Cantoribus is a chamber choir formed by composer Timothy Hamilton. His inspiration came from a desire to introduce an exciting and contemporary dimension to choral music. From his early days as a chorister at Portsmouth Cathedral, he felt a real affinity with singing and the wonderful choral tradition of this country. He later graduated to the world of the opera singer and so was drawn to this style of singing, with the power of the human voice, both physically and emotionally, utilised to its fullest extent. His vision, therefore, was to create an ensemble of hand-picked professional operatic voices – a ‘dream team’ of first-rate musicians – who also had choral experience. All members of Cantoribus regularly perform with the major UK opera companies as well as working on the London church circuit.

Aaron Larget-Caplan, hailed by the Washington Post as “a riveting artist”, and noted in Fanfare for his “enthusiasm and virtuosity”, was born in Oklahoma, raised in Colorado, and gave his debut at the Tabor Opera House at the age of sixteen. Since then he has premiered over 60 compositions, and performed throughout the United States and Europe. A gifted performer and speaker, he is a sought-after soloist and chamber musician regularly performing new and standard repertoire and connecting with audiences with a Bernstein-esque ease. His recordings have received critical acclaim from Audiophile, Fanfare, American Record Guide, Guitar Magazine and many more. As a chamber musician he has performed works for small and large ensemble including with choir, string quartet, duos of all types and mixed ensembles. Collaborators include the Rimsky-Korsakov and New England String Quartets, Boston Lyric Opera, and Schola Cantorum of Boston. He is the founder of the New Lullaby Project, a 21st-century commissioning endeavour that invites composers to write classical miniatures in the genre of the lullaby. He released the debut CD “New Lullaby”, featuring 14 new lullabies by 13 American composers in 2010 to critical and public acclaim. He has since premiered over 45 new lullabies coming to him from Japan, Norway, Australia, and the USA by such composers as Scott Wheeler, Ken Ueno, Carson Cooman, Francine Trester and Alan Fletcher. He regularly collaborates with dancers and is the founder of the ensemble ¡Con Fuego!, which juxtaposes classical Spanish music and flamenco dance and song. He performs many of his own arrangements of Bach, Scarlatti and Spanish composers. His recent arrangements of John Cage and Reynaldo Hahn are to be published by Editions Peters and International Music Company (IMC). He is also the director and founder of Greater Boston House Concerts. He is a graduate of Boston’s New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied with David Leisner. His principal guitar teacher was Dmitry Goryachev and he received additional coaching from Eliot Fisk, Juanito Pascual, and pianist Seymour Bernstein. He is on faculty at the University of Massachusetts Boston. He plays a 2012 guitar by Franco Marino of Sicily, gifted to him by the luthier, and is endorsed by Hannabach Classical Guitar Strings. He lives in Boston with his wife, healer and muse, Catherine.

Gavin Carr was born in London and studied music and art history at King’s College, Cambridge, where he was a Choral Scholar in the celebrated Chapel Choir. He then emigrated for five years to Australia, where he began his singing career working with leading ensembles including the Victoria State Opera and Elision Ensemble. Returning to Europe via study in the US, Gavin made his name as a baritone, appearing at many festivals and with major orchestras and choruses worldwide in concert and recital, and recording for BBC and German radio.

Numerous opera appearances in the UK, France, Ireland, Australia and Italy followed, but in 2003 Gavin accepted the post of Music Director of The Athenaeum Singers in Warminster, swiftly following this with Assistant Conductor at the Wexford Festival and at the Cantiere d’Arte di Montepulciano. At Wexford he was subsequently appointed Chorus Master in 2006, and he returned there in 2007 to make his operatic conducting debut with the Peter Brook version of Bizet’s Carmen, which was nominated for ‘Best Opera Production of 2007’ in the Irish Times National Arts Awards. An affiliation with the Bath Philharmonic began in 2006 when he was appointed Associate Principal Conductor.

In April 2007 Gavin made his debut with the English Chamber Orchestra, conducting an all-star cast including Emma Kirkby, Sarah Connolly and James Gilchrist in the St Matthew Passion in Bath Abbey. This event saw the inauguration of a new professional choir, Chorus Angelorum, which Gavin has formed to take advantage of the wealth of expert choral talent in the South West region. In January 2008 he took up the Music Directorship of the Bath Minerva Choir. In 2009 he took the Frome Festival Chorus on a tour to China of The Dream of Gerontius.

