka (Stowe Opera), and the covers of Olga Eugene Onegin and Hansel Hansel and Gretel (Opera North); Peep Bo Mikado, Hebe HMS Pinafore and Annina Traviata finale (Halle); Tessa Gondoliers and Pitti Sing Mikado (Phoenix Opera); cover of Orlovsky Fledermaus (Carl Rosa); and a Jacques Brel revue On a Carousel (Clonter).Sarah's extensive oratorio repertoire includes Handel's Messiah, notably for Messiah from Scratch conducted by Sir David Willcocks; Elgar's Music Makers and Dream of Gerontius, Bach's Mass in B minor and Rossini's Petite Messe and Stabat Mater.

Susanna Andersson was born in Ostersund, Sweden. After being a member of a local opera company where she sang scenes from operas, including the roles of Barbarina The Marriage of Figaro and Martha Martha, she began her musical education at Ljungskiie College Institute, Sweden and performed roles including Musetta La Boheme and The Queen of the Night The Magic Flute.  In 2000 she was a soloist in a broadcast masterclass with Sir David Willcocks, Andrew Parrot and Terry Edwards at the Lindbury Theatre and a finalist in the Young Kathleen Ferrier Competition. Susanna has already become a regular recitalist and soloist in oratorio and concert and some engagements include being a guest soloist both in St Paul's Cathedral and in the Fairfield Hall. Recently Susanna was the winner of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama's prestigious Gold Medal Competition, Barbican Hall and graduated in July, 2003 with a First Class BMus Degree at Guildhall School of Music and Drama.  In July Susanna can be seen as Atalanta Xerxes at the Cheltenham Festival and as Lucia The Rape of Lucretia in Germany in September before commencing study at Guildhall's Opera Course.

Lise Christensen

Born in Denmark, Lise Christensen studied at the University and the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen and at the GSMD with Susan McCulloch. She completed her studies at The National Opera Studio last year, where her studies were supported by The Friends of Covent Garden, a Jean Dunlop Bursary and the Sybil Tutton Charitable Trust. Operatic roles include Aristeo Orfeo, St John’s Smith Square, Dorabella London Opera Players, Larina Eugene Onegin, Clonter Opera, Alisa Lucia di Lammermoor, New Sussex Opera, Lucilla La Scala di Seta, Marta Iolantha, Lady with a Hatbox Postcard from Morocco, Jenny Diver Beggar’s Opera and Mary Going into Shadows, GSMD.  Equally at home on the concert stage, Lise has performed throughout the UK. Works include Bach, St John Passion, Handel, Messiah and Dixit Dominus, Vivaldi, Gloria, Mozart, Requiem and Rossini, Petite Messe Solenelle as a winner of the Philharmonia Chorus Prize.  She is also a Samling Foundation Scholar. Recent concert performances include Elgar’s Music Makers and Rossini’s Messa di Gloria. Lise has taken part in masterclasses with Sarah Walker, Linbury Studio, Malcolm Martineau, Felicity Palmer and Graham Johnson. Last year Lise performed the role of Mum in Marianne Dreams by Andrew Lowe-Watson at Lilian Baylis Theatre, covered the role of Dejanira Hercules at Buxton Festival, recorded The Little Prince with BBC Wales and worked with Phylida Lloyd at The Young Vic. Future engagements include Meg, Falstaff, for Stanley Hall Opera, Carmen, for Mid Wales Opera and Beethoven Ninth Symphony for Manchester Camerata.

