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Cari Searle, contralto

was born in Yorkshire and read music at Sheffield University before studying at the Royal Northern College of Music with Glenville Hargreaves, supported by the Peter Moores Foundation and the Countess of Munster Musical Trust. Whilst at the RNCM she participated in masterclasses with Benjamin Luxon, Roger Vignoles, Brigitte Fassbaender and with Dame Gwyneth Jones at the Royal Opera House.
Cari made her operatic debut in 1996 as Florence Pike in British Youth Opera’s production of Albert Herring in London and in the same year performed Bianca in the Fiftieth anniversary production of the Rape of Lucretia at the Snape Maltings Concert Hall with the Britten Pears School under the baton of Steuart Bedford. She has subsequently sung the roles of Baba the Turk (The Rake's Progress) and Amastris (Xerxes) for British Youth Opera. Having sung the role of Suzuki (Madama Butterfly) for Opera Holland Park in 2000, Cari returned in 2001 to perform Un Musico (Manon Lescaut) and Rosina (Il Barbiere di Siviglia). In 2004 she performed the role of Suzuki at the Longborough Festival with Opera Project and this year she has covered both the roles of Rossweisse in Die Walkure and Wowkle in Fanciulla del West for the Royal Opera House.
Cari has also performed Mrs Noye in Noyes Fludde and excerpts of Mercedes, Dalila, Ariane in Ariane et Barbe-Bleu, Annina in La Traviata and Musetta in Leoncavallo's La Boheme.
Her concert repertoire includes Bach Magnificat, Christmas Oratorio, St John Passion; Duruflé Requiem; Handel Messiah; Mendelssohn Elijah; Rossini Petite Messe Solennelle; Elgar Dream of Gerontius; Verdi Requiem and Copland In the Beginning. She has sung with Manchester Camerata and the Orchestra of the Golden Age in Manchester Cathedral. As well as the Messiah at the Brangwen Hall, she has also sung Elijah and the Mass in B minor at the RNCM Concert Hall. Forthcoming concerts include Mozart Requiem, Salieri Requiem, an opera gala for Opera South and a concert performance of Die Walkure at the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford.
She has also performed song-cycles with orchestra; Sea Pictures with Chester Philharmonic Orchestra, Des Knaben Wunderhorn and Kindertotenlieder with Derby Concert Orchestra, and Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen as part of the principal's concerts at the RNCM. Last year Cari performed Mahler 3rd Symphony with Hertfordshire Youth Orchestra and assembled choirs. This year she has given recitals at the Royal Opera House comprising of American music and English song programmes.
Cari has been successful in several competitions: Most recently in December she won the Wagner Society’s 2006 Ralph Wells award for dramatic singers. She was a prizewinner in the 1998 National Mozart Competition and a prizewinner in the 1995 Frederick Cox Competition for singing. She was the second prizewinner in the 1996 Leslie and Dorothy Blond Award for Lyric Dramatic Singing and was a finalist in the prestigious Kathleen Ferrier Awards in the same year.
In June 1996 she was awarded the Professional Performance Diploma from the RNCM with merit and was subsequently awarded the RNCM Curtis Gold Medal for singing.
 

The Choir of Leeds Parish Church

was re-formed under the Vicariate of the redoubtable Dr Hook. On the opening of Hook’s new church in 1841, choral services were established on weekdays as well as Sundays – a tradition sustained today although there is no residential choir school. The boys singing tonight come from the following schools: Michael, St Peter’s C of E Primary, Andrew, Cardinal Heenan RC High, Toby, Fulneck School where he is a music scholar. A recent anonymous donor has gifted a scholarship in grateful memory of Dr Roger Bullivant – part of an effort to raise £500,000 to secure the choir’s future.

Christopher Foster, bass

was educated at Newcastle University and the Britten-Pears School for Advanced Musical Studies and was a winner of the N.F.M.S. Young Concert Artists' Award. He has sung in major venues throughout the UK and Europe, performing with orchestras such as the BBC Symphony and Concert Orchestras, the Britten Sinfonia and Chapelle Royale and has worked with Pierre Boulez, Sir Andrew Davis, Trevor Pinnock and Joshua Rifkin among others. Notably he took part in the first English performance of Messiah in Beijing. Christopher has twice performed Bach’s St Matthew Passion at the Proms.  Broadcasts in France and Belgium include Bruch’s Schön Ellen, the world première of Donizetti’s cantata Christopher Columbus, Schumann’s Manfred and Stravinsky’s Le Rossignol (both at the Royal Festival Hall) and the world première of Britten’s The Rescue of Penelope. Among his many operatic roles are Count Almaviva in Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro, Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte and Arthur in Maxwell Davies’ The Lighthouse. His recordings include Purcell’s Timon of Athens (Trevor Pinnock) and Bach’s Cantata 34 (Sir John Eliot Gardiner) both for Deutsche Grammophon. A busy schedule lies ahead with Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Cantatas, Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, Brahms’ Requiem and a lunchtime recital of war related songs in the Banqueting House, Whitehall to name but a few.

Christopher Wray, baritone

Christopher’s earliest musical experiences were in Doncaster when he attended the William Appleby Music Centre and played in the Beechfield Youth Orchestra.  He first studied singing with Carey Williams, before being accepted at Trinity College of Music, London where he studied with soprano Laureen Livingstone and international vocal coach Helen Yorke. There his performances with the Opera Group included Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) and Seneca (Monteverdi’s Coronation of Poppea).  As a member of the Early Music Ensemble he discovered a love for the early repertoire and has performed with groups in London including The Marisienne Consort, The Rose Consort of Viols and his own co-founded ensemble El Escorial. Last year he was invited to coach the vocal chamber music course at Dartington International Summer School and was then invited by Emma Kirkby to join the prestigious Consort of Musicke. He now studies with baritone Russell Smythe and divides his time between London and Somerset where he currently teaches at Wells Cathedral School. Recent performances include Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (Aeneas), Monteverdi Vespers of 1610, Duruflé Requiem and Bach’s Mass in B minor. His future plans include a solo recital in London and a semi staged performance of Handel’s Acis and Galatea.