Paul Carr was born in Cornwall, England to Anglo-Australian nationality and has been writing music since the age of 15. From 1984 – 1998 his main career was in opera stage management and he has worked with some of the world’s leading companies including English National Opera, The Australian Opera, The New Israeli Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera and Garsington Opera, as well as various free-lance contracts including the annual Raymond Gubbay Opera at The Royal Albert Hall. In 2004 he retired from stage management, and in April of that year moved to Mallorca to concentrate more fully on composition as well as developing his interest in abstract painting. He has exhibited work in three exhibitions in Mallorca, and in April 2007 Galleria Ca’n Pinos in Palma presented his first solo show.

Paul has written scores for several British films including ‘Janice Beard 4wpm’, ‘Being Considered’, and ‘Lady Audley’s Secret’. TV work includes the popular Children’s series ‘Girls in Love’ for Granada.

Paul’s concert work is varied, and over the past few years performances include a Viola Concerto, a Piano Concerto, a Sonatina for Flute & Piano, a 2nd Flute Concerto, Chasing Aunt Sally (a concert overture premiered by the Worthing Symphony Orchestra conducted by John Gibbons), a wind quintet Diverting Sundays (premiered at the 2003 Brighton Festival by The Galliard Ensemble), and Jazz Cardigans (a suite of 5 guitar pieces premiered by Craig Ogden at the 2006 Brighton Festival).

Most recent works include A Very English Music for string orchestra, an Oboe Concerto (for Nicholas Daniel), a Bassoon Concerto, a Piano Quartet, a Sinfonietta for Orchestra, Concertos for Trombone, and for Trumpet, and three versions of the same work: Air for Strings, Air for Orchestra, and Viola Air. His Requiem For An Angel, for 2 soloists, choir & orchestra, was premiered in June 2006 in Warminster and received its 2nd performance in Brighton in November 2007 given by the East Sussex Bach Choir and the Sussex Symphony Orchestra.

www.goodmusicpublishing.co.uk

Jeremy Carpenter studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London under the tutelage of Ellis Keeler, Rudolf Piernay and David Pollard. During the spring of 2013 he appeared as Sharpless in Madama Butterfly at Grand Théâtre de Genève and Sir Robert Cecil in Britten’s Gloriana at the ROH Covent Garden. During the current season he returns to Covent Garden for the role of Guglielmo Cecil in Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda.

Jeremy Carpenter began the 2010/2011 season singing the role of Gérard in Andrea Chénier at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm with tremendous critical acclaim, followed by Belcore in L’elisir d’amore with the Angers Nantes Opéra. The last seasons have included Escamillo in Carmen at the Royal Swedish Opera as well as the Malmö Opera and Talpa in concert performances of Puccini’s Il tabarro with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Daniel Harding.

Jeremy Carpenter’s repertoire includes Count and Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro, Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, Marcello in La Bohème, Lescaut in Manon Lescaut, Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Sid in Albert Herring, Falke in Die Fledermaus, Dancairo and Morales in Carmen, and the title roles of Don Giovanni and Gianni Schicchi. He has appeared at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Opéra de Lille, Grange Park Opera, Theater S:t Gallen, the Royal Swedish Opera and elsewhere. During the autumn of 2009 Jeremy Carpenter sang Zurga in Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de Perles at the Folkoperan, Stockholm, followed by Marullo in Rigoletto in Dijon.

Equally at home on the concert platform, Jeremy Carpenter has appeared in Orff’s Carmina Burana, Brahms’ Liebesliederwaltzer and Ein deutsches Requiem, Haydn’s Die Schöpfung, Charles Villiers Stanford’s Songs of the Sea and Maxwell-Davies The Martyrdom of St Magnus.

Sarah Castle’s recent engagements include the title role in Tan Dun’s Marco Polo for the Netherlands Opera in Amsterdam; Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro for Seattle Opera; Mendelssohn Lobgesang with the Hallé Orchestra at the BBC Proms; Spaces of Blank by Michel van der AA in Amsterdam; Idamante in Idomeneo in Moscow; Fox in The Cunning Little Vixen for the Israeli Opera; Dryad in Ariadne auf Naxos for the Royal Opera; Lola in Cavalleria rusticana for San Diego Opera; Page in Salome with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra; Nicklausse in Les contes d’Hoffmann for the Teatro Real, Madrid and the Gran Teatro de Cordoba; Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel and Ruggiero in Alcina for Opera Australia; Siegrune in Die Walküre, Flosshilde in Das Rheingold and Götterdämmerung at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Sesto in Giulio Cesare and Melibea in Il viaggio a Reims for the Israeli Opera; Prince Orlovsky in Die Fledermaus for the Opera Company of Philadelphia; Annio in La Clemenza di Tito for the National Theatre, Prague; Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro for San Diego Opera; Siegrune in Florence; Flosshilde in Munich; and Elijah with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.