Nathan Vale began singing as a chorister in Hereford Cathedral Choir where, as a soloist, he undertook many engagements including television and radio broadcasts. After leaving school he took up a choral scholarship at Wells Cathedral. Nathan made his London debut in September 2003 at St John’s Smith Square singing Benjamin Britten’s Les Illuminations.
Recent engagements include, roles in a fully staged production of Purcell’s The Fairy Queen for this years Warwick Early Music Festival, the role of Nencio in a recent production of Haydn’s Le Infidelta Deluza for Bampton Classical Opera, Evangelist in Bach’s St John Passion in St Martin in the Fields, Handel’s Messiah for the Tudeley Festival with the London Pro Arte Orchestra. Monteverdi Vespers in St Martin In The Fields and also for the Armonico Consort (St Mary‘s Warwick), Mozart’s Requiem with the London Mozart Players in Leicester‘s de Montfort Hall, Bach’s Mass in B Minor in Wells Cathedral, Beethoven’s Mass in C with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in the Usher Hall Edinburgh, and Haydn’s Creation with Stephen Cleobury and the Philharmonia Choir and Orchestra in the Royal Albert Hall. Nathan was also the tenor soloist in the newly commissioned The Prodigal Son by Jonathan Girling, written for and performed by Evelyn Glennie and the Armonico Consort. A finalist in this years Young Song Makers Almanac, Nathan is increasingly in demand as a recitalist. He has given song recitals for the Three Choirs Festival in Hereford, a recital for the Housman and Gurney Society, and a recital with Graham Johnson for the Warlock, Ireland and Elgar Societies.
Forthcoming engagements include Bach’s Christmas Oratorio for the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra in Aarhus Cathedral, Denmark and Evangelist in Bach‘s St John Passion in Lichfield Cathedral and St Martin in the Fields. Future recital plans include a recital for the English Poetry and Song Society, a recital for the Delius Society and a recital for the Gurney Society. Nathan studies with Ryland Davies at the Royal College of Music where he has recently been awarded the prestigious Peter Pears Scholarship.

Nathan Vale

Andrew Conley

Andrew Conley grew up in New Zealand and holds a degree in Philosophy and English. A former student of Dame Malvina Major, in 2001 he won both the Auckland North Shore Aria and the Wellington Evening Post Aria competitions. He was the only male finalist in the Mobil Song Quest New Zealand in 2002, and has also been a semi-finalist in the Sydney McDonald’s Aria. He is the recipient of several major New Zealand scholarships, from the Auckland Opera Guild, Tower New Zealand, Auckland Grammar School, The Patricia Pratt Foundation, and Creative New Zealand, and received the Derek Butler Trust Award through the Royal College of Music, London, where he has studied since September 2003. He studies with Margaret Kingsley, and has been a member of the Benjamin Britten International Opera School at the RCM since 2004. He recently performed Junius in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia at the Royal College of Music. For New Zealand Opera, he has sung Guglielmo (Cosi fan tutte), Figaro (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Mityukha (Boris Godunov), and L’Hotelier (Manon). Roles for Auckland Opera Factory include Boris (Cheryomuski), Pluto (Orpheus in the Underworld), Mr Kofner (The Consul), Ben (The Telephone) and Slook (La Cambiale di Matrimonio). A member of the NBR NZ Opera Emerging Artist Programme in 2001 and 2002, he performed several principle roles, and understudied Count Almaviva in the Marriage of Figaro, and Zurga in Bizet’s Pearl Fishers, during the company’s national productions. He has been a soloist for the New Zealand Festival, the London Mozart Players, Auckland Choral Society, the Hamilton Civic Choir, and Auckland’s Sky City Starlight Symphony. He has also been a member of Auckland’s Opera Factory since its inception. Future engagements include Guglielmo for the Benjamin Britten Opera School at the Royal College of Music.

A former chorister at St Paul’s Cathedral, Andrew Staples held a Music Scholarship at Eton College before going up as a Choral Scholar to King’s College, Cambridge, where he gained a degree in Music. His recent solo engagements include a Radio 3 broadcast of Leighton’s Cantata for Tenor and Choir Crucifixus, concert performances of Stravinsky’s Les Noces in King’s, Haydn’s Creation in Bury St Edmunds, Mozart’s Requiem in St Martin in the Fields, Handel’s Messiah conducted by Sir David Willcocks, Britten’s St Nicholas in Cambridge and London and Bach’s St John Passion in Canterbury Cathedral. He has sung the operatic roles of Ferrando in Cosi fan tutte and Schoolmaster in Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen for Opera East Productions, and Aret in Haydn’s Philemon und Baucis for the 2003 Haydn Festival Eisenstadt, conducted by Trevor Pinnock. Andrew is the first recipient of the Peter Pears Scholarship at the Royal College of Music.

Andrew Staples

Simona Mihai

soprano

Simona Mihai was born in Romania. In 1999 she was awarded a Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother scholarship supported by Jill and Joseph Karaviotis to study at the Royal College of Music with Kathleen Livingstone. Currently a member of the Benjamin Britten International Opera School / RCM, she made a highly successful debut as the Governess in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw under the direction of John Copley.