Christopher Wright, bass

has established himself as a principal bass with a number of companies in and around London, although he was born and raised in Yorkshire.  He developed an interest in music at schools in York and Durham, before attending Bristol University, where he studied German.  Currently touring theatres and stately homes with productions of Cosi fan tutte and Rigoletto, Chris enjoys a varied repertoire of over 25 operatic roles, including Mephistopheles (Faust), Daland (The Flying Dutchman), Osmin (Seraglio), Rocco (Fidelio), Leporello (Don Giovanni), Papageno & Sarastro (The Magic Flute), Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro).  Chris's other engagements this year include concerts of lighter music by George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Ivor Novello, and Cole Porter. Chris is a keen oratorio singer, with a repertoire including Mozart's Requiem and Solemn Vespers, Howells' Requiem, Handel's Messiah, Solomon and Dixit Dominus, Britten's Rejoice in the Lamb, the solo Bach cantata, Ich habe genug, and most recently Jesus in Bach’s St John Passion. Chris currently studies privately with baritone Stephen Roberts. Future plans include performances of Rigoletto in Newbury, Cheltenham and Bath, the title role in a production of Donizetti's Don Pasquale, concerts in Walton on Thames, Egham and Marlow, and a performance of Mendelssohn's St Paul in Chiswick. 

Claire Strafford, soprano,

comes from a musical family; her mother was a professional singer and her father was an organist, choirmaster and Hull City Organist. She studied at Leeds College of Music and later qualified as a teacher. For many years she has been an active oratorio soloist and has an extensive repertoire, from Handel’s Messiah to the Verdi Requiem and major twentieth century works including Rutter’s Gloria, Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb and Duruflé’s Requiem. These have taken her all over the country: to Wimborne Minster, Norwich Cathedral, Bangor, Ripon and the city halls of Birmingham and Leeds. A particular highlight of her career was to sing the soprano soloist in the Rutter Requiem under the composer’s baton. Claire gives recitals of English song and enjoys singing in small ensembles with other singers and instrumentalists. She lives at Kilburn near Thirsk and teaches solo singing at Queen Mary’s, Baldersby Park and Ripon Cathedral Choir School. Among future engagements are; Jonathan Willcock’s Lux Perpetua, a recital of English song (Ripon Cathedral) and the Schumann Spanische Lieder.

David Houlder, organ

was from 1981 to 1999 Director of Music at Liverpool’s historic Blue Coat School. In 1987 David was appointed Sub-Organist of Liverpool Cathedral, latterly combining that position with a freelance career, both as recitalist, accompanist and orchestral accompanist. He has appeared in concert regularly with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir. He has played almost all the cathedral organs in Great Britain, including a stint as Acting-Assistant Organist of York Minster. David specialises in organ and piano transcriptions of orchestral scores and is in demand as an accompanist to choral societies in the North of England. Recent performances have included Duruflé: Requiem, Handel: Israel in Egypt, Rutter: Magnificat, Schubert: Mass in A flat and two of Vaughan Williams’ most evocative works: Serenade to Music and Toward the Unknown Region. After almost thirty years music-making on Merseyside, David moved across the Pennines in October 2003, having accepted the post of Sub-Organist at Leeds Parish Church where he directs the Girl Choristers. He is accompanist and associate conductor of Leeds College of Music Choral Society, and directed their acclaimed performance of Mendelssohn’s St Paul in spring 2005 and a very enterprising and well supported concert of English music at Leeds Parish Church earlier this year. His non-musical interests include shipping, railways and photography.

David Townend, bass

was a choral scholar at Sheffield Cathedral from 1985 when he came up to the university and he remained in the choir as a Songman after graduation. He has taken part in and enjoyed numerous tours and recordings with the choir and with other chamber groups. He has also sung with Operaworks in the University of Sheffield. He regularly performs as a soloist and a recitalist. David’s particular interest is early twentieth century English and French song. He is increasingly in demand for oratorio work. His repertoire includes Mendelssohn’s Elijah, the St John and St Matthew Passions of Bach, Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast and Dvorák’s Stabat Mater, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle and Stabat Mater as well as Elgar’s The Apostles and Vaughan Williams’ Pilgrim’s Progress. Recent performances include Beethoven’s Mass in C and Puccini’s Messa di Gloria. In February he sang ‘The Trumpet Shall Sound’ from Handel’s Messiah at Roger Bullivant’s memorial service.

Debra Morley, soprano

studied at Cardiff University before being awarded numerous prizes to study at the Bonn Opera and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and was recently awarded the prestigious Madeline Finden Memorial Award. She has appeared with many companies including the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company, London Opera Players, Opera Della Luna and Pavilion Opera with whom she toured the UK, Europe and Japan. Roles performed include Leila (Les Pêcheurs de Perles), Micaela (Carmen), Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro), Adele (Die Fledermaus) and Violetta (La Traviata). Recordings include Kayser’s Christmas Cantata for Guild Music, original compositions for De Wolfe Music Ltd and BBC Radio 3. Debra also has a busy concert and oratorio career, and her extensive oratorio performances have included: Bach’s Magnificat, St. John Passion and St. Matthew Passion, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, Carissimi’s Jephte, Haydn’s Harmoniemesse, The Creation and The Seasons, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Purcell’s Come Ye Sons of Art, Schutz’ The Christmas Story, Thiman’s The Last Supper, Tippett’s A Child of Our Time and Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music.