Notable concerts include Mendelssohn’s Paulus with La Chapelle Royale under the direction of Philippe Herreweghe on a tour of Spain, Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 with Gustavo Dudamel in Caracas, Mark Anthony Turnage Twice Through the Heart with Psappha and her BBC Proms debut at the Royal Albert Hall in Die Walküre with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Donald Runnicles, returning to sing (with the same conductor) a concert performance of Elektra. She has also made debuts at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam with Dutch Radio Philharmonic conducted by Lothar Zagrosek singing Debussy La Damoiselle Elue and at the Edinburgh International Festival singing Kurt Weill songs with the San Francisco Ballet.

She made her debut at the Staatsoper Stuttgart as Oberto in Alcina and as Wellgunde in Götterdämmerung and took part in a concert performance of Feuersnot and Anna Bolena (Smeaton) at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. For Klagenfurt Opera, she has sung the title role of Teseo; for New Israeli Opera in Tel-Aviv, Nero in L’incoronazione Di Poppea, under the direction of Harry Bicket; and for the Spoleto Festival USA, Andronico in Tamerlano, also under Harry Bicket. She returned to the Spoleto Festival USA to sing Komponist in Ariadne Auf Naxos in 2004 under the baton of Emmanuel Villaume. She has taken part in a production of Parsifal under Jeffrey Tate in Adelaide; sung Cherubino for Opera New Zealand; Helen in King Priam and Teseo in Arianna In Creta, both for Nationale Reisopera; and Olga in Eugene Onegin at La Monnaie in Bruxelles conducted by Lothar Zagrosek. Other major debuts include Tisbe in La Cenerentola for the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Oberto in Alcina for San Francisco Opera and the title role of Carmen in Switzerland. She sang the roles of Flosshilde and Grimgerde at the 2004 Bayreuther Festspiele.

Chorus Angelorum, comprising of some of the UK’s leading choral professionals, is an elite chamber choir founded by Gavin Carr in 2007 to perform the St Matthew Passion in Bath Abbey with the English Chamber Orchestra, Dame Emma Kirkby, Sarah Connolly and James Gilchrist. With the immense success of this concert, Gavin Carr was invited to tour with his choir in Carmina Burana for the Emilia-Romagna Fesitval in Naples, Bologna, Montepulciano and Llubjana. A concert of Verdi Opera Choruses was warmly received in Cesenatico, Italy, and a command performance for the Archbishop of Turin soon followed with Messiaen’s Trois petites liturgies de la presence divine with Jan Latham-Koenig and the orchestra of the Teatro Regio, Turin. The choir’s Messiah tours with Bath Philhamronia in the West Country are eagerly anticipated, and 2009 saw it return to Bath Abbey for a sell-out programme shared with this orchestra including Tallis’ great 40-part motet Spem in alium. Recent performances have also included a sell-out appearance at the Frome Festival, Somerset, with Treasures from the Spanish Renaissance, featuring the Victoria Requiem. The recording of Paul Carr’s Requiem for an Angel and other choral works by this composer marks the choir’s cd debut.

Rodney has performed the baritone roles in all the Da Ponte/Mozart operas notably the title role in Don Giovanni. He particularly relishes the music of Benjamin Britten having performed the roles of the Ferryman, Elder Son and Azarias in a UK/Russia tour of Britten’s Church Parables under the direction of Frederic Wake-Walker and Roger Vignoles. Other highlights include his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra as Jake in Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle and his role debut as Crown inthe same opera in a production by The Royal Danish Opera, Copenhagen directed by John Doyle. Rodney performs regularly with major orchestras and conductors with repertoire including Bernstein’s Mass with London Symphony Orchestra under Marin Alsop, title role in Porgy and Bess with the Orchestra of Accademia di Santa Cecilia Rome under Wayne Marshall and Jake in Porgy & Bess with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Nikolaus Harnoncourt.

Rodney demonstrates his versatility performing both contemporary music as well as early music. He premiered One Sun One World by Peter Rose and Anne Conlon at the Royal Albert Hall, featured as Polyphemus in Acis & Galatea in the BBC’s documentary of The Birth of British Music: Handel and Purcell series, made his Wigmore Hall debut with a recital of songs from Music To a Distant Drum by Kenneth Hesketh with Ensemble 10/10 and has performed Vaughan Williams Seranade to Music at Queen Elizabeth Hall under the baton of John Wilson, Bass soloist in Handel’s Messiah alongside Dame Emma Kirkby in Trondheim, Norway and appeared in Max Richter’s unique new chamber opera SUM at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden directed by Wayne McGregor. Rodney recently portrayed the role of Firefighter in Tansy Davies’ new opera Between Worlds for the English National Opera with librettist Nick Drake, director by Deborah Warner and conductor Gerry Cornelius at the Barbican Theatre.

