Mary-Louise was a student at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester, from where she was awarded a scholarship to study at the RNCM. As well as gaining a BMus RNCM(Hons) degree, she won many major awards. These included the John Ireland Song Competition, the Brigitte Fassbaender Lieder Prize, (presented by Frau Fassbaender herself) and was a Finalist in the 1995 Kathleen Ferrier Awards. Mary-Louise sang in several opera excerpts on a series for BBC2 called Opera Works with Sir Jonathan Miller . At twenty-one, she was the youngest ever singer to be invited to sing in the Glyndebourne Chorus and in that same year, Mary-Louise won the International Young Singer of the Year Award at The Llangollen Musical Eisteddfod . Only two years after leaving college, she was awarded the 1999 Promise Award at Glyndebourne.

Mary-Louise sang a number of roles for WNO and worked under conductors including Daniel Harding and Vladimir Jurowski. In 1999, Mary-Louise sang the role of Melisande for Glyndebourne Touring Opera and was invited to sing the role of Melisande again at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna.

Leaving the world of Opera behind, Mary-Louise designed and teaches a unique phonics program which draws on the science of Synaesthesia. The method combines singing with colour-associations and is currently under trial in association with Oxford University and the Dyslexia Research Trust.

Louise Alder studied at the Royal College of Music International Opera School where she was the inaugural Kiri Te Kanawa Scholar. In the 2019/20 season Louise returns to the Royal Opera as Zerlina Don Giovanni; to the Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich as Marzelline Fidelioand to the Glyndebourne Festival as Ann Trulove The Rake’s Progress. She also makes debuts with the San Francisco Opera in the title role of Partenope and with the English National Opera as Susanna in a new production of Le nozze di Figaro. In concert, she sings Schumann’s Szenen aus Goethes Faust with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra/Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Messiah with the New York Philharmonic/Harry Bicket, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Tokyo Philharmonic/Jonathan Nott, Mozart Arias at the Salzburg Mozartwoche with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra/Daniel Harding and the title role in Theodora at the Konzerthaus in Vienna with Arcangelo/Jonathan Cohen. In recital, she appears at the BBC Proms and the Oper Frankfurt with Gary Matthewman, Wigmore Hall with both Joseph Middleton and James Baillieu and at the Oxford Lieder Festival and Fundación Privada Victoria de los Ángeles in Barcelona with Sholto Kynoch.

Susanna Andersson has already established herself among the top of Sweden’s young singers. Equally at home on the concert and opera stage her flexible and bright toned lyric coloratura voice has received considerable praise.

Recently Susanna made a very successful debut as Oscar/Un Ballo in Maschera at Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires and as Susanna/Le Nozze di Figaro at New Turku Opera in Finland. Her Venus and Gepopo/Le Grand Macabre in La Fura del Baus production at English National Opera, Adelaide Festival and Teatro Colon had the critics raving as well as in her Vivaldi and Handel concert with Il pomo d’oro together with Topi Lehtipuu and writer Donna Leon at the Turku Music Festival.

Susanna has also recently premiered ‘Animal Songs’, written especially for her and Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra by Albert Schnelzer, appeared in Higglety Pigglety Pop! by Oliver Knussen at the Aldeburgh Festival and at the Barbican in London, Into The Little Hill by George Benjamin with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and as Blondchen/Die Entführung aus dem Serail at Garsington Opera.

Born in the Swedish city of Östersund her musical education began at Ljungskile College Institute before she began studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. While at the Guildhall Susanna won the prestigious Gold Medal Competition, graduated with a First Class Honours degree and went on to win the coveted Song Prize at the annual Kathleen Ferrier Awards.

Susanna made her professional debut as Zerlina/Don Giovanni at Grange Park and soon after her German debut as Adina/L’elisir d’amore at Nürnberg Opera. Thereafter followed debuts at Opera North, Covent Garden’s Lindbury Theatre and English National Opera. During 2007-2009 Susanna was on a contract at Oper Leipzig where her roles included Blondchen/Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Valencienne/Merry Widow, Servilia/La Clemenza di Tito, Zerbinetta/Ariadne auf Naxos, Lisette/La Rondine and Gretel/Hänsel ind Gretel.

In concert Susanna has appeared with the Copenhagen and Swedish Royal Philharmonic Orchestras, Malmö and Helsingborg Symphony Orchestras, Stockholm Sinfonietta, Nordic Chamber Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic, Grazer Philharmonisches Orchester, English Chamber Orchestra, Queensland Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Scottish and BBC Symphony Orchestras. In 2008 she made her BBC Proms debut singing the world premiere of Stuart Macrae’s Gaudete written especially for her. Susanna has also given recitals with pianist Eugene Asti in London, New York, Athens, Amsterdam, Birmingham, Brussels, Stockholm, Cologne and Vienna as part of the ECHO Rising Stars series in 2006-2007.