Donna Bateman, soprano

studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where she won the GSMD Singing Prize and was the Principal’s nomination for the prestigious James Anthony Horne Scholarship. Prior to graduating with distinction from the Royal Academy of Music she was a finalist in the Kathleen Ferrier Memorial Prize and winner of the National Federation of Music Societies Award. She currently studies with Pamela Cook MBE. Operatic roles include Mrs.Coyle (Owen Wingrave), Frasquita (Carmen) and Marzelline in Birmingham Opera Company’s South Bank Show award winning production of Fidelio, broadcast live on BBC 4. She was subsequently invited by Ned Sherrin to sing 'Glitter and be Gay’ on Loose Ends on radio 4. Recently she performed Coralina (Il Toreador) at the Batignano Opera Festival in Italy. Donna also gives regular recitals and concerts; she recently completed a recital tour of music societies in Wales supported by the NFMS. She has performed in Singapore, South Africa and Malaysia. This year she sang at the opening ceremony of the World Athletics Championships. Recent oratorio performances include St. Matthew Passion at St. John’s, Smith Square and Mozart’s Mass in C minor at Chichester Cathedral. Future engagements include Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro for English Touring Opera

Elizabeth Roberts, soprano

studied music at Newcastle University, where she specialized in performance and won the David Barlow Memorial Award.  She has worked in master-classes with David Wilson-Johnson and now studies with Lillian Watson and Colin Baldy. Her many operatic roles include Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro (Susanna), Puccini’s La Bohème (Musetta) and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (Belinda). She took the role of Hilary Belle-Bottomley in the première performance of On Thee We Feed by Richard Chew and Rufus Norris. Solo oratorio engagements are extensive and varied including Haydn’s Stabat Mater, Purcell’s Te Deum & Jubilate in D, Mozart’s Solemn Vespers and Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 and, among others, works by Rutter, Fauré, Rameau, Lully, Bononcini and Charpentier. Notable performances include Mozart’s Requiem at St John’s Smith Square, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Tippett’s A Child of Our Time and Richard Blackford’s Mirror of Perfection. She has also been guest artist with the Scarborough Spa Orchestra for a Viennese evening and a gala concert. Future engagements include Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, Bach’s Cantata 68 and Mass in A; Rutter’s Mass of the Children, Wheeler’s Sea Changes (première), Bach’s Magnificat, Purcell’s Come ye Sons of Art and Handel’s Sing unto God.

Elizabeth Watts soprano

A SPECIAL TALENT 

Although still in her mid-twenties Elizabeth Watts is making her mark on the music scene. She graduated from Sheffield University with a first class honours degree in archaeology and then won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music, London. She has won numerous awards and has sung in recital at the Wigmore Hall, Bridgewater Hall, Purcell Room and many other venues across the country. Notable concert works include Bach’s Christmas Oratorio at St John’s Smith Square and Mozart’s Requiem with Sir David Willcocks. She is equally at home on the opera stage and already has a number of roles in her repertoire including Flora Turn of the Screw, Nanetta Falstaff and will make her debut with English National Opera’s Young Singers Programme in September as Papagena in The Magic Flute. 

‘Watts’s bright, clear delivery has an agreeable quiver of vibrato…..In Sleep she conjured equal measures of joy and melancholy in the lovely melismas with which Gurney fills the words ‘idle fancy’; ….. she is a performer who communicates readily.  We will hear more of her’ Evening Standard  Purcell Room  September 2004

‘The Elmira of Elizabeth Watts, who sings the opera’s show-stopping Act II duet, was the star of the evening, and by a long way.  Tireless, with rich and thrilling tone, each of her arias was an occasion’. The Spectator  RCM  Handel’s Sosarme  April 2004

Elizabeth Watts declaimed Tippett’s text with a confidence, belief and a sense of theatre that marks her out as a special talent… she has a terrific voice and natural stage-presence’ Colin Anderson, classicalsource.com, January 2005

‘The opera should really be called Fulvia, and Elizabeth Watts sings the role with deepening passion that excavates her torments brilliantly. Watts can do the trilly soubrette but there is much more to the voice – rounded, athletic and surprisingly fiery’ Robert Thickness, The Times, March 2005  

‘Watts's pliant, direct soprano has a shimmer and spin that recalls the (very) young Victoria de los Angeles’ Anna Picard, Independent on Sunday, March 2005

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Hannah Mason, contralto

was born in Leeds. She won a scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where she completed an honours degree in music and began her studies with David Pollard. Her operatic roles to date have included Olga in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Dorabella in Cosi Fan Tutte, Mallika in Lakmé, Clotilda in Koanga and the Dolcina in Puccini's Suor Angelica. Recently she appeared at the Buxton Festival in the role of Hansel in Hansel and Gretel. Hannah has performed extensively in recitals, notably a solo recital at St Martin-in-the-Fields and a series of recitals aboard Swan Hellenic's Minerva II cruise ship around Italy. Hannah regularly performs in cabaret evenings and opera galas throughout the UK. Hannah’s oratorio repertoire includes Haydn’s Nelson Mass, Mozart’s Solemn Vespers and Tippett’s A Child of Our Time. Apart from performing with this Society last season in Beethoven’s Mass in C and Choral Fantasia her recent performances have included Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater. Future engagements include Mozart’s Mass in C and Requiem and Beethoven’s Mass in C. She will also be performing the role of Hansel in Opera on a Shoestring’s Scottish tour of Hansel and Gretel.

