Two of our members were involved in the ‘Night at the Proms’ concert at Gawsworth Hall on Saturday August 3rd 2018. Georgina performed some arias including Nessun Dorma and The Jewel Song and pianist Chris played Gershwin’s ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ accompanied by the ‘Sir Richard Arkwright’s Mason Mills Band’.
Philip is from Lancashire and recently completed his Masters degree at the RNCM in Manchester. He is a Buxton Festival Opera Young Artist and in 2014 was a recipient of a Help Musicians UK Sybil Tutton award. In 2014, he was a finalist in the Frederic Cox Award at the RNCM. He has performed regularly with RNCM opera, performing Baburov in the 2012 production of Shostakovich’s ‘Paradise Moscow’, Dulcamara in the 2013 production of Donizetti’s ‘L’Elisir D’Amore’ and Baron Zeta in the 2014 production of ‘The Merry Widow’. Other roles include Silvio, Paris and The Defendant, to name a few.
Philip began his musical education at the age of five, joining a local church choir. He gained stage experience as a teenager, appearing in pantomimes and musicals from the age of fourteen; he moved on to operetta relatively quickly and gained a passion for Gilbert and Sullivan.
Philip has sung in choirs all his life, and has performed with the Academy of Ancient Music, Aughton Male Voice Choir, Hallé Youth Choir, Southport Bach Choir, RNCM Chamber Choir, and Formby Choral Society. He is choral director for Ormskirk Music Society, and does education work for Operetta Theatre Company and Elysium Performance Academy in Manchester, as well as running a busy private teaching practice.
Helen was born in Bradford but is now based in the North West. She studied music and graduated from Cardiff University with BMus (hons) in 2001. After Graduation Helen moved to Bolton and worked in Sales & Marketing before returning to full time studies in 2010 at the Royal Northern College of Music where she studied with David Maxwell Anderson and Barbara Robotham. She completed her postgraduate MMus studies at the Royal Northern College of Music in 2012 and she now studies with Dramatic Soprano Jane Irwin.
Prior to her studies at the RNCM Helen performed the following operatic roles: Carmen (Carmen, Mercedes), Samson & Delilah (Delilah cover) and Orpheus in the Underworld (Diana), Dido & Aeneas (2nd Witch), La Traviata (Flora), Trovatore (Azucena) and Jenufa (Grandmother Buryja). At the RNCM Helen played (Mrs Grose) in Turn of the Screw, (Bradamante) in Alcina and (La Natura) in La Callisto in staged opera excerpts, Cinderella’s Stepmother (and cellist) in a singer/musician production of Sondheim’s Into the Woods, the roles of; (the Baroness) in the college’s full production of Barber’s Vanessa and (Florence Pike) in Albert Herring and (Arsamenes) in Xerxes. Since leaving the RNCM in 2012 Helen has gone on to play (the Witch) in Hansel & Gretel for Clonter opera, a role that she went on to cover for Garsington Opera 2013. Helen returned to Garsington in 2014 making her principle debut there as (Pi Pasek) in their critically acclaimed production of A Cunning Little Vixen and she revived her role as (the Witch) in Hansel & Gretel when Garsington took their 2013 production to the West Green Opera Festival in Jul 2014. Helen received coaching on this role from Dame Ann Murray.
In the last few years Helen has sung the role of Kate Pinkerton and covered the role of Suzuki in Madame Butterfly on tour with Heritage Opera, She sang Carmen in concert for Hashtag Opera and played Azucena in il Trovatore and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni for Opera Seria, and she helped launch a new Opera Company called Outreach Opera with whom she performed the roles of Gertrude and Witch in Hansel & Gretel in their inaugural production in July. In summer 2017 she returned to Heritage Opera to play the roles of 3rd Lady and 3rd Spirit in their new production of The Magic Flute.
Helen is also much in demand as a concert soloist and has even performed as a pre-match singer at Rugby Super League Matches in front of crowds of up to 17,000 fans. Recent concert appearances include: Alto Soloist in Rossini’s Petite Messe Solonelle with Bradford Festival Choral Society and soloist in Elgar’s Music Makers at Haslemere Hall in Surrey and for Kington Choral Society, The Angel in Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius for the St George’s Singers with Stockport Symphony Orchestra at Gorton Monastery and Elgar’s Sea Pictures with West Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra. In 2012 she performed Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder at the Bridgewater Hall. She has also worked regularly for Opera Barcarola on Swan Hellenic cruises.
Christopher is a former student of Chetham’s School of Music, where he studied with Simon Bottomley; and the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied with Christopher Elton.
Christopher has received numerous awards and performed in some of the most prestigious concert venues including the Royal Festival Hall and the Bridgewater Hall. He was a runner-up in the Christopher Duke Memorial Competition and awarded a diploma for his performance of Prokofiev at the International London Piano Competition. Whilst at Chetham’s he was finalist at the Royal Overseas League Competition and recorded Rachmaninov’s fourth concerto with Chetham’s Symphony Orchestra and Vassily Sinaisky. Later successes include being finalist at the Recotres International des Jeunes Pianistes and Musica Aeterna Piano Competitions in Belgium.
Christopher now maintains a busy schedule as teacher, accompanist and soloist, and works closely with several local choirs including St. Ann’s Hospice Festival Choir and The Robins Singers.
Jonathan Ellis started learning the piano at the age of three. From the age of 11 onwards, he studied at Wells Cathedral School, and then moved on to the joint music course of the RNCM and Manchester University. He achieved a first class degree from both institutions plus the PPRNCM diploma in solo piano studying with John Gough, and afterwards attained postgraduate-level diplomas in accompaniment and chamber music under John Wilson.
During his time at college, he was to win many prizes as an accompanist, plus the RNCM’s two major chamber music prizes with his trio, its annual Beethoven competition as a solo pianist, and subsequently the Audience Prize at the Intercollegiate Beethoven competition. He currently performs regularly as a soloist, as chamber musician with The Ryebank Trio, as vocal and instrumental accompanist, choral/operatic repetiteur or musical director, and has also been a competitor in international piano competitions: besides making regular appearances with City of Manchester Opera, Opera Seria, Heritage Opera, Bury Choral Society, the Pennine Spring Music Festival and the Buxton Festival Fringe (where he is three times the winner of the “Best Solo Musician” prize). He also performs with “Classical Evolution”, and musical charities “Music in Hospitals” and “Live Music Now”.
Outreach Opera delivered a series of informal song recitals at Bolton Library.
Jennifer, a mezzo-soprano, completed her Masters with Distinction at the RNCM in 2015, studying with Antonia Sotgiu and Louise Winter. Whilst at college, she performed the roles of Valencienne (The Merry Widow) and Jenny (Company), in addition to a variety of concert appearances including Bernard Rands’ Walcott Songs and performances with the RNCM Jazz Collective.
Since graduation Jennifer has performed with a range of prestigious companies; most notably Opera Holland Park, Wexford Festival Opera, Manchester Opera Ensemble, Buxton Festival and the International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival. Furthermore, she has premiered works at the North West New Music Festival, with the International Opera Theater in Umbria, as well as participating in the Young Artist Platforms of both the Helios Collective and Bury Court Opera. She has also been fortunate enough to appear in public masterclasses with Sarah Connolly, Juanjo Mena, David Poutney and Mark Wigglesworth.
Additionally Jennifer has performed numerous oratorios; namely Verdi’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Mass in C, Bach’s Magnificat, Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem and Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater.
Forthcoming engagements include a return IOT, Umbria to premiere Orlando Furioso, Jenkins’ The Armed Man for Gainsborough Choral Society, and concert performances in Assisi, Lithuania and Dublin.
