St John Passion Soloists
Soloists joining us for Bach's St John Passion
English Arts Chorale are delighted to be joined by our soloists for this concert, some of whom will be known to our audience having sung with us before.......
Stefan Kennedy
Evangelist
Stefan studies on the Preparatory Opera course at the Royal Academy of Music under Neil Mackie and Iain Ledingham. He is a soloist for the RAM/Kohn Foundation Bach Cantata Series and was the recipient of the 2016 Sir Thomas Armstrong Prize.
He previously read Music at Clare College, Cambridge where he held a choral scholarship. Stefan sang with Opera Holland Park Chorus for their 2106 season and was a chorus member in Royal Academy Opera’s Rimsky-Korsakov’s May Night and Handel’s Alcina.
Later this year he will be singing with English Voices at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. Solo oratorio performances include Bach’s St Matthew Passion, St John Passion, Christmas Oratorio, Magnificat and B Minor Mass; Handel’s Messiah; Haydn’s The Creation and many other works at venues including Rouen and Chichester Cathedrals, St John’s Smith Square and St Martin-in-the-Fields.
Stefan is extremely grateful for the generous support of The Countess of Munster Musical Trust, the Josephine Baker Trust, the Toba Mann Scholarship, the Lady Clare Fund, Baroness O’Cathain, Patricia Routledge and Timothy & Christina Benn.
Thomas Flint
Christus
Tom, bass-baritone, relocated to London from Adelaide, South Australia, in 2011 after completing his studies at the Elder Conservatorium under Keith Hempton and Patrick Power. Since his arrival he has appeared as a soloist with The English Concert, His Majesty's Sagbutts and Cornetts, The Chamber Orchestra of Wales, English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, The Monteverdi String Band, and the Gavin Bryars Ensemble, in addition to regular solo engagements with choral societies around the country.
A passionate ensemble singer, Tom tours and records with some of the world's finest consorts and chamber choirs including The Tallis Scholars, Alamire, Tenebrae, The King's Consort, La Nuova Musica, BBC Singers, and London Voices, and since 2013 he has enjoyed a busy schedule as the low bass in Stile Antico, performing throughout the UK, Europe and North America.
Additionally, Tom has worked with Opera North, Early Opera Company, and Birmingham Opera Company, with whom in 2012 he performed in the award-winning world premiere production of Stockhausen's Mittwoch aus Licht.
A dedicated martial artist, in his spare time Tom practises an 800-year-old battlefield style of Chinese kung fu.
Robert Garland
Pilate
Robert Garland is studying on the Opera Course at the Royal Academy of Music with Mark Wildman and Audrey Hyland where he also completed his Master of Arts. He is a graduate of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
Roles include Talbot in Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda, Figaro in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, Guglielmo in Mozart’s Così fan tutte and Belcore in Donizetti’s L'elisir d'amore. He has also covered the role of Papageno for Nevill Holt’s production of Mozart’s Die Zauberflote.
Recent professional chorus work has included companies such as Opera Holland Park, Grange Park and Northern Ireland Opera.
He is sponsored by the Josephine Baker Trust and his studies are generously supported by the Fishmongers’ Company Award, The Winship Foundation, The Split Infinitive Trust and the Mario Lanza Foundation.
In 2016 Robert was winner of the Morriston Orpheus Young Welsh Singer of the Year Competition.
Jessica Broad
Soprano
Jessica graduated with BMus Hons and a Postgraduate Diploma in Opera Studies from The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. She now lives in London and continues her studies with Jenny Dakin.
Jessica is a regular performer on the opera and oratorio platform. She sings regularly with The Royal Opera House Chorus, English National Opera and Welsh National Opera. She has most recently been performing Oedipe with the Royal Opera House Chorus. Other recent opera chorus work has included: The Force of Destiny and Queen of Spades with English National Opera and Le Nozze di Figaro with The Royal Opera House. Her recent operatic roles have included: Marguerite in Gounod’s Faust; Micaela in Bizet’s Carmen and The Countess in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. She has sung chorus in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges (for which she understudied the role of Nicolette) and Prokofiev’s War and Peace.