Jan Townend, reader.

From reciting and performing as a child in church and youth club events in Goole, receiving Best Actress Award at the Yorkshire Youth Drama Festival, to taking drama as main subject at college, directing school productions, acting and directing for Doncaster Little Theatre, training teachers, helping to run the Youth Theatre Jan has come full circle, reciting and performing in a church. Her mother ensured her attendance at elocution lessons – mainly to correct a nervous nose twitch! She relishes all aspects of performance of which the most recent include Shirley Valentine, Mrs Alving in Ibsen’s Ghosts, Lady Macbeth, Arcadina in The Seagull and Mrs Prentice in What the Butler Saw by Joe Orton. Some productions she has directed are The Tempest, Under Milk Wood, When We Are Married, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Educating Rita.

Janet Bennett

studied harp and singing at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Equally at home playing the celtic harp and larger concert harp she has played with many professional orchestras including the Scottish National and Northern Sinfonia.
 Her main love however is singing with self accompaniment and she is currently delighting audiences from all over the world with this art form, having played to Royalty and civic dignitaries. The music and songs she performs come from many different countries and range from classical to popular in style but she particularly enjoys the contemporary and traditional Northumbrian music and songs from the region where she now lives.  It was as a response to the enthusiasm of her audiences and TV appearances that Janet has released three solo CDs: “Clarsumbria” is a collection of her favourite music and songs from the North with self accompaniment on the celtic harp. “A Touch of Class” contains a mixture of classical, traditional and popular songs and music, a guest flautist and even some jazz. “Romantic Moments” is her most recent CD and again contains classical, traditional and popular songs and music suitable for the many weddings and special occasions for which she is asked to play. These last two recordings feature her stunning gold concert harp. As well as being recognised as a soloist, Janet is part of “The Border Minstrels” trio which consists of Northumbrian Pipes, Fiddle and Voice and Harp. They are considered one of Northumbria’s premier groups and have made two recordings of Northumbrian music and songs.Teaching is also very much part of her life. She currently teaches singing at Emmanuel College and is the main teacher of harp in Northumberland.

 Janet Fairlie, soprano

was born in Glasgow and studied at the Royal College of Music with Margaret Cable. She has won many singing awards and prizes including the first prize in the 1992 National Mozart Competition and the 'Earl ofDalhousie Award' for the most promising Scottish student at college. After leaving the RCM she studied with Robert Dean and now studies with Richard Hetherington. Her wide concert and operatic experience includes tours of Switzerland, the Czech Republic and her debut performance in Germany in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in the Beethovenhalle, Bonn. as part of the International Beethoven Festival 2001. Oratorio performances include works by Haydn, Mozart, Bach, Handel and Carl Orff. She has appeared in a variety of operatic roles to critical acclaim at the Royal Opera House and Covent Garden and also at Glyndeboume Festival Opera. More unusual engagements have included performing for Sir Eiton John at his Charity Ball and singing on a Spanish mountaintop for Matthew Paris' (of The Times) 50th birthday! Janet has recently recorded a CD of popular operatic arias, sacred and secular songs with ZHL Chamber Orchestra.

Jason Darnell, tenor

studied at the Britten-Pears School and went on to gain an MA in Vocal Performance Practice at the University of York. He has performed extensively both at home and abroad, including early music in Versailles, Leipzig, Warsaw, Corfu and the Czech Republic. He has recorded and broadcast on ITV, Channel 4 and BBC Radio 3. He also records with Corona Coloniensis for W.D.R. Recent performances have included a programme of French baroque music with the Harmonia Universale at the York Early Music Festival, a recording at the Herne Festival with Corona Coloniensis, Handel’s Messiah and Purcell’s The Fairy Queen with the Yorkshire Bach Choir. He has also taken part in a live E.B.U.  broadcast from Poland of the world première of Zebrowski’s Magnificat and Wanski’s Missa de Nativitate Domini with Concerto Polacco.

Jennifer Westwood, contralto

is a graduate of Birmingham University (First Class) and of The Royal Northern College of Music. She was also a student at the Britten-Pears School, Aldeburgh and is a former member of the BBC Daily Service Singers.

Jennifer performs the mezzo-soprano and alto oratorio repertoire throughout the UK. International concerts have taken her to Hong Kong where she sang the Angel in The Dream of Gerontius. She has toured Finland and Germany singing Vivaldi`s Gloria, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle and Dvorák’s Biblical Songs. Nearer to home, performances have included a programme of sacred music by Haydn with the Lindsay String Quartet and Beethoven’s 9th Symphony for Music in the Round at The Crucible. Recent concerts include Stanford’s Bible Songs and Rachmaninov`s All-Night Vigil at Sheffield and Lincoln Cathedrals. Jennifer’s operatic appearances include the Bayreuth and Salzburg Festivals.

She has worked with many prestigious conductors including Claudio Abbado, James Levine, Daniel Barenboim and Antonio Pappano. She has sung with touring companies in the UK and Ireland, appeared with Opera North and sung at major festivals including Aldeburgh and Buxton where she also gave a lunchtime recital. Her solo roles include Cornelia (Giulio Cesare), La Cieca (La Gioconda) and Britten’s Lucretia. Concert performances of opera include the title role in Carmen and 3rd Lady in The Magic Flute. She sings with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. Concerts this season include J.S.Bach`s Mass in B Minor in Peterborough Cathedral

 

Jeremy Dawson, tenor

began studying singing with Charles Corp whilst a pupil at Christ's Hospital School, Sussex. He continued his education at Durham University, where he sang in the cathedral choir and also studied singing with Peter Alexander Wilson. In 1997 he moved to Sheffield and joined the choir of Sheffield Cathedral, with whom he has recently toured the USA. He has become a regular soloist with choirs throughout South Yorkshire and Derbyshire, as well as further afield. Recent solo performances include Handel's Chandos Anthems, Haydn's St Nicholas Mass and Maunder's Olivet to Calvary. Future plans include performances of Mendelssohn's Hymn of Praise and Handel 's Messiah.

