Welcome to our Carols by Candlight Concert Series. You will find the event programme and performers biographies below.
Helen Marie Latham – Soprano
Helen Latham, a soprano from Lancashire, completed a Post Graduate Diploma in Vocal and Operatic Studies at The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire before studying with dramatic soprano, Jane Irwin.
Helen has performed roles including Micaela – Carmen, Gilda – Rigoletto, Mimi – La Boheme, Zerlina – Don Giovanni, Adele – Die Fledermaus, Gretel – Hansel And Gretel and Frasquita – Carmen, Miss Jessel – Turn of the Screw, Anne Truelove – The Rake’s Progress, Mimi – La Boheme and Fox Cub – The Cunning Little Vixen.
In concert, Helen has enjoyed performing works such as Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, Mariazellermesse – Haydn, Magnificat – Bach, Vivaldi’s Gloria and Carmina Burana by Carl Orff.
As well as being choral director of Hoghton In Harmony choir, which Helen founded in 2016, she also enjoys her role as Singing Teacher and Director of Senior Choir at Lancaster Girls Grammar School.
Helen has enjoyed a varied path as a vocal animateur and community facilitator, working on wonderful projects with Welsh National Opera, Streetwise Opera and Outreach Opera. Having founded Outreach Opera in 2015 with friend Georgina Rosanna Crowe, company strives to create accessible opera, working alongside local organisations to create musical experiences which positively impact the community.
Georgina Rosanna Crowe – Soprano
British/Irish Soprano Georgina Rosanna Crowe is from Manchester and has lived in Bolton since 2014.
She was a student at the Royal Northern College of Music Junior School before moving to London in 2001 (where she spent the next 12 years) and studied the Double Bass and Voice at the Royal Academy of Music. She completed a postgraduate course at Trinity College of Music in 2009, where she was awarded the Muncey Scholarship to study with Ameral Gunson and where she was a finalist in the English Song and Lieder Competitions.
Her career spans 3 decades – from playing in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, touring the UK and New York with Elton John, playing in orchestras with leading conductors to singing and playing in theatres and concert halls all over the world with many live TV and radio broadcasts under her belt. Since she decided to leave the hectic London scene, she settled back in the North West in 2013 and has found a wonderful career on her doorstep – collaborating with amazing musicians from the region.
Alongside Preston born soprano Helen Latham, Georgina is Co-Director and Co-Founder of Outreach Opera . They have established a reputation for their original approach to performing opera and the audiences they attract. In 2025 Outreach Opera will premier their commissioned opera about the Pendle Witch Trials which will be composed by Ben Crick. As part of their fundraising campaign Georgina and Helen walked the 51 mile Lancashire Witches Way from Barrowford in Pendle to Lancaster Castle to raise money towards their project.
Roles include: Countess (Marriage of Figaro), Norina (Don Pasquale), Pamina (The Magic Flute), Violetta (La Traviata), Musetta (La Boheme), Michaela (Carmen), Juliette (Romeo and Juliet), Margeurite (Faust), Anne Truelove (The Rakes Progress) and more recently the role of Carmen which she sang with Bolton Symphony Orchestra in May 2023. Future roles include Tosca in 2025.
Georgina is an Academic Music Teacher and Visiting Music Teacher of Voice at Cheadle Hulme School where she also directs the lower school choir, Prima Voce.
Outreach Opera Brass Quintet
The Outreach Opera Brass Quintet was formed in 2023 for the ‘Carols By Candlelight’ Christmas concerts. Their collective experience includes playing with some of the best brass bands in the world, including Fodens, Fairey, Pemberton and Wingates, and in world-class venues such as the Royal Albert Hall, the Bridgewater Hall and Birmingham Symphony Hall. Members of OOBQ have performed internationally across Europe and America, and have even played in front of Royalty.
Richard Poole – Soprano Cornet
Rebekah Mann – Cornet
Charlotte Mann – Tenor Horn
Anthony Mann – Euphonium
Craig Mann – Tuba
Craig Mann BMus(Hons), PGCE
Craig took up the piano aged six, and by the age of nine, he had won piano competitions at various local music festivals, including Alderley Edge, Ramsbottom, and West Pennine. At the age of ten, he was appointed Resident Organist at Wharton United Reformed Church, a position he has held for over twenty years.
He began playing cornet at the age of eleven and changed to tuba at fourteen. He studied tuba and organ at the Junior RNCM and was accepted to study at the Senior RNCM for a BMus(Hons) degree, graduating in 2012. He began his PGCE course in 2012, specialising in secondary music education, and graduated in 2013.
Craig has enjoyed successful tenures as Musical Director with numerous local brass bands including Bolton (Hoover) Band whom he led to victory at the 2018 National Mineworkers’ Championships, as well as more than ten first prizes at the annual Whit Friday March contests.
In 2012, Craig formed the 12-piece Integra Brass Ensemble, which subsequently expanded into a versatile 15-piece group. He combined three main roles with the ensemble, as conductor, pianist and arranger.
Craig is a Visiting Music Teacher in piano at Cheadle Hulme School,where he has been Musical Theatre Musical Director since 2016. Outside of school, he is sought-after as an accompanist for soloists and choirs alike, as well as a wedding and cocktail pianist.