Susanna was guest artist at the 2004 Nobel Prize Ceremony in Stockholm and the 2008 Polar Music Prize Ceremony. She has worked with conductors such as Christopher Hogwood, Lawrence Foster, Roy Goodman, Tecwyn Evans, Ira Levin, Andrew Manze, Edward Gardner, Baldur Brönnimann, George Benjamin, Alberto Hold-Garrido, John Storgårds, Sian Edwards and Leo Hussain.

Apsara is a professional choir formed by Ronald Corp in 2010 for the recording of Dhammapada. Members of the choir have included: Mary Bevan, Zoe Brown, Kirsty Hopkins, Elizabeth Weisberg (sopranos), Ruth Gibbins, Martha McClorinan, Kate Symonds-Joy, Clare Wilkinson (altos), Jeremy Budd, Peter Davoren, Tom Herford, George Pooley (tenors) & Neil Bellingham, Samuel Evans, Richard Latham, Philip Tebb (basses).

Ardingly College Schola Cantorum is the chamber choir of Ardingly College, a vocal ensemble that comprises some 14 to18 singers. It includes pupils from all years in the Senior School and explores a wide variety of vocal genres from the Renaissance through to a cappella arrangements of contemporary popular numbers. Schola Cantorum consists of the strongest and most vocally mature singers in the College and, aside from their duties in the Chapel choir, they rehearse twice a week in preparation for regular concerts both at the College and locally, alongside visits to Oxbridge colleges and prestigious cathedrals for Evensong and other such services. Annually, there is a choir tour to European destinations and in recent years the choir have toured Vienna and Prague, whilst in 2019 they will visit Malta.

Starting life in 1858 as Saint Saviour’s College in Shoreham, Ardingly College is one of the original three schools of the Woodard Corporation, a group of schools originally known as the Society of Saint Nicolas, operating in the Anglo-Catholic tradition of the Church of England. Known as a school which places the greatest value on individuals, alumni include former members of parliament, actors, authors, sportsmen, and even an eminent cathedral organist.

Stephen Barlow was a boy chorister at Canterbury Cathedral and then studied at King’s School‚ Canterbury. He won the Organ Scholarship to Trinity College‚ Cambridge‚ where he was Musical Director of the University Chamber Orchestra and Chamber Choir and founder of the University Bach Choir. There followed a period at Guildhall School of Music and Drama‚ where he studied under Vilem Tausky.

In 1977 he began a long association with Glyndebourne conducting The Rake’s Progress for GTO. He co-founded Opera 80 where he was Music Director between 1988 and 1991. During this period he was resident conductor at the English National Opera‚ conducted with Scottish Opera‚ Dublin Grand Opera‚ Opera Northern Ireland‚ Opera North and made his Royal Opera debut at Covent Garden conducting Turandot‚ where he later returned for Die Zauberflöte. He was Artistic Director of Opera Northern Ireland from 1996 to 1999. Productions include The Cunning Little Vixen at ENO‚ La Bohème at Grange Park‚ Idomeneo‚ The Barber of Seville‚ Fidelio and Madama Butterfly in Belfast‚ Albert Herring‚ Falstaff‚ The Marriage of Figaro and Die Entführung aus dem Serail at Garsington and Madam Butterfly with Opera North.

Stephen Barlow made his international debut in 1989 conducting The Rake’s Progress for Vancouver Opera‚ since when he has returned for Madam Butterfly and Tosca. His US debut followed in 1990 when he conducted Capriccio with the San Francisco Opera and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and then his Australian debut‚ in 1991‚ with Die Zauberflöte for Victoria State Opera. Subsequent foreign engagements include Elektra and Gounod’s Faust in Seville‚ The Cunning Little Vixen in Berlin‚ Capriccio and I Capuletti ed I Montecchi in Sicily‚ Rigoletto in Tirana‚ Il Barbiere di Siviglia in Riga‚ Madama Butterfly‚ Don Giovanni and Il Trovatore in Auckland‚ La Cenerentola and Turandot with Florida Grand Opera‚ Carmen in Melbourne‚ Turandot in Miami and Romeo et Juliette for the State Opera of South Australia.

In addition to his extensive operatic work‚ he has conducted most of the major UK orchestras and further afield‚ concert appearances have taken him to Aarhus‚ Adelaide‚ Amsterdam‚ Belgrade‚ Bilbao‚ Brisbane‚ Copenhagen‚ Detroit‚ Johannesburg‚ Lausanne‚ Lille and Perth. In 1997 he was appointed Music Director of the Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra. Recent recordings include Joseph James’ Requiem with Sumy Jo and his own new children’s composition Rainbow Bear in collaboration with his wife‚ Joanna Lumley‚ as narrator.