Ronald Corp wrote his first major work, the cantata ‘And all the Trumpets Sounded’, as the result of a commission from the Highgate Choral Society in 1989. Other choral works include Laudamus (1994), A New Song (1999), Mary’s Song, (2000) Adonai Echad (2000) and Jubilate (2008). Smaller works include We Will Remember Them, Verbum Patris Umanatur, There is no Rose, Missa San Marco, Christmas Mass  and Forever Child.

Sainsbury’s commissioned Four Elizabethan Lyrics for the Farnham Youth Choir, winners of their section of the Sainsbury Choir of the Year. Other compositions for children’s choir include Cornucopia (1997), a cycle of songs with orchestra, and its successor Kaleidoscope (2002). Of his numerous part songs and carols for children’s choir the most notable are For a Child and All Ye Works of the Lord both with instrumental accompaniment, Cradle Song, Flower Songs and Hardy Songs. In 2003 BBC Radio 3 commissioned a major work for the BBC Singers – a setting of Matthew Arnold’s Dover Beach.

He has written many solo songs including the cycles Flower of Cities, Miscellanie, The Music of Whitman and The Music of Wordsworth – the latter with obbligato clarinet. His many instrumental compositions include Homage to Martinu for flute and piano (2003) and his String Quartet no 1 ‘The Bustard’ (2008). Orchestral works include and a Piano Concerto (1997), Guernsey Postcards, Concerto Grosso and a Symphony. A suite of Purcell arrangements for violin and strings (2003), and orchestrations of Satie’s Gnossiennes, featured in the film Chocolat.

www.ronaldcorp.com

Robert Costin enjoys an international reputation as a musician of exceptional versatility, being equally at home as a keyboard soloist, ensemble player, conductor and teacher. His musicianship has been described as “masterful” (The Independent) and “consistently excellent” (Gramophone).

Robert’s concert career has taken him all over the world, including Europe, Asia and the USA. His concerto debut with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra was described as a “triumph” and “thrill-a-minute stuff” (Weekend Herald).

Robert has released seven internationally-acclaimed solo CDs on the Kiwi Pacific, Atoll and Stone Record labels. His most recent recording of Bach’s complete Well-Tempered Clavier was described as “a wonderful set of records, a true achievement of the modern gramophone” (The Organ).

Robert began his musical career as a chorister at Peterborough Cathedral. He was educated at Oundle School, the Royal Academy of Music and Cambridge University, where he was Organ Scholar of Pembroke College. He was awarded the Fellowship diploma of the Royal College of Organists at the age of nineteen. As an organist, he has held positions at St Matthew’s Church, Northampton, St Alban’s Church, Holborn, Wellington Cathedral of St Paul, Holy Trinity Cathedral, Auckland, Blackburn Cathedral and All Saints’ Church, Blackheath.

Robert is Director of Music at Rugby School Thailand. He has held teaching posts at St Louis School, Milan, Highgate School, St Paul’s Cathedral School, Ardingly College, Bedford School and Worksop College. Whilst he was Director of Music at Ardingly College, he started and directed the international concert series Music@Ardingly and established prestigious partnerships with VOCES8 and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Robert is a regular harpsichord professor on the British Isles Music Festival, and for many years he was an organ tutor on the Oundle for Organists courses. He has led classes and workshops all over the world, most recently in Hong Kong and the USA.

www.robertcostin.com

David Crown has been singing and conducting choirs and orchestras since his teens. He won a Choral Scholarship to King’s College, Cambridge and was also a university instrumental award holder on the viola. Immediately after leaving university he embarked on a career as soloist in opera and oratorio winning several competitions. He also built a considerable reputation as singing teacher and now teaches at Oxford and Bristol Universities as well as privately. In more recent years he has left the world of solo singing and returned to his first love of conducting. He is Director of Music at Somerville College, Oxford, and Music Director of the Reading Phoenix Choir, The Oxford Singers and The Wychwood Chorale. His work with choirs and orchestras has attracted superb notices in the UK and abroad. He is also increasingly in demand for master-classes. Somerville have been invited to sing Evensong at St Paul’s Cathedral twice in the coming year and will be taking part in the Britten in Oxford festival in 2013 as the only collegiate choir.

