CHARLOTTE BRENNAND – Piano
Charlotte Brennand - Piano
Charlotte began her studies at RSAMD as a soloist, accompanist and chamber musician, winning many prizes. She specialized in accompaniment at RAM with Malcolm Martineau and became a Meaker Fellow. At the National Opera Studio she studied as a repetiteur which enabled her to coach singers and study with distinguished conductors. Subsequent work took her to Italy to play for Batignano Festival Opera.
She has performed for finalists at The Kathleen Ferrier, Richard Tauber and Royal Over Seas League at The Wigmore Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall and has been a nominee for the prestigious Gerald Moore Award. Recently she became a Crear Scholar, having the chance to work with Malcolm Martineau again on the West Coast of Scotland. She was the pianist for Radio 4’s play “Little Nell” and devised and performed the music for “The Young Visitors” by Daisy Ashford.
LOUISA FULLER – Violin
Louisa Fuller - Violin
Louisa studied with Emanuel Hurwitz as an Associated Board Scholar at the Royal Academy of Music where she formed the Duke Quartet. As post graduates the Quartet won a scholarship to have coaching for two years with the Amadeus Quartet and then went on to have a rich and fulfilling career over the next 20 years, performing, broadcasting and recording worldwide. Highlights included working with the Belgium based dance company, Rosas for many years, recording ‘On Wedlock Edge’ with Antony Rolfe Johnson, touring and recording with The Pretenders and recording many CD’s of their own, a favourite being their CD of Berg’s Lyric Suite and Schoenberg’s ‘Veclarte Nacht’. Louisa has also toured Europe and the US as leader of Peter Gabriel’s New Blood Orchestra. She leads the Max Richter Ensemble, recording several of Max’s albums over the years including ‘The Blue Notebooks’ and ’Songs from Before’. Their recording of ‘On the Nature of Daylight’ can be heard on the soundtrack of the films ’Shutter island’ and ‘Arrival’. More recently they have been performing his marathon 8 hour piece ’Sleep’ at various venues throughout Europe and also his ballet, ‘Infra’ (choreography by Wayne McGregor) at Covent Garden.
CLAIRE BOOTH – Soprano
Claire Booth - Soprano
British soprano Claire Booth has become internationally renowned both for her commitment to an extraordinary breadth of repertoire, and for the vitality and musicianship that she brings to the operatic stage and concert platform. A regular contributor to the Aldeburgh Festival Claire enjoyed a close collaboration with the late Oliver Knussen, and was the soprano soloist for many of his works, including the premiere of his most recent, ‘O Hototogisu!’. With a growing reputation in contemporary repertoire and the performance of new works, in her 16/17 season Claire returned to the Aldeburgh Festival for a revival of David Pountney’s production of La voix humaine, which won critical acclaim when performed with WNO in conjunction with Cardiff’s Festival of The Voice in 2016.
Operatic highlights include Rosina in Welsh National Opera’s new production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia; Elcia in Rossini’s Mose in Egitto and Pakati in Jonathan Harvey’s Wagner Dream (Welsh National Opera), the title role in Janacek’s Cunning Little Vixen (Garsington Opera), which met with widespread critical acclaim, George Benjamin and Martin Crimp’s Into the Little Hill in a collaboration between the Royal Opera House and The Opera Group, Rosina in The Barber of Seville and Dorinda in Handel’s Orlando (Scottish Opera); Nora in Vaughan Williams’ Riders to the Sea (English National Opera), La Comtesse in Rossini’s Le Comte Ory (Chelsea Opera Group) and a concert performance of Handel’s Serse with the Early Opera Company at St John’s Smith Square
Her numerous concert appearances have resulted in close associations with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Proms, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Aldeburgh and Holland Festivals. Further highlights and debut appearances include with the Berlin Deutsche Symphonie, Boston Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic, Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa, and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic. For more than a decade she has collaborated with video director Netia Jones to produce a series of critically acclaimed productions. These include her performances of Georg Friedrich Haas’ Atthis (ROH), Kurtag’s Kafka Fragments (ROH), Max in Knussen’s Where the Wild Things Are and Rhoda in Higglety, Pigglety, Pop, which toured from the Aldeburgh Festival, via the Los Angeles Philharmonic and a further debut under Gustavo Dudamel, to the Barbican’s own 60th birthday celebrations for the composer. Further appearances include Birtwistle’s Chorales from a Toy Shop, with the Birmingham Contemporary Music, Luigi Rossi’s Oratorio per la Settimana Santa with Christian Curnyn, works by Wigglesworth and Knussen with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Ravel chamber works with the Nash Ensemble at London’s Wigmore Hall, Britten’s On this Island in the opening concert of New Paths Music Festival in Beverley and a recital with Christopher Glynn at the Bath International Festival.