Most recent and current projects include The Rake’s Progress with Reisopera in Holland‚ Faust and Nabucco in Australia‚ Bluebeard’s Castle with the Auckland Philharmonia‚ the premiere of his own opera King in Canterbury Cathedral‚ Falstaff‚ Rusalka and Norma at Grange Park Opera‚ the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme Summer Concert at the Royal Opera House and Sweeney Todd with Bryn Terfel at the Royal Festival Hall.

www.musichall.uk.com

Daniel Bates is principal oboe with the Irish Chamber Orchestra and the City of London Sinfonia and holds the oboe chair at Miss Saigon- the Cameron Mackintosh production at the Prince Edward Theatre in the West End. He has also held the principal oboe position with the Royal Northern Sinfonia at the Sage, Gateshead. He has played guest principal for all the major UK orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the John Wilson Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields as well as various international orchestras such as the National Orchestra of Colombia and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. As a session musician he has recorded for various pop acts and films, including the Harry Potter franchise and for Barbra Streisand, Mary J Blige, Rihanna and Stevie Wonder. He has also played principal oboe with the Gabrieli Consort and Players and, on classical and romantic oboe, as principal with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, under the conductors Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Roger Norrington and Sir Mark Elder.

Born in London, Daniel was offered music scholarships to every music college in the country but chose to study at the Royal Academy of Music. He was then also awarded a music scholarship to study at Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he read Music and the History of Art.

When he was eighteen years of age he became the youngest ever winner of the Royal Overseas League Competition. This competition is one of the most prestigious in the world (it launched the careers of Jacqueline du Pre and John Lill, amongst others) and is open to all commonwealth musicians of age 30 and under. A few years later he also won two major international competitions, in Italy and Romania.

He has performed solo concertos with the London Symphony Orchestra, the City of London Sinfonia, the Irish Chamber Orchestra, the Brasov Filharmoica, the Turin Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Mozart Players and the English Chamber Orchestra. Extensive solo recitals include venues such as the Wigmore Hall (on numerous occasions but perhaps most notably giving the premiere of a new work by Louis Andriessen), the Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Usher Hall and the Purcell Room. Internationally, he has given solo recitals in venues such as the Pushkin Museum in Moscow and at various European festivals.

Best known as the concertmaster of the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, Marie Bérard is also a sought-after chamber musician, soloist, recording artist and teacher. She is a former member of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and has performed with a variety of smaller ensembles such as Amici, ArrayMusic and New Music Concerts. She is also a member of trio Arkel as well as the ARC Ensemble which has toured in Europe, China and the United States and was twice nominated for a Grammy Award for their Sony recordings.

Highly regarded as an interpreter of contemporary music, Ms. Bérard has released a recording of a concerto by Henry Kucharzyk for violin and brass ensemble on the Opening Day label and can be heard on numerous CBC recordings including the Meditation from Thais with the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra.

Ms. Bérard is a regular performer at chamber music festivals, notably the Domaine Forget International Festival, Ottawa’s Music&Beyond Festival, The Blair Atholl Festival in Scotland, Strings Music Festival in Colorado. She holds the position of associate concertmaster of the Mainly Mozart festival in San Diego. Marie was the featured soloist in Gubaidulina’s Offertorium and “Figures Hatives” by John Rea with the Esprit Orchestra. Ms. Bérard is a member of the faculty of the Glenn Gould School and the music faculty of the University of Toronto. She plays a 1767 Pietro Landolfi violin.

Bath Philharmonia is one of the leading professional orchestras in the South-West. Its players are some of the finest and most experienced orchestral musicians in Britain. After the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Bath Phil is the largest professional organisation of its type in the region. Annually, the orchestra gives 25 to 30 performances, with a roster of international soloists at a range of prestigious venues. Bath Phil’s artistic team is led by Music Director Jason Thornton with Principal Guest Conductor Peter Donohoe and Associate Conductor Gavin Carr.

Primarily serving Bath & North East Somerset, Bath Phil presents a year-round programme of orchestral music, a highly active education and community portfolio and takes part in many collaborations with other arts organisations including Bath Festivals Trust, Bath Mozartfest, Bath Theatre Royal & Bath Spa University where the orchestra is Ensemble in Residence. Bath Phil embraces a regional remit touring to an eclectic range of venues and festivals throughout the south-west including Hall for Cornwall Truro, Roseland Festival, Seaton Music Society, Beaminster Festival, Colston Hall Bristol, Frome Festival, Fishguard Festival, Malmesbury Abbey and Cheltenham Town Hall.

Bath Phil’s performances with international soloists have included, Nicola Benedetti, Carlos Bonnell, Michael Collins, Sarah Connolly, Natalie Clein, Peter Donohoe, Tim Hugh, Sumi Jo, Tasmin Little, Joanna Macgregor, Ruth Palmer, Jennifer Pike, Sir Willard White, the young artists from the Jette Parker Programme at the Royal Opera House and the jazz singer Clare Teal.