Sophie Daneman studied at the Guildhall School of Music with Johanna Peters and has established an international reputation in a wide ranging repertoire. An accomplished recitalist, Sophie Daneman has appeared at many of the world’s major recital venues, including the Wigmore Hall and the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, the Musikverein, Vienna, and Carnegie Hall.

Her opera engagements have included Rodelinda in the Netherlands, ‘Arianna’, Cleopatra (‘Giulio Cesare’) and Dalila (‘Samson’) for the Göttingen Handel Festival, and an acclaimed Mélisande for the Opéra Comique. She has sung Servilia (‘La Clemenza di Tito’) with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, Euridice (Haydn’s ‘L’Anima del Filosofo’) for the Opéra de Lausanne, Euridice (Monteverdi’s ‘L’Orfeo’) and ‘Dido and Aeneas’ at the Bavarian State Opera, the title role in Handel’s ‘Theodora’ with William Christie in New York, Paris and Salzburg and Bernstein’s ‘Wonderful Town’ and her first Susanna (‘Le nozze di Figaro’) for Grange Park Opera. She appeared in the staged productions of Tod Machover’s ‘Skellig’ at The Sage, Gateshead and sang Phedre in Rameau’s ‘Hippolyte et Aricie’ for the Nationale Reisopera.

She has toured extensively with William Christie and Les Arts Florissants, as well as performing with Sir Neville Marriner, Gérard Lesne, Jean-Claude Malgoire, Phillipe Herreweghe, Ivor Bolton and Sir John Eliot Gardiner. She has sung Handel’s ‘Apollo e Dafne’ at the Maggio Musicale, ‘L’Allegro’ with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and appeared with the Halle Handel Festival, the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, the Rias Kammerchor, the Beaune Festival, and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.

Neal Davies studied at King’s College, London and the Royal Academy of Music, and won the Lieder Prize at the 1991 Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. He has sung with the world’s leading orchestras, under Sir Mark Elder, Paul McCreesh, Ivor Bolton, Mariss Jansons, Pierre Boulez, Christoph von Dohnanyi, David Zinman, Juanjo Mena, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Frans Brüggen, John Storgårds, Edward Gardner and Daniel Harding. A regular guest of the Edinburgh Festival, BBC Proms, English National Opera and Welsh National Opera, he has also performed with the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Scottish Opera, Garsington Opera, Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, Opera di Roma and Lyric Opera of Chicago. He appears in Charpentier’s David et Jonathas from Aix-en-Provence, which is available on DVD.  Concert highlights for the 2018/19 season include appearances with Les violons du Roy and Philadelphia Orchestra (Bernard Labadie), the New York Philharmonic Orchestra (Jonathan Cohen), the Bach Collegium Japan (Masaaki Suzuki) and Music of the Baroque (Jane Glover). He will return to the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin for King Arthur.

Wyn Davies was born in South Wales and graduated from Christ Church Oxford.  He works with a wide range of opera companies, orchestras, theatre companies, in the West End and in cabaret. He has been Director of Music to New Zealand Opera since 2005. His most recent productions there are Don Giovanni and The Flying Dutchman.

Wyn Davies first worked with Welsh National Opera. He conducted a wide variety of repertoire there, including his own edition of Monteverdi’s  L’Incoronazione di Poppea as well as Janáček cycles and Krása’s children’s opera Brundibar (televised).

He later spent two years as assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera, New York and undertook two seasons for the Banff Centre in Canada, which included the award-winning production of Weill’s Threepenny Opera in Toronto.

Wyn Davies has also conducted the Welsh and English National Operas, Scottish Opera and Opera North, where his collaborations have been frequent and successful from the co-production with the Royal Shakespeare Company of Show Boat (also in the West End and on tour) to Madam Butterfly, The Merry Widow and two Gershwin musicals: Of Thee I Sing (also Bregenz) and Let ‘Em Eat Cake. 

Wyn Davies has worked with the Hallé Orchestra (and returned for concerts each year since 2007), the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (Millennium Concert) and other British ensembles, and with orchestras from Serbia to New Zealand.

Recent projects include A Child of our Time for the National Youth Orchestra and Choir in New Zealand, Don Pasquale in Japan, a double bill of Dido and Aeneas and La Voix Humaine for Opera North, La Cenerentola for Queensland Opera and Under Milk Wood on tour in Wales.

William Dazeley was born in Warwickshire and is a graduate of Jesus College, Cambridge. He studied singing at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he won several prizes including the prestigious Gold Medal, the Decca Kathleen Ferrier Prize, the Royal Overseas League Singing Competition, the Richard Tauber Prize and the Walther Gruner International Lieder Competition.

