Anita Watson

After completing a Bachelor of Music from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music Australian soprano Anita Watson graduated with honours from the Australian Opera Studio.  She was a member of the Cologne Opera Studio 2006-7 and the Jette Parker Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden from 2007-9.

Anita was the winner of first prize and the audience prize at the 2009 ARD International Music Competition in Munich.

Anita has won prizes in many prestigious competitions amongst them The Australian Singing Competition, Queen Sonja International Music Competition in Oslo, Neue Stimmen in Germany and the 2009 Placido Domingo Operalia Competition. 

Her performed roles at the Royal Opera House included the title role in Donizetti's Rita, Flowergirl (Parsifal), First Lady (Die Zauberflöte), Naiad (Ariadne auf Naxos), Gretel and Dewfairy (Hänsel and Gretel) and Second Woman (Dido and Aeneas). She also understudied Contessa (Le Nozze di Figaro), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) and Mimì (La Bohème).  Other roles have included the title role in Handel's Xerxes, Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare, Lucia in The Rape of Lucretia, Pedro in Don Quichotte, Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro and Micaela in Carmen for the Australian Opera Studio, Barena in Jenufa for Cologne Opera and Ann Putnam in The Crucible for IVAI.

During the years Anita has been heard in many live broadcasts including Parsifal, Don Carlo, Mavra and Hänsel und Gretel as well as solo recitals for ABC radio.

Anita has appeared with numerous concerts and recitals in Australia, in the USA, Austria, Germany, Japan, Hungary, China, Finland, Israel and the UK, Her oratorio repertoire includes Carmina Burana, Mozart's Requiem, Tippet's A Child of our Time, the Fauré Requiem, Mozart's Vesperae Solennes de Confessore, Handel's Messiah, and Gounod's Redemption. Most recently Anita performed Beethoven Symphony no. 9 with Antonio Pappano in Rome and Siena with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.

John Morrissey

John is Irish but grew up in Birmingham where he trained  as an actor. He appeared iin many plays and a film for Channel Four, and took part in the William Poel verse speaking prize at the Royal  National theatre judged by Anthony Hopkins.. He then took up singing, studying with Robert Dean. He has sang for many companies, including Opera Ireland, Opera theatre Company ,Scottish Opera and Wexford Festival, His favourite roles are  Colline in (La Boheme) a role he has sung in eight  different productions, Satastro (The Magic Flute).  Don Basilio (The Barber of Seville) Sparafucile (Rigoletto) .and Angelotti (Tosca)  He joined the Royal Opera House Chorus in August 2005 where he has covered many main house parts and has recently sung the role of the Gaoler in Tosca with Bryn Terfel and Andrea Gheorghiu.

Elliot Goldie

Born in Hawick, Scotland, he studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama on the undergraduate and opera courses. He was the winner of the inaugural Kathleen Ferrier Bursary Award in 1996. His operatic experience includes excerpts from Billy Budd, Don Giovanni, The Rape of Lucretia, Turandot, Eugene Onegin and Fidelio. He has also sung Tiberge (Le Portrait de Manon) Ramon (La Navarraise) and Bobil (The Snow Maiden) with the GSMD. He has appeared with the Scottish Opera Chorus in Macbeth, Le Roi Arthus, Il trovatore and Ines de Castro. His concert performances include Messiah, Elijah and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. A member of the Royal Opera Chorus, he made his solo debut with the Royal Opera in 2001 as the Notary in La sonnambula and has also sung Young Man in La rondine, Gaston de Letorieres in La traviata, Villager in I Pagliacci with Placido Domingo and Capitano in Simon Boccanegra. He has also sung the role of Starbuck in the world premier performance of Call Me Ishmael by Gary Goldschneider in the Stadschouwberg Theatre in Amsterdam. Being from Scotland Elliot has sung at various functions including many Burns Suppers and St Andrews Night Concerts. He has also compered several Scottish Tattoos including one at the Royal Albert Hall. Elliot has sung at the Scottish Proms at Glamis Castle for the past two years in both Scottish and Opera evenings.

Ben Thapa

Ben is an alumnus of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the Royal College of Music, London, and currently works with Adrian Thompson.  Ben's first professional break came as part of the classical crossover group G4, runners up on the first series of ITV's The X Factor.
 
Ben is rapidly gaining experience on the opera stage, credits include Corebo (La Didone, GSMD), Telemaco (Il ritorno d'Ulisse, GSMD), Jephthe (Jephthe, Ryedale Festival), Tamino (Magic Flute, Kennet Opera) and Mat of the Mint (Beggars Opera, Royal Opera).
 
On the concert stage, Ben has a wideranging repertory, including Bach Evangelists, through Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Rachmaninov, Vaughan Williams and Elgar.  He recently made his St. John's, Smith Square debut with the Exmoor Singers (Mozart Requiem), and his Cadogan Hall debut with Sonitus and the Orion Orchestra (Vaughan Williams Serenade to Music/Tippett Negro Spirituals).
 
