Norma

Alwyn studied at RNCM.  Operatic roles include Fiordiligi/Così fan tutte, Donna Elvira/Don Giovanni, Liù/Turandot and Senta/Der fliegende Holländer (WNO); La Wally, Santuzza/Cavalleria Rusticana and Elettra/Idomeneo(Chelsea Opera Group); Mimì/La bohème and Agathe/Der Freischütz (ENO); Donna Elvira/Don Giovanni (GTO) Marenka/The Bartered Bride, Chrysothemis/Elektra and Tatyana/Eugene Onegin (ON); Gerhilde/Die Walküre (Edinburgh Festival), Euridice/Orfeo ed Euridice (Palacio de Festivales de Cantabria); Hanna Glawari/The Merry Widow, Ariadne/Ariadne auf Naxos (Opera Ireland); Donna Elvira/Don Giovanni and Chrysothemis/Elektra (Canadian Opera Company); Countess Almaviva/Le nozze di Figaro, Fiordiligi/Così fan tutte and Alice Ford/Falstaff (Santa Fe Opera).  Concert appearances include performances with the BBC Orchestras, the CBSO, the Hallé, the LPO and the RLPO, as well as  with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, the Orchestre National de Lyon, the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, the Orchestre Symphonique et Lyrique de Nancy, the Orquesta Simfonica de Barcelona, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia. Future includes title role in Tosca (WNO).

Robert studied at the University of Sheffield and GSMD. He received the 2003 Erich Vietheer Memorial Award at Glyndebourne and appeared as Mr. Gedge/Albert Herring, Marcello/La Boheme, Count Almaviva/Le Nozze di Figaro and Doctor Falke/Die Fledermaus on the Festival Tour. Other notable roles at Glyndebourne include Curo/Julio Cesare, Indian/The Bartered Bride, Guccio/Gianni Schicchi, Shepherd/Pelleas et Melisande and Guide/Carmen. He was Greek Captain in the Gramophone Award-winning production of Les Troyens at (Châtelet Theatre). Other roles include Lalo’s premiere of Verrina/Fiesque (UCL); Belcore/L’Elisir d’Amore and Sharpless/Madame Butterfly (Opera Box); Dancaïre/Carmen and Jailer/Tosca (Diva Opera). Concert performances include Monteverdi Vespers (St. Mark’s, Venice), Handel Messiah (St. David’s Hall, Cardiff), Elgar The Kingdom and Caractacus, Mendelssohn Elijah and Orff Carmina Burana.

Richard studied at the University of Kansas. Operatic engagements include Matteo/Arabella (Opera Australia); Truffaldino/The Love of Three Oranges and Witch/Hansel and Gretel (Staatstheatre Kassell); Rinuccio/Gianni Schicchi, Platon Karataeyev/War and Peace and Goro/Madame Butterfly (ENO); Pinkerton/Madame Butterfly (OHP). Concert appearances include Salome (LSO at the Barbican); Beethoven Choral Symphony (Brighton Dome); Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg (Stadhalle Kassel); Mozart Requiem (RFH); Steuermann/Flying Dutchman (RPO at the Barbican). He recorded the role of Bardolf in Falstaff for Chandos Records and is the voice of the Cockerel on the BBC Films animated version of Janacek’s Cunning Little Vixen. He has recently performed Prince/Rusalka, Rudolfo/La Boheme and Steva/Jenufa with the ETO.

Patricia trained at RCM and the National Opera Studio.  She was the 2006 winner of the Alfred Alexander Prize, finalist in the 2006 Royal Overseas League Competition and a 2008 finalist in the Bruce Millar Competition.  She has received an Independent Opera Voice Fellowship, a Donald Dewar Arts Award, a Madeline Finden Award and Sir Richard Stapley Award. Operatic roles include Laura/Iolanta (OHP); Enfant/L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, Bianca/The Rape of Lucretia, Prince Orlovsky/Die Fledermaus (RCM); Tolomeo/Tolomeo (London Handel Society); Yolande/The Sofa (Independent Opera), in addition to covering Conception/L’Heure Espagnole (RCM); Flora/La Traviata and Tisbe/Cenerentola (SO); Rosina/Il Barbiere di Siviglia (ENO) and Julia/The Departed (Independent Opera). In concert, Patricia has worked with the London Mozart Players, the English Chamber Orchestra, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the Edinburgh Quartet. She has recently performed the Sorceress/Dido and Aeneas and Orimeno/Erismene with ETO. Future plans include Varvara/Katya Kabanova (OHP).

From Moville, Co Donegal, Niamh is an hons graduate of NUI Maynooth and University of Limerick. Supported by the Arts Council of Ireland she then attended RNCM graduating with a Postgraduate Diploma in Performance with Distinction. She continues her studies with Anne Mason.

The first recipient of ETO’s Young Artist Bursary Niamh’s operatic performances include Cherubino, The Marriage of Figaro, Hermia, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 3rd lady, The Magic Flute, Smeton, Anna Bolena, Mrs Ott, Susannah and Olga, Eugene Onegin (all ETO), Dorabella, Cosi fan tutte (Mananan Opera Festival), Maurya, Riders to the Sea (Opera Fringe Northern Ireland); Cherubino, Le Nozze di Figaro, Mercedes, Carmen (Opera Brava); Eurynome, Penelope (Wexford Festival Opera).