William is now established as one of the leading baritones of his generation, and has already appeared with many of the world’s important opera houses. Roles include Count in Cherubin, Guglielmo in Cosi fan tutte, Anthony in Sweeney Todd, Mercutio in Romeo et Juliette, Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; The Count in Le nozze di Figaro, Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia and title role in Owen Wingrave for Glyndebourne Touring Opera; Figaro in Barbiere at the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin; Count in Figaro and title role in Don Giovanni at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Dr Faust at the Salzburg Festival and Châtelet conducted by Kent Nagano and Scherasmin in Oberon at the Theatre du Châtelet conducted by John Eliot Gardiner, which was also presented in concert at the Barbican, the Count in Figaro at the Pittsburgh Opera, Zurga in The Pearl Fishers at the San Francisco Opera, the Ferryman in Curlew River at the Edinburgh Festival, Papageno in The Magic Flute for English National Opera, the Count in Le Nozze di Figaro for Welsh National Opera, Maximilian in Candide with the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, Marcello in La Boheme and Yeletsky in Pique Dame with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Concert appearances have included title role in Schumann’s Szenen aus Goethes Faust for a European tour conducted with Philippe Herreweghe and concerts with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra; Schumann’s Requiem for Mignon conducted by John Eliot Gardiner with the Monteverdi Orchesta; Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn with the Royal Flanders Philharmonic conducted by Herreweghe and at the Casa da Musica, Porto; Corigliano’s Dylan Thomas Trilogy with the BBC Symphony conducted by Leonard Slatkin; Christmas Oratorio with the Berlin Philharmonic; the world premiere of songs by Harrison Birtwistle for the BBC Proms conducted by Christoph von Dohnanyi, Mahmoud in John Adams’ The Death of Klinghoffer with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Das Paradies und die Peri with the San Francisco Symphony, Das Klagende Lied with the RTE National Symphony Orchestra, Carmina Burana with the Orchestre du Capitole Toulouse, Britten’s War Requiem at the Aspen Festival, L’Enfance du Christ with London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Colin Davis, the Brahms Requiem with the Monteverdi Choir conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Des Knaben Wunderhorn with Orquestra Nacional do Porto, and concerts of L’Enfance du Christ with Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg conducted by Ivor Bolton.

World premieres include the lead role of Jesus in Harrison Birtwistle’s The Last Supper at the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin conducted by Daniel Barenboim, which was then repeated at the Glyndebourne Festival; and Hosokawa’s Hanjo, which was presented at the Aix en Provence Festival and Theatre de la Monnaie in Brussels.

William has given recital performances at the Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room, St George’s Bristol, and Chatelet, and is regularly invited to sing at Cheltenham, Aix en Provence and Saintes Festivals with such noted accompanists as Graham Johnson and Iain Burnside.

pursueing his vocal studies at la Civica Scuola di Musica of Milan and the prestigious Curtis Institute, Philadelphia where his early opera performances led to highly successful European debuts including a prizewinning Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, conducted by Ton Koopman.

Since his 2007 UK debut as Harlekin in Ariadne auf Naxos for Garsington Opera, he has quickly made a name for himself here, with roles such as Robinson-Secret Marriage (Scottish Opera), Dandini-La Cenerentola (Garsington), Pete-Lost Highway (ENO), the Count-Capriccio (Grange Park), Guglielmo-Così fan tutte, and Schaunard-La Boheme (Opera North).

His operatic repertoire spans from Monteverdi to the present day, with over 50 roles performed, including several world premieres such as the title role of Achilleus (Flemish Opera), but if asked to choose, his preferences would lie with Mozart, Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi, Strauss and Britten. Similarly indecisive is he with Song repertoire, as the music he most enjoys performing is that of Wolf, Schuman, Fauré, Tchaikovsky, Barber and Rorem.

Recent highlights include Don Giovanni in Rimini, Christus in Bach’s Johannes Passion for De Nationale Reisopera, Selim in Il Turco in Italia for Garsington Opera, and future engagements include roles at La Monnaie, The Netherlands Opera and Grange Park Opera.

Rebecca de Pont Davies is establishing herself as one of the leading singer actors of her generation. Recent engagements include Geneviève Pelléas et Mélisande at the Aalto Musiktheater in Essen, conducted by Stefan Soltesz, her first Klytemnestra (opposite Susan Bullock) for Opera North, Auntie in David Alden’s award-winning production of Peter Grimes at ENO, Vlaamse Opera, and Opera de Oviedo, her debut in Germany as Mrs Sedley in a new production of Peter Grimes for Deutsche Oper am Rhein Dusseldorf, her first Herodias and Die Hexe for Theater Bielefeld, Beggar Woman Sweeney Todd, in a new production for Théâtre du Châtelet Paris, Aunt Kaye in the world premiere of Mark Anthony Turnage’s Anna Nicole at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and Bronka Steinberg’s The Passenger for ENO.