Future plans include First Prisoner and cover Florestan (Fidelio) for Garsington Opera, and Kudrjas (Katya Kabanova) for Scottish Opera.  He is on the reserve list for this year's intake at the National Opera Studio.

Karin Thyselius

Born in Stockholm, Sweden, has undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in solo vocal performance from Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. She is currently learning with Janice Chapman and coaching with Ludmilla Andrews.

In 2004 Karin was a finalist in the Robert Schumann International Singing Competition in Germany, and prior to that had successes in the Schubert Lieder Competition and the Susan Longfield Competition at the GSMD, and was awarded third prize in the Bromsgrove Young Musicians’ Platform 2002.

She has performed throughout the United Kingdom in works such as the Brahms Requiem, Fauré Requiem, Mozart Requiem, Mozart C minor Mass (in King’s College Chapel, Cambridge), Poulenc Gloria, Vivaldi Gloria, and in recital with Eugene Asti. Around Europe her performances have included Schubert Masses in A flat and B flat (The Netherlands), recitals with Tobias Krampen and Alice Turner - both broadcast on Dutch National Radio, and recitals and oratorio performances in her native Sweden.

Karin’s roles in opera have included Despina (Così fan tutte), First Boy and Papagena (Die Zauberflöte), Virtù (L’Incoronazione di Poppea), and Frasquita (Carmen). She has sung with Diva Opera, Grange Park Opera and Clonter Opera.

During autumn 2007, Karin made her critically acclaimed Scottish Opera debut as Berta in their production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia directed by Sir Thomas Allen and conducted by Sergio La Stella. (Read her reviews here.)She was also featured performer in Scottish Opera’s Aria Adventures at Glasgow’s Merchant City Festival in September 2007.

In autumn 2007 she gave a recital for The London Song Festival. Karin is very happy to have been invited to appear again in the 2008 festival, taking place in November in St John’s Smith Square and St George Hanover Square, and will act as an adjucator for the master class auditions. She has also been asked to sing at the memorial concert for the composer Francis James Brown.

Andrew Bain

Andrew originally studied dentistry at Bristol University before embarking on a career first in musical theatre, and then in opera. He currently studies with Jennie Caron. 

Operatic roles include the  role of Joe in La Fancuilla del West and was a member of the ensemble in Bluebeard, Falstaff and L’elisir d’Amore (Grange Park Opera), Ferrando in Cosi fan Tutte (Opera by Definition), Pierre in The Wandering Scholar (St John Smith Square), Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus (Alternative Opera), Triquet in Eugene Onegin (Longborough Festival), MacHeath in Beggars Opera (Cochrane Theatre), Peasant Leader in Eugene Onegin (Opera by Definition) and, while studying at Bristol University, Don Jose in Carmen, Spalanzani in Tales of Hoffmann as well as Ralph and Fairfax in HMS Pinafore and Yeoman of the Guard.

As a musical theatre performer he most recently he played the role of Tony in West Side Story for Pimlico Opera in HMP Wandsworth. Other work includes Les Miserables, Whistle Down the Wind, Beauty and the Beast, City of Angels and Tonight. He has also recently premiered the English version of the new Norwegian one-man show musical Terje Vigen in San Francisco and on tour in Norway.

In 2008 Andrew signed a solo recording contract with SonyBMG and has recorded an album of “classical crossover”.

Andrew has experience of corporate and concert work all over the world. His versatility allows him to tailor a programme to the needs of most events.

Clare McCaldin

As well as her accomplished stage work, Clare McCaldin is a sought-after recitalist and oratorio soloist, and an established performer of traditional and contemporary repertoire.

Recent operatic roles include Örzse in Kodaly’s Háry János with the Ryedale Festival Opera [cond. Justin Doyle] and Mrs Coaxer in Britten’s version of The Beggar’s Opera [cond. Christian Curnyn] for the Royal Opera Covent Garden.  Other roles for the Royal Opera include Cousin (Madama Butterfly) and Glasha (Kat’a Kabanova) and elsewhere Clare has performed Dorabella in Cosi fan Tutte, Orlovsky in Die Fledermaus,  Siebel in Faust, Hansel in Hansel and Gretel, Oreste in ‘La Belle Helene’ with Jose Carreras as guest artist [Diva Opera],   Véronique in Le Docteur Miracle,  Flora in La Traviata [Longborough Festival Opera], and Mrs Peacham in The Threepenny Opera [Wexford Festival Opera].

Among her broader repertoire are various movement-based projects: Willian Tuckett’s The Wind in the Willows and Pinocchio at the Linbury Royal Opera House; Wayne McGregor’s Dido & Aeneas for the Royal Opera /Royal Ballet; Sea of Souls, with Ron Howell and composer Yuko Katori; and the Silver Swan with the Clod Ensemble.

