Spelthorne Choral Society
Successes such as Tosca for Opera Project and Scottish Opera, the title role in Aida for Opera Box and Welsh National Opera (understudy) and her acclaimed Lady Macbeth in Verdi’s Macbeth for Scottish Opera Go Round have confirmed Helena Leonard as one of the most exciting talents currently emerging from the UK. Future work includes the title role in Ariadne auf Naxos (understudy) for Welsh National Opera in the autumn of 2010.
Born in Cheshire, Helena Leonard studied at Trinity College of Music in London; gaining a LTCL she then completed a Postgraduate Vocal Diploma at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama before going on to advanced studies at the National Opera Studio. Her professional debut came with ENO, with roles and covers including First Lady in Die Zauberflöte and Second Niece in Peter Grimes, Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This led to further appearances as Musetta in La Boheme for Scottish Opera and Marcellina in Le Nozze Di Figaro for Grange Park Opera. These engagements were followed by Donna Anna in Don Giovanni and Giulietta in Les Contes d’ Hoffmann for Opera Box.
Other roles include Pamina in Die Zauberflöte for Bloomsbury Opera; Micaela in Carmen for Commedia productions & The Carmen Project; Amelia in A Masked Ball for Wilmslow Opera and Kentish Opera; Leonora in La Forza del Destino for Kentish Opera & Candid Opera; Leonora in Il Trovatore for Wilmslow Opera and Phoenix Opera; Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus for Somerset Opera; Helmwige in Die Walkure for Mastersingers and Hanna Glawari in Die Lustige Witwe for Phoenix Opera. Helena enjoyed particular success as Leonora in a gala performance of Beethoven’s Fidelio with the Edinburgh Symphony Orchestra.
No stranger to the concert platform, her appearances have included I Am Richard Strauss and Sempre Verdi at the Purcell Room with The Company of Singers, Richard Strauss’ Four Last Songs with the Boston Sinfonia, and 13 Moravian Duets by Dvorak in Czech for the Petworth Festival and Songs of the Auvergne - Series 1 with the Somerset County Orchestra. Oratorio performances have taken Helena throughout the British Isles including venues such as the City of London Festival (Broadgate Arena), Salters Hall Barbican, Blackheath Concert Halls, St James’s Guernsey and The Purcell Room. Recent work includes Verdi’s Requiem and Beethoven’s Choral Symphony for Lancaster Choral Society.
Helena’s television work has included the Countess in La nozze di Figaro in Nicholas Nickleby for Carlton Television.
A new venture for Helena is running Relative Pitch Opera (The Classical branch of Little Pixie Productions) set up with her two sisters Rebecca & Victoria in 2009.
Antonia Cviic was a choral scholar at Royal Holloway College, University of London, where she read music and drama. She then completed two years of postgraduate vocal study at the Royal College of Music where she was a prizewinner in the Arthur Bliss Competition and specially commended in the National Mozart Competition.
Antonia has sung as a chorister with Opera North, The English Concert as well as with numerous professional church and cathedral choirs. Works performed as an oratorio soloist include Handel’s ‘Messiah’, the Requiems by Mozart, Brahms and Rutter, Gounod’s ‘Messe Solennelle’ and ‘Carmina Burana’ – Orff.
In the field of contemporary music Antonia has sung in ‘Hey Jack-the Opera’ by Sharon Nassauer and Jackson Lee at the Arcola Theatre and recorded songs by Henry Cowell and John Cage for Radio Three. Operatic roles include Filina in ‘Mignon’ by Ambroise Thomas, First Lady in Mozart’s ‘Magic Flute’, Amina in ‘La Sonnambula’ by Bellini, the title role in ‘Princess Ida’ by Gilbert and Sullivan and the title role in Puccini’s ‘Suor Angelica’.
Antonia will sing excerpts from Rusalka – Dvorak and play the Overseer in Strauss’ ‘Elektra’ in a performance of opera scenes at Morley College later this month.
Lenard Whiting was educated at the University of Toronto receiving training in voice and organ in the Bachelor of Music Performance program. He continued his studies in opera with the University of Toronto, Opera Department and further was a member of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble. He maintains a busy schedule of performing and teaching. He is currently a Lecturer at the University of Toronto Scarborough, teaching music and conducting the Concert Choir. He is also organist and choir director at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Toronto and the co-artistic director of "TrypTych" - Canada's Passionate Advocate of the Vocal Arts.
Recent performances include the world premiere of Andrew Ager's opera "Frankenstein", a concert performance of Verdi's "Forza del Destino" and Massenet's "Manon", the Canadian premiere of Mozart's opera "Zaide", Bach's St. Matthew Passion and Christmas Oratorio, Jean Gilles "Requiem Mass" and Cavallo's "Gloria". Upcoming engagements include a recital of Schumann's Dichterliebe and works by Brahm's and Mendelssohn, performing the role of Golo in Schumann's opera "Genoveva" and the Canadian stage premiere of Gian Carlo Menotti's "Martin's Lie".