Claire’s most recent CD release features folk songs by Percy Grainger, accompanied by Christopher Glynn (Avie Records). She has also recorded diverse works by Ryan Wigglesworth and the Hallé Orchestra, including his Augenlieder of which she sang the world premiere. Others recordings include Lucia in Britten’s Rape of Lucretia (EMI), Jonathan Harvey’s Wagner Dream, John Eccles’ The Judgement of Paris and works by Oliver Knussen, Jonathan Dove and Charlotte Bray.
In the 2017/18 season Claire performed the London premiere of Oliver Knussen’s O Hototogisu! with Birmingham Contemporary Music Group in a programme curated and conducted by Oliver Knussen, as part of London Symphony Orchestra’s ‘This is Rattle’ series celebrating Sir Simon Rattle’s inaugural season as Musical Director of the LSO. Claire also sang both Oliver Knussen’s Songs for Sue and Ryan Wigglesworth Augenlieder with the Remix Ensemble and Orquestra Sinfónica in Porto, Portugal, conducted by Ryan Wigglesworth. Furthering her work with the BBC orchestras, last season Claire made recordings of Drei Brüchstucke from Wozzeck with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra lead by Australian conductor Simone Young, and sang Les Illuminations with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra for a tour across Scotland. She also appeared on BBC Radio 3 as part of their ongoing ‘Inside Music’ series.
Appearances in 2018-19 include Mrs Foran in a concert performance of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s The Silver Tassie with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Centre, the Birmingham premiere of Knussen’s O Hototogisu! with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, concerts with pianist Julius Drake and Music Network Ireland in Dublin, Wexford and Sligo, as well as performances with NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo, the Nash Ensemble at the Wigmore Hall, and Hans Werner Henze’s Ariosi with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra at the Bridgewater Hall. Claire will also work with composers and a chamber group of young professionals in a composition course as part of the Britten-Pears Young Artist programme at Snape Maltings.
ROZ GLADSTONE – Cello
Roz Gladstone - Cello
Roz Gladstone is a busy freelance cellist. She has had a varied career so far, working with many different orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra and London Chamber Orchestra.
Between 2009 and 2011, she toured extensively throughout Europe and America with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, playing in venues such as the Metropolitan Opera House in New York and the Hollywood Bowl with pop star Sting and his ‘Symphonicities’ album. She was also co-principal at the St Endellion Summer festival for many years.
Over the last few years, Roz has become increasingly involved in chamber music and is a founding member of the Millbrook Ensemble, Project Instrumental (a London based flexible ensemble, performing varied programmes in interesting venues) and the Zoltan Ensemble who are currently developing plans to start their own festival in the Black Mountains.
She enjoys the outdoors and, since the birth of her daughter in 2014, has relocated to the Herefordshire countryside where she continues to develop her musical life in a more rural setting.
CATHERINE MORGAN – Violin
Catherine Morgan - Violin
As a child Catherine joined, and then led, the National Children’s Orchestra, which gave her a very early taste for the excitement of the concert platform. She studied with Pauline Scott at London’s Guildhall Junior Department, funded by a local authority scholarship, and went on to study music at Keble College Oxford, postgrad performance at the Royal College of Music with Rodney Friend, and with Ruggiero Ricci in UK and Austria. She was awarded prizes for string playing and chamber music by the RCM, the first Manoug Parikian Prize for Violin from the Musicians Benevolent Fund and a prestigious Park Lane Award.
Catherine has been a member of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields since the early 2000s, and he has regularly appeared as a guest principal with the orchestra, and more recently as a guest leader. She has also guested as principal or soloist for many other UK orchestras, including the London Sinfonietta, London Mozart Players, Scottish Ensemble, Philharmonia and London Chamber Orchestra.
Catherine is a member of the St Paul’s Quartet, which formed in 2012 with colleagues drawn from the Britten Sinfonia and Aurora. The quartet has since established relationships with the Brighton Festival, Conway Hall and other London concert series, and it has developed a multi-media education workshop format The Interactive Quartet, which began at Oxford’s Old Fire Station theatre, but also works well in schools. Catherine is also delighted to have returned to her National Children’s Orchestra roots, as part of their coaching team.