Edward Batting studied with Richard Popplewell at the Royal College of Music. During his time at the RCM he was awarded the Haigh, Kistner and Canon Bark organ prizes and the Lofthouse prize for continuo, and at the age of 21, became a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists. He is currently Organist and Director of Music at S.Alban’s Holborn where he conducts and accompanies the professional choir in a wide and diverse repertoire comprising over 200 mass settings and over 500 other works. As an organist he is much in demand as both recitalist and accompanist having appeared at major venues including S.Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Cathedral and Westminster Abbey and as soloist in the Poulenc and Leighton Concertos, and performed and recorded with leading choirs such as the Exmoor Singers, Chantage and the National Youth Choir of Great Britain. He recently gave the first ever organ recital in the Sala Nezahualcoyotl in Mexico City. Edward was also a Repetiteur at the RCM where he worked on several opera productions, his continuo playing drawing critical acclaim. Also highly in demand as a vocal coach, Edward has prepared singers for operatic roles at major houses around the world and also for companies including the International Arts Festival, Montepulciano, Italy, the Al Bustan Festival in Beirut, the Teatro Massimo, the Teatro Municipal, Santiago and for the Young Artists’ Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Juliette Bausor, widely recognised as one of Britain’s leading flute players, began her studies with Anna Pope at the junior department of the Royal Academy of Music and Purcell School of Music, before going on to study with Philippa Davies, Paul Edmund Davies and Samuel Coles at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She continued her tuition at the Conservatoire Nationale Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris, with Sophie Cherrier and Vincent Lucas.

Following international success in competitions, including early recognition in reaching the televised Concerto Final of the BBC Young Musician of the Year and winning the Gold Medal in both the Shell LSO Competition and the Royal Over-Seas League Competition, Juliette has appeared as a concerto soloist with orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, Academy of St Martins in the Fields, European Union Chamber Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia and London Mozart Players, with conductors including Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Thomas Zehetmair, Mario Venzago and Sir Neville Marriner. Success on an international scale is reflected in tours around Europe and beyond, to Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, the United Arab Emirates, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Australia and New Zealand.

In 2014 Juliette Bausor was selected by the European Concert Hall Organisation as an ECHO Rising Star. Juliette has since been invited to perform as a soloist in some of Europe’s most prestigious concert venues, including Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Bozar in Brussels, Town Hall Birmingham, Palace of Arts in Budapest, Vienna Musikverein, Stockholm Konserthus, L’Auditori in Barcelona, Konzerthaus Dortmund, Philharmonie Luxembourg, Sage Gateshead and the Barbican Centre in London.

Also highly regarded as a chamber musician, Juliette is a member of the celebrated chamber group Ensemble 360, resident at the Crucible in Sheffield. In addition to the Ensemble’s busy concert schedule, Juliette is regularly invited to give recitals at major venues and festivals throughout the UK, including frequent Wigmore Hall and South Bank appearances, and performances at the Edinburgh, Cheltenham and Aldeburgh International Festivals and BBC Proms. Juliette has collaborated with many other leading chamber musicians, including Thomas Zehetmair (violin), Alasdair Beatson and Llyr Williams (piano), Kate Royal (soprano), Anneleen Lenaerts and Catrin Finch (harp), as well as the Coull, Elias, Badke, Carducci and Edinburgh String Quartets amongst others. Recent chamber recital highlights include a concert with the wind principals of Royal Northern Sinfonia and Christian Blackshaw (piano) as part of the BBC Proms 2015, as well as performances at the Presteigne Festival, with Sally Pryce (harp), and at the West Cork Chamber Music Festival alongside Katharine Dain (soprano), Lise Berthaud (viola) and Cliona Doris (harp).

Juliette is principal flute with both Royal Northern Sinfonia and London Mozart Players, and frequently appears as guest principal flute with orchestras all over Britain, notably with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, London Sinfonietta and Britten Sinfonia.

British lyric soprano Nadine Benjamin is a charismatic and versatile artist who is in increasing demand on both the operatic stage and the concert platform. She is also developing great renown as an exponent of song, in particular Verdi, Strauss, Berg and contemporary American song.

Nadine’s principal roles to date include the title role in Aida, Cio-Cio-San (Madama Butterfly), La Contessa (Le nozze di Figaro), Nadia in Tippett’s The Ice Break with Birmingham Opera Company, Desdemona (Otello) with Everybody Can! Opera, Violetta (La traviata), Tosca (Tosca) and Musetta (La bohème) for the Mediterranean Opera Festival, Musetta (cover) for Scottish Opera, Tosca and The Countess (The Marriage of Figaro) for English Touring Opera and Ermyntrude in Mascagni’s Isabeau with Opera Holland Park.