Future engagements include Auntie Peter Grimes for Deutsche Oper Berlin, Old Lady/Elaine in a new production of Sunday in the Park with George for Theatre du Chatelet Paris and Mother Wagner Dream for Welsh National Opera.

Rebecca has gained international recognition through roles such Mrs Sedley Peter Grimes at the Liceu Bercelona and in Valencia, Zweite Magd Elektra, Mother in Jonathan Harvey’s Wagner Dream for De Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam, Beroe Henze’s The Bassarids in Luxembourg and Paris, Albine Thais and 3rd SecretaryNixon in China for Theatre du Chatelet, Paris, and Mother Goose The Rake’s Progress for Opera de Oviedo. On the concert platform, Rebecca’s appearances have included performances in a wide variety of works with many of Britain’s leading orchestras including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the London Sinfonietta, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia and the English Chamber Orchestra.

Further international performances include da Falla El Amor Brujo and Seven Popular Spanish Songs with Symphony Nova Scotia in Canada and Alma Mahler’s Four Early Songs with Sinfonica del Valle in Cali, Colombia. An enthusiastic exponent of contemporary music, Rebecca has appeared with Lontano and the Endymion Ensemble in works such as Henze’s El re del Harlem, Berio’s Folksongs, Judith Weir’s Consolations of Scholarship and with the London Sinfonietta she sang Wife/Doreen/Waitress 1/Sphynx 2 in Mark Anthony Turnage’s Greek as part of the BBC’s Momentum series at the Barbican.

Rebecca was born in London and studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She made her debut at Glyndebourne in Death in Venice and went on to create the role of Ismene in Luc Braeways Antigone with Belgian based Walpurgis, touring throughout Europe. Having made her ENO debut as Emilia in Verdi’sOtello, Rebecca went on to become a Company Artist. Her many roles during this time include Ulrica Un Ballo in Maschera, Mistress Quickly Falstaff, Mrs SedleyPeter Grimes, Ottavia Poppea, Genevieve Pelleas et Melisande, Theatre Dresser/Schoolboy/Groom Lulu, Albine Thais, Annina Der Rosenkavalier, Flosshilde Das Rheingold, Siegrune Die Walkure, Page Salome (also recorded for Chandos), Mother Goose The Rake’s Progress and 3rd Secretary Nixon in China.

She also created the role of Suzanne in the world premiere of Martin Butler’s A Better Place. For the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden she has sung Schwertleite Die Walkure, and 2nd Esquire Parsifal, and for Scottish Opera Moksada Parem Vir’s Snatched by the Gods, Orlofsky Die Fledermaus, and Mezzo Actor Judith Weir’s A Night at the Chinese Opera. She appeared as Maddalena in Opera North’s new production of Rigoletto and at Garsington Opera she has sung Gaea DAPHNE, Die Muschel Die Agyptische Helene and Die Haushalterin Die Schweigsame Frau.

Julius Drake lives in London and enjoys an international reputation as one of the finest instrumentalists in his field, collaborating with many of the world’s leading artists, both in recital and on disc. He appears regularly at all the major music centres: the Aldeburgh, Edinburgh, Munich, Schubertiade, and Salzburg Music Festivals; Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Centre New York; the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Philarmonie Berlin; the Châtalet and Musée de Louvre Paris; La Scala Milan and Teatro de la Zarzuela Madrid; Musikverein and Konzerthaus Vienna; and Wigmore Hall and BBC Proms London.
Director of the Perth International Chamber Music Festival in Australia from 2000 – 2003, Julius Drake was also musical director of Deborah Warner’s staging of Janáček’s Diary of One Who Vanished, touring to Munich, London, Dublin, Amsterdam and New York. Since 2009 he was been Artistic Director of the Machynlleth Festival in Wales. Julius Drake’s passionate interest in song has led to invitations to devise song series for the Wigmore Hall, London, the BBC and the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam. A series of song recitals – Julius Drake and Friends – in the historic Middle Temple Hall in London, has featured recitals with many outstanding vocal artists including Sir Thomas Allen, Olaf Bär, Iestyn Davies, Veronique Gens, Sergei Leiferkus, Dame Felicity Lott, Simon Keenlyside and Sir Willard White.