Joanne Boddison, soprano

was born in York and educated at Easingwold School and then at Bretton Hall College of Higher Education in West Yorkshire. In addition to singing with St Peter's Singers in Leeds, Joanne is a member of the Britten Singers (formerly the BBC Northern Singers) undertaking with them recordings for Radio Three and Chandos Records. She has travelled extensively with the international touring choir Sine Nomine formerly under the direction of the late James Wild and, presently, Susan Oliphant. Joanne is also a member of Chores Amid who were awarded the prestigious and overall title of Sainsbury's Choir of the Year 2000 at the Royal Albert Hall in December of last year.

Jo Dwyer, contralto

was born and educated in Doncaster. She studied singing at the Birmingham Conservatoire from 1984-1988, graduating in performing and teaching singing. At college she studied with Pamela Cook and was a leading member of the opera school working with well-known producers and repetiteurs of national opera companies. Since leaving college Jo farther studied with Norma Proctor and continues to study with Pam Cook. She has appeared extensively as a soloist with choral societies and a number of male voice choirs throughout the country. Her wide oratorio repertoire encompasses works by Bach, Handel, Haydn, Dvorak and Saint-Saens but she also specialises in recital work, English, German and Italian. She made her singing debut in 1997 at the Birmingham Symphony Hall with the British Police Orchestra. Private teaching occupies much of Jo's time. She shares her work between Birmingham and Doncaster. Future engagements include Brahm's Alto Rhapsody.

John Dunford, tenor

began his career as a treble in Birmingham Parish Church Choir. Whilst at Trinity College of Music he studied organ, singing, piano, harpsichord and conducting. Although Director of Music at Ashville College in Harrogate, John maintains an active professional musical career. He has played as organist in concerts and services throughout the UK and on the continent. He currently conducts Wetherby Choral Society, Ripon Choral Society, and the St Oswald's Singers, has been guest conductor of Harrogate Philharmonic Orchestra and has been both deputy conductor and guest conductor of Sheffield Bach Society. John has established himself as a soloist in the Yorkshire area and amongst others has sung Bach's Mass in B minor, the Evangelist in the St John Passion, the title role in Britten's St Nicolas and sung the extraordinary swan solo in Carmina Burana by Carl Orff. 

John Lofthouse, bass

 graduated from Durham University and then taught Religious Studies. Currently, after completing a two-year course as a post-graduate at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, he is in his second year of the opera course studying with David Pollard. Recent oratorio performances include the Requiems of Brahms, Fauré and Duruflé, Bach’s St Matthew and St John Passions and the Mass in B minor, Haydn’s Nelson Mass and Harmoniemesse, Mozart’s Solemn Vespers and Requiem, and Vaughan Williams’ Mystical Songs and Sea Symphony. Recitals have taken him from his native Cumbria to Turkey, Lebanon and the Baltic on cruises with Swan-Hellenic. Last year, John won the Association of English Singers and Speakers Patricia Routledge English Competition and he also made his debut at the Wigmore Hall in Songbook 2003. Among his operatic roles are Figaro and Count Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro), Demetrius (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and Jack Point (The Yeomen of the Guard). Future plans include Junius (The Rape of Lucretia) and Guglielmo (Cosi fan tutte). John will commence a year of study at the National Opera Studio in September.

Jonathan Gooing, piano

graduated with a B.Mus (Hons.) from Sheffield University in 1996 where he studied piano with Yolande Wrigley and was awarded the Sir Thomas Beecham Music Scholarship, the Julian Payne Scholarship, the final year recital prize and the piano accompaniment award. Well known throughout the north of England as a soloist, chamber musician and accompanist he often plays as a piano duo with Keith Swallow. Jonathan teaches piano and is the departmental accompanist at Sheffield University; is senior lecturer in music at Bishop Grosseteste University College, Lincoln. He is also completing an M.Mus. degree at Sheffield University. Recent appearances include recitals in the Isle of Man, Sheffield Cathedral Arts Festival, and the Royal Naval College Chapel, Greenwich. A performance of the rarely heard Quartet for Piano, Clarinet and Strings by Walter Rabl was described in ‘Clarinet & Saxophone’ magazine as ‘brilliant and stimulating’. As organist, Jonathan has recently performed in services and concerts in the cathedrals of Sheffield, Ripon, Lincoln and Durham. In 1999 Jonathan won the Incorporated Society of Musicians/Yamaha ‘Birmingham Accompanist of the Year’ Award, held in the Adrian Boult Hall of the Birmingham Conservatoire, and adjudicated by David Owen Norris.

Kathryn Woodruff, contralto

graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, and taught in Leeds' schools for a number of years whilst continuing to perform as a solo singer in many parts of England and Wales, to much acclaim. Since giving up teaching, Kathryn's performances in oratorio have taken her around the UK, most notably in Elgar's Dream of Gerontius ("high notes which were particularly thrilling"). Her singing in Bach's St Matthew Passion has been described as "piercingly sublime", in Mendelssohn's Elijah as an "immensely venomous Jezebel" and with "velvet tone" in Handel's Messiah. She has sung and recorded with the Britten Singers on Radio 3 and has featured on the Amphion recording of Dr. Francis Jackson's A Time of Fire. This season's engagements include performances of Handel's Messiah and Bach's St John Passion. Kathryn is also principal mezzo soprano/contralto soloist with St. Peter's Singers.