Nadine is an English National Opera Harewood Artist and made her debut with the Company in 2018 as Clara (Porgy and Bess), followed by Musetta (La bohème). She will also appear during ENO’s 2019/20 season as Laura (Luisa Miller) and First Nymph (Rusalka). On 22 June 2019, she will once again represent ENO as part of West End Live! in Trafalgar Square. Forthcoming opera engagements include Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus) with Iford Arts and Amelia (Un ballo in maschera) with Opera Holland Park.

In concert, Nadine has performed Berg’s Seven Early Songs, Canteloube’s Songs of the Auvergne, Dvorak’s Stabat Mater, Schubert’s Mass no. 5 and the soprano solos in both Mahler’s Symphony no. 4 and Handel’s Eternal Source of Light Divine. She has sung the soprano solo in Poulenc’s Gloria at Coventry Cathedral and in Villebon, France, as well as with The Waynflete Singers and the English Chamber Orchestra at Winchester Cathedral, and has given numerous solo recitals at St Paul’s Church, Covent Garden. Further performances include Barber’s Knoxville – Summer of 1915, Strauss’s Four Last Songs, Mahler 4 and the Verdi Requiem with West London Sinfonia, Poulenc’s Gloria, Dvorak’s Te Deum and Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem with the Cohen Ensemble, Strauss’s Four Last Songs with Norfolk Symphony Orchestra and Handel’s Messiah and Mendelssohn’s Elijah at Winchester Cathedral. Future performances include Elijah at Coventry Cathedral and a private recital at the Palazzo Doria Pamphilj in Rome. Nadine will make her debut at the BBC Proms in 2019.

Nadine created the principal role of Imoinda in the UK premiere of The Crossing, an opera by the Cuban-American composer Odaline de la Martinez, at the 5th London Festival of American Music in 2014. She has a long-running relationship with LFAM, and has performed song cycles by Bolcom, Child and Barber at the Festival as well as the European premiere of John Harbison’s Milosz Songs. At the 6th Festival in 2016, Nadine led a programme of works by female American composers, accompanied by Susanna Stranders. Nadine recorded the role of Mrs. Waters in Dame Ethel Smyth’s opera The Boatswain’s Mate for Retrospect Opera, also under the baton of de la Martinez, released in 2016 to critical acclaim and broadcast on BBC Radio 3. Accompanied by Nicole Panizza, Nadine recently recorded a selection of songs set to the poems of Emily Dickinson, which will be released in 2019.

In 2015 Nadine founded ‘Everybody Can!’ to provide a platform to encourage others to believe in themselves and to support them in recognising that whatever they envision can be achieved. She has both produced and sung titles roles in Otello and Tosca for Everybody Can! Opera. Nadine was “highly commended”at the 2016 Aviva ‘Women of the Future Awards’ and invited to both Buckingham Palace and No. 10 Downing Street in recognition of her work as a mentor and singer.

Hailed by ‘Opera Now’ magazine as one of their favourite top ten sopranos in “a new generation of sopranos who are destined to have impressive careers”, Nadine won the inaugural Fulham Opera Robert Presley Memorial Verdi Prize in 2015. Nadine recently released her debut solo CD ‘Love & Prayer’.

Hailed by Gramophone Magazine as “one of the best of our younger baritones”, William Berger is distinguished by his rich vocal timbre and charismatic stage presence. A compelling interpreter of song, Berger is equally at home on the operatic stage and has performed at renowned festivals, opera houses and concert halls including the English National Opera, Liceu Barcelona, Opera Vlaanderen, Opéra de Toulon, and the Lucerne, Aix-en-Provence and Edinburgh International Festivals. Engagements in the 2015/16 season include Berger’s return to Opera Vlaanderen both as Marcello in Puccini’s La Boheme, and Bill in Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. He will perform as Oreste in Gluck’s Iphigenie en Tauride with Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon and the title role in Handel’s Imeneo at Gottingen International Handel Festival. In concert Berger will perform at the FestspielOrchester Gottingen’s tenth anniversary Gala Concert. In Spring 2016 Berger will release his third album: Duet with soprano Lucy Crowe. The disc features works by Mendelssohn, Schumann and Cornelius and showcases the richness and spirit of the duet genre, which reached its zenith in the Victorian age but has since become increasingly overlooked in the concert hall. Berger’s skill as a musical interpreter and his imaginative approach to programming has led to critical acclaim for both his previous solo albums. Insomnia: A Nocturnal Voyage In Song, released on Delphian Records in 2012, describes in a sequence of seventeen songs the restless night experienced by a man as he reflects on the absence of his unnamed love. It was included in The Guardian’s Top Ten Classical CDs of the Year and was described as “pure gold” by The Arts Desk and “magnetic” by The Scotsman. This was followed by the release of Hommage à Trois on Linn Records in November 2013, which features arias and duets by three of the finest composers of the 18th century: Mozart, Haydn and Cimarosa. The disc, recorded with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and conductor Nicolas McGegan, was awarded five stars by Opera Now, and described as “one of the most delightful recital discs of the past year” by International Record Review. In addition to his two solo releases, Berger’s discography includes Handel’s Alexander’s Feast and The Triumph of Time and Truth with Ludus Baroque for Delphian, Samson and Dettingen Te Deum for Carus, Poulenc’s Carmelites for Chandos and on DVD, Admeto for C Major and L’incoronazione de Poppea for Opus Arte. Other recent engagements include a German recital tour with Julius Drake in Berlin, Munich, Hamburg and Bonn, Duruflé’s Requiem with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra in California, Finzi’s Requiem de Camera with the London Mozart Players, Don Alfonso in Cosí fan Tutte at the Liceu in Barcelona, Escamillo in the Luzerner Theater’s production of Carmen, Papageno for Opéra de Toulon, Messiah with the Ulster Orchestra, Mozart Requiem with the Philharmonie Zuidnederland and Carpentier’s La descente d’Orphée aux Enfers with conductor Christian Curnyn and the Classical Opera Company at the Wigmore Hall. William Berger has collected a multitude of prizes and awards, including the 2010 Ernst Haefliger Competition in Switzerland, the Kathleen Ferrier Society Bursary for Young Singers, the Countess of Munster Trust Scholarship, the Musicians Benevolent Fund Grant and the Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Trust Award. William is a graduate and Associate of the Royal Academy of Music and a former member of the Young Singers Programme at English National Opera.