Jessica is a founding member and manager of the professional vocal ensemble Dieci Voices. They perform extensively as an ensemble and also provide soloists for concerts and events.
Jessica really enjoyed performing Haydn’s Nelson Mass with English Arts Chorale in December and is delighted to be returning to sing Bach’s St John Passion.
Future work includes: Verdi’s Otello and Don Carlo with The Royal Opera House, Haydn’s Nelson Mass, Faure Requiem and Carr Requiem for an Angel. She will also be performing with Dieci Voices and recital partner Peter Yardley Jones. You can follow her career on her own website.
Felicity Turner
Mezzo- Soprano
Felicity Turner graduated with First Class Honours in Music and Drama from Royal Holloway, University of London where she was also a choral scholar. She currently studies as a postgraduate with Theresa Goble at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.
As a soloist, Felicity has appeared at venues such as St John’s Smith Square, St Martin-in-the-Fields, and Cadogan Hall, London. Concert repertoire includes Handel’s Messiah and Dixit Dominus, Bach’s St John Passion, Christmas Oratorio, Magnificat and B minor Mass, Haydn’s Nelson Mass and Harmoniemesse, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Mozart’s C minor Mass and Requiem, Duruflé’s Requiem, and Rutter’s Feel the Spirit.
Most recently Felicity enjoyed performing as a Golden-Tressed Maiden in Maxwell-Davies’ final opera The Hogboon with the LSO under Sir Simon Rattle, and as Third Boy in Die Zauberflöte for Mid Wales Opera. Other operatic roles include Diana La Calisto, Cherubino The Marriage of Figaro (Hampstead Garden Opera), Narrator Clive and Other Stories (Gestalt Arts), Ottavia L’incoronazione di Poppea, Dorabella Così fan tutte, Fidalma Il Matrimonio Segreto, Third Lady Die Zauberflöte, La Badessa Suor Angelica (GSMD).
In 2016 Felicity made her Wigmore Hall debut in collaboration with The Prince Consort. She also toured London, Dublin, and New York in Drums & Guns, a song-in-theatre production devised and directed by Iain Burnside. Felicity performs regularly in recital with SongSpiel, a solo voice ensemble focusing on accompanied multi-voice art song repertoire, and her solo recording of Jonathan Dove’s My Love is Mine (Naxos 2012) was described by Gramophone Magazine as ‘beguiling’ and ‘a sheer pleasure’.
Felicity has also enjoyed performing as a consort singer with Tenebrae, The Choir of the Englightenment, Polyphony, Philharmonia Voices, The Choir of the Chapels Royal HM Tower of London, and The King’s Consort.
For more information please visit her own website.
Christopher Hann
Tenor
Christopher has established himself as a highly accomplished Choral Conductor, working with all ages and abilities from Youth Choirs to amateur choral societies to professional ensembles. He is currently the Artistic Director of Berkshire County Youth Choirs, consisting of Berkshire Youth Choir, Berkshire Young Voices and Berkshire Children’s Choir, Musical Director of Reading Phoenix Choir, Bookham Choral Society and Harpenden Music Makers, and Artistic Director of his own professional vocal ensemble Dieci Voices. He is also an assistant conductor for the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain.
Other choirs he has worked with include: The BBC Singers, The Choir of St Bartholomew the Great, The Choir of Brompton Oratory, Glasgow University Chapel Choir, Royal Hollloway Chapel Choir, The Paisley Festival Chorus, The RAM Chamber choir and The National Boys Choir of Scotland.
In July of 2012 he completed a two-year Masters course in Choral Conducting at The Royal Academy of Music studying with Patrick Russill and Paul Brough. He completed his undergraduate degree in Vocal Studies at The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, studying with Stephen Robertson.
In addition to his conducting Christopher is in great demand as a professional consort singer. He currently sings with a number of professional ensembles including Polyphony, The Eric Whitacre Singers, Platinum Consort, Philharmonia Voices, Cappella Nova and London Voices, as well as singing in some of London’s premier Church and Cathedral Choirs, such as Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral, St Georges Chapel Windsor, The Tower of London, St Brides Fleet Street and The Brompton Oratory.
For more information please visit his website.