Karina Lucas

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 Music with Barbara Robotham, where her studies were supported by an Allcard Award, a Musicians Benevolent Fund Award, the Amanda Roocroft Prize and the Annie Ridyard Award.  Karina graduated from the RNCM in 2002 with a First Class Honours Degree and in 2004 with Distinction for her Post Graduate Diploma. She now studies with Graeme Danby.

Kevin Spence, reader

graduated from Bristol University and then did postgraduate teacher training at Nottingham University. Early notable theatrical successes include Henry II in The Lion in Winter, Astrov in Uncle Vanya and a professional tour of David Storey’s In Celebration. Based in Doncaster he helped found the Doncaster Little Theatre ten years ago. He has directed a number of musicals in particular Oklahoma, Grease and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Plays he has produced include The Vortex, Julius Caesar, Teechers and Billy Liar. Amongst his favourite acting roles are Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, Maxim de Winter in Rebecca, Sir in The Dresser and Prospero in The Tempest. In addition he has written and directed two revues The British in Love and Laughter Lines and enjoys adapting work for the stage most notably a stage version of Kenneth Branagh’s film Midwinter, which achieved national recognition. Kevin has set up a drama training and consultancy company, a highly successful youth theatre, and has just completed a new piece of street theatre Night Fright.

Margaret McDonald, mezzo-soprano

Yorkshire-based Maggie sings regularly in major venues and cathedrals in the UK and abroad. She works with many leading conductors, encompassing an extensive repertoire of oratorio and concert work, opera, contemporary and light music, As well as singing with choral societies nationwide, she has sung for Glyndeboume Festival and Touring Opera, ENO, Opera North, Chelsea Opera Group and Scottish Opera Go Round. She has recorded a variety of works for Nimbus, Marco Polo and the BBC, including Maxwell Davies92 The
Jacobite Rising and Sea Elegy. She now combines a busy singing schedule with her vocal consultancy work, being in demand for master classes, workshops and examining, coaching and adjudicating, for groups such as Huddersfield Choral Society and the Hall~ Chorus. Future performances include Elgar92s The Kingdom and The Dream of Gerontius, Handel92s Messiah plus work with Opera North and the BJ3C.

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Mark Chaundy , tenor

sang as a chorister in the choir of St David92s Cathedral, whilst studying piano and organ. He later won an award through the South Glamorgan Youth Choir for singing lessons at the Welsh College of Music and Drama before gaining a choral scholarship to Magdalen College, Oxford, In 1999 he studied at the Royal College of Music as baritone with Ryland Davies. Concert appearances include Bach92s St John Passion, Kurt Weill92s Seven Deadly Sins with Cleo Lame and concerts with the London Mozart Players. Recital highlights include a Britten programme with Roger Vignoles and a performance with Ned Rorem of his songs at Tanglewood. He is also developing an opera repertoire and roles to date include Cadmus (Handel92s Semele) and David (Mascagni's L 91amicoFritz). Mark recently decided to move into the tenor repertoire and future engagements include Mendelssohn's Elyah and a return to Glyndebourne Festival Chorus in April.

Martin Hindmarsh, tenor

graduated from Birmingham University with a first class honours degree in music and later an M.Mus. in Opera Studies. He studied singing with John Cameron and with Joseph Ward OBE. He sang with the BBC Northern Singers, often as soloist and has broadcast as soloist with the BBC Philharmonic, the Northern Sinfonia and the Grimethorpe Colliery Band. Martin gave the first broadcast performance of Walden, a cantata by David Gow and has performed a number of times with the Lindsay String Quartet. Recordings include songs by Alan Rawsthorne, Philip Wilby’s Unholy Sonnets and songs by John McCabe. During 2002 Martin gave the first performances of the scena for tenor and piano by John Joubert, On Offa’s Back. He has a wide oratorio repertoire and has performed in venues throughout the UK, including the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London and the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester as well as across the world. Recent performances have included The Dream of Gerontius and the Evangelist in the Bach Passions. Martin is married to the mezzo-soprano Jennifer Westwood and they often appear together; each summer they sing at the Bayreuth Festival and in 2004 they gave joint recitals of songs to mark the centenary of the death of Dvorák. He maintains interests in conducting, composing and arranging in addition to lecturing on music.

The McAuley Chamber Choir

is made up of sixth form students and music staff of the school, and is one of the eighteen extracurricular ensembles that rehearse weekly at this Specialist Performing Arts College. They have built up an extensive repertoire and reputation over the years under their conductor Rachel Shenton. This has included participating in English Touring Opera’s large-scale community opera entitled One Breath which featured adult and school choirs from Doncaster and Sheffield.

Monica Law, piano

was educated at Stafford Girls’ High School. She graduated with a BMus from Birmingham University and an MA from Sheffield University. She has a lifetime of involvement in choral music and accompanies a choir and soloists in Sheffield. She also holds music sessions with pre-school children.