Mary Bevan studied at Trinity College Cambridge and the Royal Academy of Music (with Lillian Watson and Audrey Hyland) where she was a member of Song Circle, was the soloist for the Kohn Bach Cantatas and won the Richard Lewis and Isabel Jay Awards. She is an ENO Harewood Young Artist, an Associate Artist of the Classical Opera Company and is a past recipient of awards from the Wingate Trust, Countess of Munster Trust, MBF and the Royal Academy of Music. Operatic roles include Rebecca Two Boys, Barbarina Figaro (ENO); Barbarina Figaro (Garsington); Tamiri Il Re Pastore (Classical Opera Company); Despina Cosi (Vignette Productions and RAO). Recent concerts include Messiah, Carmina Burana and Rutter Requiem (RAH), Arne Alfred, Handel Apollo e Daphne (COC), Les Illuminations and Messiah (ECO). She has sung as a soloist under conductors such as John Eliot Gardiner, Laurence Cummings, Paul Daniel, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Raymond Leppard. She has recently recorded three broadcasts for BBC Radio 3 with the BBC Philharmonic, an Oxford Lieder Festival Wolf disc, a Mendelssohn disc with Malcolm Martineau and Handel disc with Ludus Baroque. Forthcoming projects include: Zerlina Don Giovanni (Garsington), Pamina Magic Flute (West Green Opera) and Yum Yum Mikado (ENO).

Sophie Bevan recently graduated from the Benjamin Britten International Opera School where she studied as a Karaviotis Scholar with Lillian Watson. During her time there she performed the title role in Monteverdi’s ‘L’Incoronazione di Poppea’ and Susanna in Mozart’s ‘Le Nozze di Figaro’. She was also awarded the Queen Mother Rose Bowl for excelling in music.

Her concert repertoire ranges from Handel’s ‘Samson’ to James Macmillan’s ‘Parthenogenesis’ and she has worked with conductors including Nicholas Cleobury, Martin Andre and Sir Charles Mackerras.   Already highly accomplished on the operatic stage, her recent engagements include  ‘Boris Godonov’ and ‘Cosi fan Tutte’ for English National Opera, ‘Il Nozze di Figaro’ for Welsh National Opera, Alinda in Vivaldi’s ‘L’Incoronazione di Dario’ and her first Susanna for Garsington Opera, the first London performance of Royer’s ‘Zaide, Reine De Grenade’ at St  John’s Smith Square, Costanza (Handel’s ‘Riccardo I’) and Zerlina (‘Don Giovanni’) for Opera de Bauge in France and Amor in English National’s new production of  Monteverdi’s ‘L’Incoronazione di Poppea’. She is an Associate Artist of the Classical Opera Company, for whom she has sung Publio in the UK premiere of Gluck’s ‘La clemenza di Tito’ and Worldly Spirit in Mozart’s ‘Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots’.  Future engagements include Polissena in Handel’s ‘Radamisto’ and Yum-Yum in ‘The Mikado’ for English National Opera and Pamina ‘Die Zauberfloete’ for Garsington Opera.

Richard Black is a versatile pianist whose work takes in opera, the symphony orchestra, chamber music and song recitals. He has worked for opera companies great and small in the UK, on operas ranging from half-forgotten gems of the late baroque to the largest works of Wagner to new pieces composed in the 21st century. He is a familiar face at London opera auditions, and he frequently accompanies students of every voice and instrument at colleges and schools in London.