In demand as an international concert singer, voice teacher, vocal adjudicator and conference presenter, Martin’s career now concentrates itself in England, Europe and Canada, with a specialist interest in Australasia. Born in London with British and New Zealand nationality, he has built a career specializing in the performance of oratorio and teaching the vocal art in its widest possible context, from classical to music theatre, and from baroque to rock. His students have been successful through Oxbridge choral scholarships, scholarships to the UK’s music academies, advanced diplomas, roles in the West End, success in the X-Factor through to producing their own albums and international stage and concert performances.
Educated as a chorister of Westminster Abbey, a music scholar at the King’s School, Canterbury, a choral scholar at Christ Church, Oxford (reading PPE), Martin continued his studies as a post-graduate scholar at the Guildhall School of Music, and later with the renowned Wagner baritone, Norman Bailey.
He has performed as soloist with such illustrious ensembles as the Ballet Rambert (3 years), Singcircle (10 years), and through directing and touring his own ensembles, the Wren Consort, the Wren Singers of London and the Wren Baroque Soloists, the latter recording for Unicorn-Kanchana (Caldara), Collins Classics (Peerson) and Koch Schwann (Caldara). He made his London debut with the London Symphony Orchestra in Bellini’s “I Puritani” and has since sung oratorio with major orchestras and choral societies around the world, including the Sydney Philharmonia (B minor Mass) and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (Mozart Requiem).
In the 2009-10 season, Martin will have performed Elijah, the St Matthew Passion, the Messiah, a Saint-Saens Mass, as well as conducting at St. Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey. In 2011 he is hired to sing once again in Canada with 3 performances of Brahms’ German Requiem. Martin also presents a solo and ensemble singer’s course in Tuscany in August each year.
Born in Sussex, Sarah Vivian studied at Trinity College of music. After college she won the Miriam Licette Scholarship and studied with Régine Crespin in Paris. Sarah was also a prize winner in the Great Grimsby International Competition for singers.
During Sarah's career she has sung as a soloist in many of Britain's major concert venues. Highlights include a Brahms Requiem in the Royal Festival Hall for the Goldsmiths Choral Union, Haydn's Nelson Mass and Mozart's Exultate Jubilate with the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and a Mozart Requiem in Westminster Cathedral with the Westminster Cathedral Choir, which was broadcast on Classic FM. Last year Sarah sang the Nelson Mass in Southwark Cathedral.
Operatic performances have taken Sarah to the opera House in Lille, northern France singing first boy in The Magic Flute, touring with Opera East singing Norina in Don Pasquale, and in 2008 singing the rôle of Berta in Rossini's Barber of Seville for Opera a la Carte. The final performances were part of the Ealing Festival.
Sarah recorded her debut recital for BBC Radio 3 in 1992. In 1998 she sang the rôle of Juliette Diamant in Hyperion Records' recording of Sidney Jones' "The Geisha" conducted by Ronald Corp.
Kenneth Burgess was born on Tyneside in 1954 and at the tender age of thirteen joined Newcastle Cathedral Choir as a bass Lay-Clerk. Five years later he was awarded a Choral-Scholarship to Durham Cathedral where he began his solo career. Following his three years at Durham, Kenneth became a bass Lay-Clerk at Ely Cathedral and began to perform as a soloist and consort singer in Cambridge and throughout East Anglia.
He has been a member of St. Albans Cathedral Choir for the past twenty years and has recorded works by Purcell, Blow, Boyce, and Britten for Meridian, Hyperion and Lammas records. Kenneth has also recorded the Bible Songs by Charles Stanford for Priory Records. Recent solo performances have included The Five Mystical Songs by Vaughan Williams, Bach St. Matthew Passion and St. John Passion, Mozart Requiem, Bach Mass in B minor, Duruflé and Fauré Requiems and Rossini Messe Solennelle. In addition to his singing career, Kenneth is also a primary school head teacher. He lives in Hertfordshire.
Sarah studied music at Birmingham University and Conservatoire. She is a regular guest soloist with several choirs in and around London, and has appeared in concerts and recitals throughout the UK and in France, Germany and Sweden. Her operatic roles have included Susanna, (The Marriage of Figaro) and Pamina (The Magic Flute) with City Opera, and Dido (Dido and Aeneas) with St Cecilia Chorus, Belinda (Dido and Aeneas) with Deutsche Bank Singers and Second Woman (Dido and Aeneas) Festival de Belle-ile.
She has performed and recorded with Chapelle du Roi, Cantores and Vox Musica.
Anna Loveday originally comes from Devon. After completing her first degree in Music, she took a Masters in Music at Royal Holloway, University of London, specialising in Vocal Performance and is now based in Woking, Surrey. Anna has sung solo parts in all the major Oratorios with Choral Societies across the South of England and in London. Recent work includes Haydn Creation Mass, Nelson Mass, Harmoniemesse and Theresienmesse, Saints-Saens Christmas Oratorio, Finzi In Terra Pax, Schutz German Requiem, Wesley Missa De Spiritu Sancto, Charpentier Messe de Minuit, Poulenc Gloria, Bach Christmas Oratorio, Vivaldi Gloria, the part of Dido in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas and Bess in Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. Anna also performs recitals, which show the range and versatility of her voice, sometimes incorporating a lighter second half to her programme. She was Head of Music at Woking College for nine years, where she has established an excellent choral tradition and is now singing full time and conducting six choirs in the Woking area. Anna's choir of young adults, the Loveday Singers are proving to be particularly successful.