ROSE REDGRAVE – Viola
Rose Redgrave - Viola
Having always been a committed chamber musician Rose has been a member of The Coull Quartet since March 2010, with whom she now has a busy schedule of concerts and recording. She also currently plays with the Scottish Ensemble, Kings Consort, Chroma and the European group Musica Saeculorum. Before her time in The Coull Quartet she toured for many years all over the world with orchestras such as the Philarmonia and Orchestre Revolutionaire et Romantique. She teaches at Birmingham Conservatoire and Warwick University and mentors young violists at Trinity College of Music.
JOHN METCALFE – Viola
John Metcalfe - Viola
From his early days in New Zealand listening to his father sing opera, John Metcalfe has become one the most exciting and versatile musicians in the UK. From giving string quartet recitals in prestigious venues world-wide to composing for radio and TV, penning strings for no.1 UK pop hits and releasing his own genre-defying music, Metcalfe has gained wide recognition for his unique brand of music-making. As violist in the Duke Quartet, Metcalfe has toured worldwide, made numerous cds and worked with a huge range of world-leading artists from pop, dance, film and theatre. In addition he is one of the curators at Kings Place implementing innovative events including ‘Beyond the Loop’, featuring artists such as Plaid and the Durutti Column. The event concluded with the astounding Bays / Heritage Orchestra collaboration featuring live composing from Metcalfe and Toni award winner Simon Hale. Metcalfe took his first steps as a composer nearly a decade ago. His debut cd ‘The Inner Line’ received glowing reviews with Billboard magazine describing it as ‘…. a solo debut that crosses all manner of boundaries. Metcalfe’s album ‘A Darker Sunset’ epitomizes music currently dissolving boundaries between electronic and modern classical styles. From 2009 -2012 Metcalfe worked as arranger, MD and co-producer of Peter Gabriel’s orchestral albums,’ Scratch My Back’ and ‘New Blood’. Mojo magazine called it “A profound re-imagining made manifest in an orchestral soundworld as rich and thrilling as ever recorded at Air, the studio founded by George Martin”. Touring was worldwide visiting venues such as Radio City in New York and the Hollywood Bowl. Recently Metcalfe has arranged for Bat For Lashes’ latest album, organised his current Kings Place series, ‘Monomedia’ based around music in the dark, and completed an album for Bowers and Wilkins’ Society of Sound series which was released in April.
RICHARD BURKHARD – Baritone
Richard Burkhard - Baritone
Born of Anglo-Swiss parents‚ Richard Burkhard started his musical career as a boy chorister‚ singing daily services at St. George’s Chapel‚ Windsor Castle. Later he trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama where he was awarded numerous prizes and scholarships. Having graduated from the RSAMD with Distinction‚ he was awarded a bursary to study with Carlo Bergonzi at the Accademia Musicale di Chigiana in Sienna. He is a previous winner of the Decca prize at the prestigious Kathleen Ferrier Vocal Awards‚ and winner of the Royal Over-Seas League Voice Competition.
Known for his versatility both as an actor and as a singer‚ Richard has become increasingly in demand in opera and on the concert platform. He recently won critical acclaim for his portrayal of the roles of Marcello La Bohème and Mamoud The Death of Klinghoffer for English National Opera‚ with whom future plans include Fieramosca Benvenuto Cellini‚ Garibaldo Rodelinda and Dr Falke Die Fledermaus. Other recent and forthcoming appearances include the title role in The Marriage of Figaro for Opera North‚ Papageno The Magic Flute (Scottish Opera)‚ Dr Malatesta Don Pasquale (Opera Holland Park)‚ Tolstoy Sevastopol ROH Opera Shots‚ Nikita in the British premiere of Weinberg’s The Portrait‚ directed by David Pountney and Sir Despard Murgatroyd Ruddigore (both Opera North)‚ Junkman & King Augustus Candide with Opera National de Lorraine‚ Nancy‚ and a concert with Carl Davis and the Hallé Orchestra.
Further operatic engagements include roles as diverse as Papageno Die Zauberflöte (New Zealand Opera)‚ Pish Tush The Mikado‚ Yamadori Madam Butterfly‚ Bosola The Duchess of Malfi (English National Opera)‚ Sir Despard Murgatroyd Ruddigore‚ Peter Quince A Midsummer Night’s Dream‚ General Kruger Let em Eat Cake (Opera North)‚ Schaunard La Bohème‚ Sharpless Madam Butterfly (Royal Albert Hall)‚ Oliver Simons The Shops (Bregenz Festival)‚ Bello La Fanciulla del West (Concertgebouw)‚ Marullo Rigoletto (Opera de Nantes) and Figaro Il Barbiere de Siviglia (Festival de Sedieres).