As a recital accompanist, Richard has played for singers at Wigmore Hall and St John’s Smith Square, as well as in New York, Paris and Luxembourg. He has accompanied a wide range of instrumental works and played in a variety of chamber ensembles: he recently gave what was almost certainly the first UK performance in some decades of the piano trio by Pizzetti. He has for over 25 years had a strong interest in music by Ronald Stevenson, and has performed and recorded many songs and other works by him. Other recordings include songs by Alan Bush and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, and he has broadcast several times on BBC Radio 3.

Apart from playing the piano, Richard is an experienced recording engineer, producer and editor.

Sarah-Jane Brandon, winner of the 2009 Kathleen Ferrier Competition, studied at the Royal College of Music where she was awarded the Queen Elizabeth Rose Bowl for Exceptional Talent. She is also the winner of the Maggie Teyte Prize, a Samling Scholar and recipient of a Miriam Licette Scholarship. Sarah-Jane was a participant in the 2011 Salzburg Festival’s Young Singers Project.

Recent concert engagements have included appearances with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Sir Andrew Davis at the Edinburgh Festival; the London Symphony Orchestra with Bernard Haitink; the London Philharmonic Orchestra with Kurt Masur; the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra with Andris Nelsons and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra with Vasily Petrenko.

Her engagements this season include Berg’s Sieben frühe Lieder with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Edward Gardner; Mahler’s Symphony no. 4 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Sylvain Cambreling and Mozart concert arias at the Wigmore Hall with Ian Page and the Classical Opera Company (of which she is an Associate Artist) and her forthcoming appearances also include Haydn’s Nelson Mass with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin; Viennese Gala Concerts with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Thomas Rösner and Mozart’s Requiem with the Hallé Orchestra and Nikolaj Znaider.

On the opera stage she has sung Micäela Carmen for the Deutsche Oper, Berlin and Erste Dame Die Zauberflöte for the Rome Opera and and her future engagements include Pamina in a new production of Die Zauberflöte for the Opera de Nice; Desdemona in a new production of Otello for the Cape Town Opera and Contessa Le nozze di Figaro for Glyndebourne on Tour.

Her recital appearances include the Musée d’Orsay and Birmingham’s Barber Institute with Simon Lepper, the Wigmore Hall and the Buxton and Oxford Lieder Festivals with Gary Matthewman, the Meads Music Festival with James Baillieu and Trinity College Cambridge and the Leeds Lieder Festival with Malcolm Martineau.

Katie Bray is a British mezzo-soprano who is fast establishing a colourful international career, recently engaged as Rosina Il Barbiere di Siviglia at Opera North. She made her solo début with Opera Holland Park as Mallika Lakmé in 2015 and with English National Opera in Joanna Lee’s The Way Back Home at the Young Vic Theatre in 2014. This season saw her return to ENO in Philip Glass’ Akhnaten. Other recent operatic roles include Charlotte Werther at the 2014 Grimeborn Festival, cover Cherubino Le Nozze di Figaro in McVicar’s production at ROH, and Nancy Albert Herring with Opera North. She is equally at home in the concert hall, and has performed in prestigious venues such as the Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall, and the Holywell Music Room. She appears regularly in the London English Song Festival and the Oxford Lieder Festival.

Katherine Broderick was the winner of the 2007 Kathleen Ferrier Award. She studied at the National Opera Studio, London, having previously studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where she won the Gold Medal and took the undergraduate course at the Royal Northern College of Music, during which time she spent a year at the Mendelssohn Hochschule in Leipzig. She studies with Susan McCulloch and is currently an ENO Harwood Artist.

Plans this season and beyond include returning to Opéra National de Lorraine, Nancy to sing Mrs Coyle in Britten Owen Wingrave; Mendelssohn A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra; Mahler Symphony No 2 in Kuala Lumpur with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra; Zemlinsky Waldgespräch with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and John Storgårds and recitals including a programme of arias from Schubert Alfonso und Estrella and Fierrabras for the Oxford Lieder Festival and an appearance at Bath Mozartfest with the Myrthen Ensemble.

Past opera appearances include Ortlinde Die Walküre for the Royal Opera, Covent Garden; Donna Anna Don Giovanni and Berta Barber of Seville for ENO; First Lady Die Zauberflöte for Glyndebourne on Tour; Helmwige and Woglinde in The Ring Cycle and Weinberg The Portrait for Opera North; Helmwige for Oper Leipzig and in concert with the Hallé and Philharmonia Orchestras. Katherine has also recently given a concert of Gluck arias with Opéra National de Lorraine, Nancy. Of her performance as Miss Jessel in Britten The Turn of the Screw with the London Symphony Orchestra, Erica Jeal wrote in The Guardian: “Katherine Broderick’s gleaming Miss Jessel was excellent.”