Nick Sales, tenor

was born in Staffordshire in 1968 and since moving to South Yorkshire in 1997. he has since been a pupil of Swinton-based Margaret Duckworth. He made his grand opera debut in January 1999, playing Alfredo Germont in South Yorkshire Opera's production of La Traviata. He was invited to participate as guest international soloist in the 1998 Carols for Christmas Concert in the Palais Des Beaux Arts, Brussels and was delighted to be invited back for the 1999 concert. He also enjoys amateur operatics, having taken the leading tenor roles in most of the Gilbert & Sullivan operas, and appearing at the International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival each year since 1996. In 1998 and 1999, he won the coveted "Best Male Voice" award. Future engagements include Handel's Messiah.

Link to Nicks 'English Tenor' website.

Nicola Mills, soprano,

originally from Lancashire, Nicola studied at The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama with Patricia MacMahon. Whilst there she won prizes including the Vocal Ensemble Prize, made recordings under the direction of Sir Philip Ledger, toured the UK with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and was supported by The Countess of Munster Musical Trust and The Lawrence Atwell Charity.

Nicola broadcasts regularly with the BBC Radio 4 Daily Service Singers, and also sings with Ex Cathedra. She has performed for Prince William, and in many of the leading venues throughout the UK including The Bridgewater Hall, St Martin in the Fields, The Albert Hall and The RNCM, including the Scottish Premiere of Handel’s Gloria, Messiah, Haydn’s Creation and The Seasons, Vivaldi Gloria and Laudate Pueri, along with Orff’s Carmina Burana to name a few.
She also gives concerts as part of the Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now! scheme both in London and the North West. Future engagements include Mendelssohn’s Hymn of Praise in Wetherby, Carmina Burana in Frodsham, Brahm’s Requiem in Macclesfield and Haydn’s Nelson Mass at Manchester University. She is also looking forward to touring Vienna later in the year with Blackburn Cathedral.
 

Nigel Boucher, bass

was born in Walsall and his interest in music stems from being part of a very musical family. He began singing in his father's male voice choir at the age of twelve and then continued in church choirs. Nigel's instruments include piano, guitar, euphonium and organ. His main interest now is singing. His medical career brought him to Sheffield and from 1990 he has been a regular soloist with Sheffield Bach Society. His repertoire includes Handel's Messiah, Haydn's Creation and Mendelssohn's Elijah but he has sung many other works including those by Faure, Britten and Finzi. 

Nigel Gyte, piano

is a very experienced and versatile musician, well known in South Yorkshire and the Midlands. Highly sought after as an accompanist, he is also regularly called upon to play with orchestras, both in the concert hall and the theatre. Recent excursions have included appearances with the National Festival Orchestra at the Symphony Hall, Birmingham, the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester and the Sheffield Arena. He has played keyboard for the professional touring production of Blood Brothers and just completed a run of Jekyll and Hyde at the Derby Assembly Rooms. Nigel is a busy free-lance musical director with a long list of credits, which include; West Side Story, Grease, The Wiz, Follies, Gypsy, Annie, Carousel, Hello Dolly and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. For a number of years he has been resident accompanist for Rotherham Choral Society and in 2005 was inaugurated as an Ambassador for Rotherham, for his services to music in the Borough. Nigel is Director of Music at Rudston Preparatory School in Rotherham.

Paul Dutton, tenor

 was born in Leeds. Music has been a part of his life since he sang as a treble in the Choir of Leeds Parish Church. As a soloist with this choir and numerous other choral societies he made television and radio broadcasts as well as a number of recordings, touring in Britain and Europe. His career has encompassed major operatic roles and oratorio. Paul continues to work with Opera North and is a member of the Britten Singers. Recent solo performances include the Monteverdi Vespers of 1610 and Britten's St. Nicolas, with CD recordings of Stainer's Crucifixion and Mozart's Mass in D. Future engagements include Bach's Mass in B minor and St John Passion, Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle and Mozart's Requiem Mass. He is now Director of Music at Gateways School, Harewood.

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Peter Heginbotham, organ

was a music scholar at Solihull School. In 1994 he was appointed to the organ scholarship of Truro Cathedral. In 1995 he become the Sir Henry Coward organ scholar at Sheffield Cathedral and University where he gained the degree of BMus. He ran the student orchestra and played continuo for the ‘Operaworks’ production of Dido and Aeneas at the 1997 Edinburgh International Festival. Following a year at Chester Cathedral he returned to Sheffield as Assistant Master of the Music at Sheffield Cathedral. Whilst on a tour of eastern USA he mastered the 180 stop organ of the National Cathedral in Washington DC. Each August he plays at Notre Dame, Paris, for the Vierne Singers and has frequently played for the Commemoration Service for the Liberation of Paris, in the presence of Jacques Chirac. He has made six recordings with the Cathedral choir. He also performs each year with Sheffield Oratorio Chorus.

Quentin Brown, bass

began his musical life as a chorister at Rochester Cathedral and continued to sing while at school and University. An Oxford graduate, he completed his studies at Cambridge, before moving to Leeds where he became Principal Bass in the choir of Leeds Parish Church and began a solo career which has taken him all over the UK and abroad. Recent performances include Purcell's King Arthur, Bach's St John Passion, Mendelssohn's Elijah, Beethoven's Choral Symphony, Vaughan Williams' Five Mystical Songs, and a recital of Operatic arias and duets with his wife Hazel Turner. He recorded all of the diverse bass roles in the St Peter's Singers' recently released CD recording of Francis Jackson's A Time of Fire. Quentin is Principal Bass soloist for the
St Peter's Singers of Leeds and is a member of the Britten Singers