In concert‚ he has performed regularly with‚ amongst others‚ the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment‚ notably as bass soloist in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion under Sir Roger Norrington‚ as the Sorceress in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and as Joabel in Charpentier’s Davide et Jonathas under Emmanuelle Haïm‚ in New York‚ Barcelona‚ and London. He has also appeared as Bass soloist in Mozart’s Requiem at the Royal Albert Hall. In recital he has performed at St. Martin-in-the-Fields‚ St. James’s Piccadilly‚ St. John’s‚ Smith Square and at the Snape Maltings‚ Aldeburgh. Most recently Richard performed recitals at the Ruhr Klavier Fest as a guest of Irwin Gage‚ and at De Singel in Antwerp.
CATRIONA SCOTT – Clarinet
Catriona Scott - Clarinet
Clarinettist Catriona Scott is a dynamic and imaginative musician described as ‘the excellent soloist’ (The Telegraph) and praised for her ‘expressive playing’ (The Guardian). She performs as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician throughout the UK (as well as live on BBC Radio 3), and in Ireland, Denmark and Italy. Her many festival performances (featuring her varied and extensive repertoire) have included Aldeburgh, Cheltenham and Presteigne. A passionate advocate of contemporary music, Catriona has premièred and recorded many works written especially for her by composers including Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Cecilia McDowall and David Matthews. Her recording of James Francis Brown’s Clarinet Concerto (written for her) was released by Resonus Classics in 2018. Catriona studied at St Hilda’s College, Oxford, and the Royal Northern College of Music. Her teachers included Dame Thea King and John Bradbury.
LOUISE INNES – Mezzo soprano
Louise Innes - Mezzo soprano
Louise Innes made her Covent Garden debut in the Autumn Season 2010 singing Mercedes (Carmen) and she returned there the following June to sing Javotte in a new production of Manon (Massenet) touring to Japan and La Scala, Milan. She has also sung the role of Mercedes at the Opera Comique in Paris and in the Palacio Carlos Cinco at the Alhambra, conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the title role in Carmen for Opera North. More recently she sang the title role in Orfeo (Gluck) for Scottish Opera Unwrapped, Annina La Traviata at West Green House and Sofia Risurrezione at Wexford Opera Festival.
In oratorio her performances include Messiah in Barcelona with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and in Seville with the National Orchestra of Seville. She performed Beethoven Mass in C at the St Magnus Festival, Orkney and Duruflé Requiem with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Rossini Petite Messe Solennelle with the Dunedin Consort, Bach St Matthew Passion at Dartington conducted by Ivor Bolton, Mendelssohn Elijah in York Minster and Verdi Requiem in Ripon Cathedral. Other highlights include Ravel Chansons Madecasses with the Hebrides Ensemble and Mendelssohn A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra at the Edinburgh International Festival. She has sung Elgar Sea Pictures, Apostles, The Kingdom, Music Makers and Dream of Gerontius with Buxton Choral Society.
Other recent performances include the world premiere of Deniz Kustu by Michael Ellison at the Istanbul International Music Festival, Beethoven 9 in Belfast with Ulster Orchestra, Bach Magnificat with the Northern Sinfonia at The Sage, Gateshead, Miss Baggott in Britten’s The Little Sweep at Blackheath Halls, Elgar Music Makers and Brahms Alto Rhapsody in Sherborne Abbey and Bach St Matthew Passion and Juno (Semele) at The London Handel Festival under Laurence Cummings.
CARA BERRIDGE – Cello
Cara Berridge: Cello
Cara is a founder member of the Sacconi Quartet who have won prizes at many International competitions and have performed at all the major London venues including Wigmore Hall, Kings Place, Cadogan Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and Conway Hall. They have travelled extensively throughout the rest of the UK and Europe to venues including Bridgewater Hall , Musikverein, Muziekgebouw, L’Auditori in Barcelona and Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid as well as many venues in Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, France, Finland, Norway and the Czech Republic.