Katherine made her BBC Proms debut in 2007 singing Woglinde with the BBC SO and Donald Runnicles, returning the following year to sing Young Lover in Puccini Il Tabarro with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. Other concerts have included appearances with the Hallé, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony, London Symphony, Ulster and BBC Philharmonic, Symphony and Scottish Symphony Orchestras, in repertoire including Mahler Symphonies 2 & 4, Britten War Requiem, Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony and Sinfonia Antartica, Honegger Joan of Arc, Verdi Requiem, Brahms Requiem, Dvořák Stabat Mater, Te Deum and Requiem, Bruckner Mass No 3, Rossini Stabat Mater and Berlioz Les nuits d’été.

Outside of the UK she has appeared with the Polish National Radio SO; National Orchestra of Spain; sung Mahler Symphony No 4 and Poulenc Gloria with the Singapore SO; Strauss Vier letzte Lieder with the Queensland SO; Beethoven Symphony No 9 with the Philharmonia, RTÉ National Symphony and Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestras and Britten Spring Symphony in Ekaterinburg, Russia.

In recital, Katherine has recently appeared at Opéra de Lille with Simon Lepper, Wigmore Hall with Martin Martineau and Eugene Asti and on BBC Radio 3 with James Bailleau.

Katherine was one of the first recipients of the Susan Chilcott Award in 2005 and the following year won the Maggie Teyte Prize. She has also been awarded successive Maidment Scholarships from the Musicians’ Benevolent Fund, the Claire Francis award from the Ogden Trust, the Sybill Tutton award, and is a Samling scholar.

Since forming in 1972, the Brodsky Quartet have performed over 3,000 concerts on the major stages of the world and have released more than 60 recordings. A natural curiosity and an insatiable desire to explore has propelled the group in a number of artistic directions and continues to ensure them not only a prominent presence on the international chamber music scene, but also a rich and varied musical existence. Their energy and craftsmanship have attracted numerous awards and accolades worldwide, while their ongoing educational work provides a vehicle to pass on experience and stay in touch with the next generation.
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Throughout their career of over 45 years, the Brodsky Quartet have enjoyed a busy international performing schedule, and have extensively toured the major festivals and venues throughout Australasia, North and South America, Asia, South Africa and Europe, as well as in the UK, where the quartet is based. The quartet are also regularly recorded for television and radio with their performances broadcast worldwide.
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Over the years, the Brodsky Quartet have undertaken numerous performances of the complete cycles of quartets by Schubert, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Britten, Schoenberg, Zemlinsky, Webern and Bartok. It is, however, the complete Shostakovich cycle that has now become synonymous with their name: their 2012 London performance of the cycle resulted in their taking the prestigious title ‘Artistic Associate’ at London’s Kings Place and, in October 2016, releasing their second recording of the cycle, this time live from the Muziekgebouw, Amsterdam.
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The Brodsky Quartet have always had a busy recording career and currently enjoy an exclusive and fruitful relationship with Chandos Records. Releases on the label include ‘Petits Fours’, a celebratory album of ‘Encore’ pieces arranged exclusively by the quartet for their 40th anniversary; a Debussy compilation; ‘In the South’, featuring works by Verdi, Paganini, Wolf and Puccini; ‘New World Quartets’, comprising works by Dvorak, Copland, Gershwin and Brubeck; the quartets of Zemlinsky, including the world premiere recording of his unpublished early quartet; two Brahms discs, featuring the iconic Piano and Clarinet Quintets; the Shostakovich Complete Quartets.

As well as partnering many top classical artists for their performances and recordings, the quartet have made musical history with ground-breaking collaborations with some of the world’s leading artists across many genres and have commissioned and championed many of the world’s most respected composers.

Awards for recordings include the Diapason D’Or and the CHOC du Monde de la Musique and the Brodsky Quartet have received a Royal Philharmonic Society Award for their outstanding contribution to innovation in programming.

The quartet have taught at many international chamber music courses and have held residencies in several music institutes including, at the start of their career, the first such post at the University of Cambridge and latterly at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where they are visiting International Fellows in Chamber Music. They were awarded Honorary Doctorates by the University of Kent and an Honorary Fellowship at the University of Teesside, where they were founded.

The quartet took their name from the great Russian violinist Adolf Brodsky, the dedicatee of Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto and a passionate chamber musician.
Gina McCormack plays a violin made by Alesandro Gagliano, 1749; Ian Belton’s violin is by Giovanni Paolo Maggini, c.1615. Paul Cassidy plays on La Delfina viola, c.1720, courtesy of Sra. Delfina Entrecanales and Jacqueline Thomas’s cello is by Thomas Perry of Dublin, 1785.