Rachel Anne Oakes, soprano,

was born and educated in Halifax.  She gained an MA in English at St Andrews University and, whilst there, was a member of the renowned St Salvator’s Chapel Choir touring with them throughout Europe, including a performance for United Nations Heads of State. Rachel later gained a post-graduate advanced diploma in singing. She has won joint first prize for soprano solo, in the ‘Lancashire Evening Telegraph Rose Bowl’ competition at Blackburn Festival. Rachel’s oratorio engagements include: Coleridge-Taylor’s Hiawatha, Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s Magnificat in D. She has also been a regular guest soloist for the ladies’ choir ‘Vocal Expressions’, Holme Valley and New Mill Male Voice Choirs in Huddersfield. Rachel has toured with ‘Opus 1 Music’ in their production of Puccini’s La Bohème and performed with ‘Opera Elan’ as part of Blackley Festival, recorded by Northern Broadcasting.  Latterly, she has sung soprano in Karl Jenkins’ The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace with this Society, and Purcell’s The Fairy Queen.  Forthcoming engagements include Handel’s ‘Messiah’, ‘Vocal Expression’s’ 10^th Anniversary concert at Huddersfield Town Hall and a number of performances with ‘Opera Elan.’

Rebekah Coffey, soprano

graduated from Queens University, Belfast, with a B Mus. (First class), later graduating from the Royal Northern College of Music with a postgraduate vocal diploma.

As a result of winning the 2004-2006 Young Artist Platform Scheme, Rebekah’s career is developing on both the operatic stage and the concert platform. She sang the role of Gretel in Hansel und Gretel (2003), Peaseblossom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream whilst covering the role of Susannah in The Marriage of Figaro for English Touring Opera (2004).  Her prestigious joint award from the Arts Council Northern Ireland and the BBC has provided her with £5000 for further study and two BBC engagements; a BBC broadcast recital and a debut appearance with the Ulster Orchestra in June 2006. This year she performed recitals of songs at the Downpatrick Fringe Festival and at the Belfast Festival. Her broadcasts for the BBC include Schubert’s Mass No. 4 in C major and a recital of song for Radio Ulster.

Future oratorio engagements include Bach Magnificat, Bruckner Te Deum, Vivaldi Gloria and Handel Dixit Dominus; concert performances with the Manchester Camerata and the Ulster orchestra and the role of Amore in The Coronation of Poppea at the Buxton Festival.

Ronald Law, piano

was born and educated in Sheffield. He graduated from Birmingham University with a degree in music and after obtaining a teaching diploma at Sheffield University began a long career teaching music in Sheffield schools; King Edward VII and Silverdale, where he was Head of Music. His musical experience has been varied. He founded and conducted the Fossdale Singers (now called Escafeld Chorale) for sixteen years. He was conductor of Sheffield Male Voice Choir for four years and has been guest conductor on many occasions of orchestras, including the Sheffield Youth Orchestra. A keen keyboard player he played with a ‘big’ band called ‘Sounds 40’ and for a number of years was co-director of ‘Late Arrivals’ - a seven-piece jazz band. Ron has been an organist and choirmaster for over thirty years and although having retired from this he remains an itinerant organist, playing at various churches, including Sheffield Cathedral. Throughout his career Ron has written music for all the groups he has been involved with. He and his wife are members of Sheffield Oratorio Chorus, who recently performed his cantata God and Man. Details of his music can be found on www.musicbusinessplus.com. We are pleased to welcome Ron to the Society as our accompanist.

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Samantha Hay, soprano

completed postgraduate studies at the R.C.M with Margaret Kingsley after graduating from the Birmingham Conservatoire.Among her awards are the Great Elm Competition, the Cecil Drew Oratorio
Competition and the Reginald Vincent Lieder Prize. At college she developed her interest in opera, which included roles in Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld, Monteverdi's Coronation of Poppea and Puccini's Suor
Angeiwa. She has also performed with Mid Wales Opera and Haddo House
Opera. Since leaving music college she has performed in The Yeomen of the Guard for the British Youth Opera, Britten's The Rape of Lucretia in the Hungarian premiere (2001) and undertaken tours of Latvia and St. Petersburg
(2002), both for Opera Europe. Also in 2002 she understudied and performed Elsie (The Yeoman of the Guard) and Yum-yum (The Mikado) with D'Oyly Carte and Josephine in H.MS. Pinafore for D'Oyly Carte for three months at
the Savoy Theatre, London.

Stephen Brown, tenor

 studied at the Royal College of Music, London graduating in 1999 with seven major recital prizes.  His career has led to roles with companies such as Almeida Opera, Kent Opera, Buxton Festival, English National Opera, Opera Della Luna, The Carl Rosa Opera Company and Castleward Opera, Raymond Gubbay at the Albert Hall, Garsington Festival Opera, The D’Oyly Carte Opera Company and Glyndebourne.  Recent performances include Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance in New Zealand and Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville.  He has also made two commercial CDs of oratorios by Arthur Sullivan.  Stephen has sung most of the major oratorio repertoire and recent concert performances 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 St Matthew Passion with Peter Schreier in London and Iceland. He is currently on tour with Carl Rosa Opera as Ralph in HMS Pinafore.

 And last but not least, not a soloist but an orchestra which sometimes accompanies us:-

South Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra

was founded in 1969 and became an all-professional freelance ensemble when Paul Scott took over the reigns in 1978. Under his baton it appeared in many concerts throughout South Yorkshire and beyond. A number of these were in Sheffield City Hall, including a string of G&S concerts with Gilbert & Sullivan For All, which led to SYSO playing for them in three all-professional full G&S productions. One of these was a spectacular and lavish production of The Yeomen of the Guard in Newark Castle. In recent years choral music has become its speciality playing regularly for choral societies in Sheffield, Doncaster and Bakewell and occasionally in Leeds, Ripon and Harrogate.