In addition to playing with the Sacconi Quartet, Cara enjoys playing with various chamber orchestras, Ensemble Perpetuo and recording music for films and TV programmes. Cara graduated from the Royal College of Music in 2002 with First Class Honours and continued her studies as the Amaryllis Fleming Scholar, receiving her Postgraduate Diploma and Advanced Diploma with Distinction in 2003 and 2004. Cara plays a Nicolaus Gagliano cello from 1781, generously on loan to her from the Royal Society of Musicians, a charity which helps musicians in need.
SIMON WALLFISCH – Baritone / Cello
Simon Wallfisch: Baritone / Cello
“There is no doubting the quality of Simon Wallfisch’s artistry… his ceaseless shifts in tone create characterisations of quite exceptional vividness…” Gramophone
“A multi-talented musician of incredible versatility” (BBC Radio 3), Simon Wallfisch is one of Britain’s most sought after Baritones, at home on the opera and concert stage.
Recently, Simon Wallfisch performed as soloist at London’s Royal Festival Hall, Wigmore Hall with the Nash Ensemble live for BBC Radio 3, sang leading roles at the Nürnberg Staatsoper and has a growing catalogue of song recordings with Nimbus, Lyrita, Delphian and Resonus.
Born in London into a musical family, Simon Wallfisch studied cello with Leonid Gorokhov and voice with Russell Smythe at the Royal College of Music between 2000 and 2006.
During his studies in London, he was awarded several prizes including The Georg Solti Foundation, Emmy Destinn Foundation, Giuseppe Di Stefano Competition Sicily, The DAAD, Countess of Munster Trust, The English Speaking Union and the Royal Overseas League “Young Singer of Promise” 2005.
In 2006 Wallfisch left London for studies in Berlin (Hanns Eisler Hochschule für Musik 2006-2007) and Leipzig (Hochschule für Musik und Theater Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy 2007-2009), studying with Dr Favaro-Reuter, and in the Liedklasse of Wolfram Rieger. During this time he appeared as guest artist in principal roles at the Leipzig Opera, Magdeburg Opera, Dessau Opera, Altenburg-Gera Opera, Potsdam Sans Souci Schlosstheater, and the Ludwigsberger Schloss Festspiele.
Subsequently he was engaged at the International Opera Studio of the Zurich Opera House (2009-2011), and vocal studies in Lausanne with Gary Magby singing many roles on the main stage. Recent operatic roles include FIERAMOSCA in Berlioz Benvenuto Cellini (Staatsoper Nürnberg 2016) MARCELLO Puccini La Boheme (Teatro Verdi Casciana Terme, Pisa 2016) ESCAMILLO La Tragedie de Carmen (National Reis Opera, Holland 2013). PELLEAS and ALBERT (English Touring Opera 2015). Simon has sung with conductors including Sir Mark Elder, Jac van Steen,
In international demand as recitalist, Simon is passionate about Lieder and Song, and his unique style of combining cello and voice has brought him to concert halls all over the world, including Wigmore Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Oxford Lieder Festival, Jacqueline du Pré concert hall Oxford, The Purcell Room, Kings Place and the Royal Festival Hall. UK festivals include Leamington, Wimbledon, London Song Schubert Society of Great Britain, Allwyn Festival and many others. He is invited to festivals in Denmark, Sweden, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Israel, Australia and Canada. Simon has collaborated with pianists and ensembles including The Nash Ensemble, Edward Rushton, Iain Farrington, Lada Valesova, Graham Johnson and Julius Drake.
As Oratorio soloist, Simon has performed works from Bach to Janacek at the Bridgewater Hall Manchester, Cadogan Hall London, Thomas Kirche Leipzig and Berlin Philharmonie.This year, he sang Christmas Oratorio with the Brighton Early Music Festival.
As teacher, Simon teaches cello (as assistant to Raphael Wallfisch) at the Royal College of Music is vocal lecturer at the LCM, University of West London. He worked extensively with Aldeburgh Young Musicians, adjudicated as external examiner at the Royal College of Music, Birmingham Conservatoire, Trinity School. He was invited by Murray Perahia to give masterclasses at Jerusalem Music Centre in Israel. He regularly works as a teacher Schwerin international Festival für Verfemte Music where he gives bi-annual masterclasses at the Schwerin Konservatorium and is Jury Member of the International competition for Verfemte Musik. He was music director of Labor Europa, Osnabrück institute für Musik, in 2018.
He is a trustee of the International Centre for Supressed Music (ICSM) dedicated to research and performance of suppressed composers, notably those whose voices were silenced by the third Reich and whose legacies are only now slowly coming back into public spaces.