In the contemporary repertoire Clare’s recent roles include the Stardust Person in Stephen McNeff’s The Gentle Giant (ROH2, Royal Opera Covent Garden), the Mezzo Actor in Judith Weir’s A Night at the Chinese Opera for Scottish Opera, and premieres of works by Jonathan Mills, Jean-Philippe Calvin and Graham Coatman.  In contemporary concert repertoire she has performed with Esa-Pekka Salonen and Diego Masson in works by Berio and Birtwistle, and at the BBC Proms.

In 2008 she premiered Stephen McNeff’s Farfalle di Neve in recital at the Royal Opera House, and in concert there this year she will give the first performance of his Madrigali d’Estate, commissioned for her.  As a resident artist at the 2010 Presteigne Festival she will be premiering other works written for her by Stephen McNeff, Hugh Wood and Alexander L’Estrange, as well as existing works for voice and chamber ensemble by Nicholas Maw, and will give a solo recital with pianist Simon Lepper.

Among her other appearances this year are recitals throughout the UK with pianist Paul Turner, and concerts with the Southbank Sinfonia, the LePage Ensemble, Paris-based baroque ensemble La Réjouissance and a recital with the Vienna Piano Trio for the Haydn bi-centenary in Vienna.

Robert Scamardella

Born in 1983, Robert Scamardella began to play and improvise at the piano at aged four and was awarded scholarships to study with celebrated British concert pianist Lucy Parham at the Guildhall School of Music. Whilst there he was a prize winner in all the major competitions as well as receiving further scholarships and awards from the Musicians’ Benevolent Fund, the Musicas Fund and the Ann Driver Trust, amongst others. He made his concerto debuts aged sixteen and his recital debuts a year later.

He came to national attention on becoming a finalist in the 2002 BBC Young Musician of the Year. Subsequently, he was awarded a scholarship to further his studies at the Guildhall with Joan Havill. Other prizes at the Guildhall included the Lescek Dessent Chopin Prize, the Romantic Piano Award and was the winner of the Professional Recital Prize of the Oxford International Music Festival in 2004.

In 2005, he was a selected artist for the Countess of Munster Musical Trust’s coveted Recital Scheme enabling engagements for two years across the UK. 2006 saw awards from the prestigious Myra Hess Foundation to study for a Masters degree in Music Performance at the Guildhall. In recent years, his studies have included working with pianists Stephen Kovacevich, Paul Lewis and Imogen Cooper. Future engagements include working with the Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra, the Westminster Philharmonic Orchestra, the Worcestershire Symphony Orchestra and recital tours across the South of France.

Dan Moriyama

Born in 1975 to a Japanese father and English mother, took up the piano at the age of 5.  Three years later he won the top scholarship to study music at Wells Cathedral School in Somerset and at 15 reached the televised semi-finals of BBC Young Musician of the Year.  After leaving Wells he continued his musical studies at the Junior Royal Academy of Music, switching focus to piano accompaniment and electro-acoustic composition.  In 1994 he embarked on a new joint jazz/classical degree course at the Guildhall School of Music, studying piano with Andrew Ball and winning the Spencer Boney Memorial Prize for contemporary piano performance before graduating in 1998.   

Dan now works as a freelancer in a wide variety of musical areas including session work, teaching and leading music workshops, jazz gigs and accompanying of all kinds.  He particularly specialises in working with singers, both individuals and groups.    Work in the last few years has included performing with the world-renowned Siobhan Davies Dance Company, BBC Radio 3 concerts, piano/vocal duo gigs with Jimmy Somerville,  rehearsal accompanist for West End shows, and performances around the country as the pianist with Scottish song duo Goldie & Grant.    Recent work for TV, both on and off camera, has included playing in the band on the Pop Idol Arena Tour, and accompaniment for televised auditions and rehearsal sessions on Fame Academy and X Factor.   Dan also writes, sings and plays bass with rock band Tomokiyo

Peter Willcock

Peter Willcock, originally from Worcestershire, trained in visual arts, dance, theatre and music at Brighton University and then continued his studies at Trinity College of Music where he was funded by numerous awards and scholarships.  He has worked with many companies in the UK including English National Opera, Royal Opera, Opera North, Grange Park Opera, Grimebourne Opera and Pimlico Opera.

Festivals include, Edinburgh, Cheltenham, Dartington, Belle Ile sur Mer, Huddersfield and Brighton.  Roles Include Monterone (Pimlico/Grange Park), Sid/Billy-Fanciulla (Grange Park), Crespel/Hermann/Schemil-Hoffman, Zuniga (Opera Brava), Aeneas, Nettuno-Idomeneo and numerous roles in modern operas/performance pieces. He's also a well heeled recitalist/choral singer, having worked as a soloist under the baton of Sir Charles Mackerras, Martyn Brabbins and Diego Masson.

Whilst establishing a career as a mainstream soloist Peter is also quite at home in the world of contemporary music, music theatre, early music and multi disciplinary performance.  Peter also works extensively in opera education. Working closely with the education depts of companies such as Opera North and The Royal Opera House and Grange Park on numerous and varied projects.