Magid El-Bushra was a recipient of a 2011 Royal Philharmonic Society Susan Chilcott Scholarship. A countertenor, who was born in Khartoum, Sudan and studied Music at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he also held a Choral Scholarship, he continued his studies at the Royal College of Music, where he was a winner of the Century Prize for Early Music, and at the Flanders Opera Studio in Ghent. He currently studies with Paul Farrington and Della Jones, and is a grateful recipient of scholarships from Sir Vernon Ellis and the Nicholas Boas Charitable Trust.

In opera, Magid has performed the Sorceress in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas with Opera Fuoco/David Stern at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, as well as the role of David in a staged production of Handel’s oratorio Saul at the Oldenburgisches Staatstheater (conducted by Andreas Spering).  He made his debut with Glyndebourne on Tour as Nutrice in Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea (2010), and has covered the roles of Mago Christiano (Rinaldo) and Nireno (Giulio Cesare) for Glyndebourne Festival Opera (2011/2009). In 2010, he created the role of Little Ceasar in the pastiche opera Nachtwache at the Oldenburgisches Staatstheater to great reviews (the production was  revived in 2012), and performed the role of Primo Uomo in another pastiche opera, Le Convenienze ed Inconvenienze Teatrali, at the Opéra de Rouen. He has also performed the role of Tolomeo in a version of Handel’s Giulio Cesare for young people at the Théâtre Saint Quentin, Paris, with Opera Fuoco/David Stern, Tragedia/Dafne in Caccini’s Euridice with Scherzi Musicali/Nicolas Achten (recorded for Ricercar and awarded 5 Diapasons), and appeared in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo with Les Arts Florissants/William Christie at the Teatro Real, Madrid.

As a soloist in the oratorio repertoire, Magid has performed Handel’s Chapel Royal Anthems with the Basel Kammerorchester directed by Paul Goodwin; Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater at the Casa Da Musica, Porto under the direction of Laurence Cummings and in Auxerre with Ensemble La Fenice/Jean Tubéry; Buxtehude’s Das Jüngste Gericht with Masaaki Suzuki in Japan; Bach’s Mass in G and Mass in A with Ensemble Pygmalion at the Festival de la Chaise Dieu (recorded for Alpha and awarded Diapason d’Or de l’Année 2008), and the premiere of Klaus Huber’s Miserere Hominibus at the Opéra Bastille, Paris with Les Jeunes Solistes. He has also recorded the Pie Jesu in the Requiem by Duruflé for Harmonia Mundi.

Magid has given several recitals at the Bijloke concert hall in Ghent, most recently of Byrd consort songs with the viol consort Phantasm (following on from the recital of English lute songs he gave  there in 2010). He has also given a recital of English folksongs at the Snape Maltings concert hall in Aldeburgh, as well as the premiere of Robert Platz’ song cycle Boutaden for the Westdeutsche Rundfunk in Cologne.

He participated in the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme, performing the role of David in Handel’s Saul at the Aldeburgh Festival under the direction of Richard Egarr in 2010. He has also participated in Malcolm Martineau’s song masterclasses at Crear, and in masterclasses with Ann Murray, Graham Johnson and Emma Kirkby. In November 2008, Magid won first prize at the Concorso Musica Sacra in Rome, and, with his baroque ensemble La Sfera Musicale, was a prizewinner at the international early music competitions in Brugges and Yamanashi.

This season sees the revival of Handel’s Saul in Oldenburg and Heilbronn, concerts in De Bijloke, Ghent, and the Utrecht Early Music Festival, and Magid’s first concert in North America, at the Montréal Bach Festival.

A graduate of the Juilliard School, British pianist Nicola Eimer has performed as a soloist and chamber musician across Europe and US, and has given concerto performances and recitals at major UK venues including the Barbican and Wigmore Hall. As a chamber musician, she performed with the Eimer Piano Trio for over 10 years, and now regularly performs with other musicians such as Adolfo Gutierrez Arenas, Richard Harwood, Fenella Humphreys, Christoph Richter and Maria Wloszczowska. She is a regular class pianist for the London Masterclasses and the IMS masterclasses in Prussia Cove, and has worked as an official pianist at both the Menuhin Violin Competition and the Hastings International Piano Competition. Nicola studied with Danielle Salamon and later with Christopher Elton at the Royal Academy of Music where she graduated with their highest award, the DipRAM. During her studies she received generous support from the Countess of Munster Musical Trust and the Delphine de Martelly Trust. She won a Fulbright Scholarship to study in New York with Joseph Kalichstein. She is an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, where she is a tutor on the LRAM Piano course, as well as a piano and chamber music teacher at both Junior and Senior departments.