Recent performances include Anitra in Grieg’s Peer Gynt with Sam West and the New London Sinfonia, Verdi Requiem with Armonico Consort and Sir Willard White, Rosina, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, 1st Norn in concerts of Götterdämmerung with The Wagner Society and David Syrus, and Hansel in NI Opera’s production of Hansel and Gretel.

Helen received her postgraduate degree from Trinity College of Music with support from Malpas and Palamkote, Joan Greenfield Trust Award, Lloyd Scholarship. She studies with Anne Mason and was a finalist in the 2008 Wagner Society Bayreuth Bursary Competition. Opera roles include Bianca/ Lucretia and Marcellina/ Marriage of Figaro (Opera East); Jezibaba/ Rusalka (Iford Arts); Mrs. Goodbody/ Parson’s Pirates (Opera Della Luna); Marguerite/ Faust (Pigotts). Helen covered Hatred/ Armide and Boulotte/ Bluebeard (Buxton) and recently sang with ENO chorus in Boris Godunov, Cav&Pag and Aida. Helen has previously performed with ETO as Kolusina/ Jenufa, Filipyevna/ Eugene Onegin, soloist in Spring 2008 Lieder Recitals, Cover Buryja/ Jenufa, Cover Larina/ Eugene Onegin_ and Cover Jane Seymore/ _Anna Bolena.

Charne trained at RAM, where he was the recipient of the MBF Sybil Tutton Award. Operatic roles include Don Jose/ Carmen (Mananan Festival, Isle of Mann); 1st Armed Man/Priest/ The Magic Flute (GTO, GFO and ON); Pablo/ Betrothal in a Monastery (GTO); Don Jose cover/ Carmen (GTO); Prince/ Love for Three Oranges (English Pocket Opera Company); MacDuff/ Macbeth (Warwick Arts); Rodolfo/ La Boheme (Dartington); Lensky/ Eugene Onegin (St. John’s Smith Square). Charne made his cinematic debut as Priest/Officer in The Magic Flute directed by Kenneth Branagh and conducted by James Conlon, premiered at the Venice Film Festival. Recently, he sang Eisenstein/ Die Fledermaus for London Lyric Opera at the Cadogan Hall with the RPO and Cavaradossi/ Tosca at Neuminster Abbey, Luxembourg with Opera a la Carte. Future projects include Cavardossi/ Tosca for Queens College, Cambridge and Bermuda Festival, Max/ Der Freishutz in Cambridge and Duke/ Rigoletto in Luxembourg.

A graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music, Yvonne’s early operatic roles include the title role La Cenerentola (ETO); Marcellina/The Marriage of Figaro (Glyndebourne); Fricka/Waltraute/Ring Saga (CBTO). Other operatic roles include Ludmilla/The Barted Bride, Mercedes/Carmen, Karolka/Jenufa‚ 2nd/3rd Lady/Die Zauberflöte, Suzuki/Madama Butterfly and title role Fidelio (ROH); Maddalena/Rigoletto‚ Eboli/Don Carlos‚ Evadne/Troilus and Cressida, Hippolyta/A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Verdi’s Lady Macbeth/Macbeth (ON); Eduige/Rodelinda (OTC); Marcellina/The Marriage of Figaro, Meg Page/Falstaff, 3rd Lady/The Magic Flute (ENO); title role Fidelio and Laura/La Gioconda (OHP). Yvonne also played Marilyn Klinghoffer in the film The Death of Klinghoffer. Recital and oratorio work includes Strauss Four Last Songs, Elgar Sea Pictures and Dream of Gerontius as well as song cycles of Mahler, Wagner and Berlioz.

Operatic engagements include Nadir/The Pearl Fishers (Sydney Opera House); Arnold/William Tell (ROH); Tamino/The Magic Flute (Vienna State Opera); Count Ory/Count Ory (La Scala); Faust/Faust (ROH); Don José/Carmen (WNO); Florestan/Lenore (Chelsea Opera Group); Loge/Das Rheingold (Latvian National Opera and Norway’s Bergen Festival); Duke/Rigoletto (Florida Grand Opera); Don Ottavio/Don Giovanni (Teatro La Fenice); Belmonte/Il Seraglio (Vienna and Berlin State Operas); Ferrando/Cosi fan tutte (Teatro la Fenice); Almaviva/The Barber of Seville (Pittsburgh Opera House and ROH); Faust/Damnation de Faust (Helsinki, Paris, Bordeaux). Having worked with conductors such as Solti, Haitink, Giulini, Runnicles, Hickox, Dutoit, Sinopoli, Elder and Abbado, Mr. Lavender is well-known on the concert platform, especially for performances of Edgar Gerontius, Verdi Requiem, Mahler 8th Symphony and Schmidt Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln. He has made many commercial recordings and is a Professor of Vocal Studies at the Royal College of Music.

Michael Rosewell began his career at the Vienna State Opera, assisting Claudio Abbado and working closely with many of the world’s greatest singers including Pavarotti, Domingo, Gruberova, Freni and Cappuccilli. He has conducted extensively throughout Germany, notably in the opera houses of Kassel, Wiesbaden and the Mannheim, where he held the position of Kapellmeister. Michael’s first guest appearances in the UK included some world premiere performances of Stephen Oliver’s Timon of Athens for English National Opera and since then, he has conducted for ENO, Kent Opera, English Touring Opera, and at the Aldeburgh, Bath, Perth, Buxton and Montepulciano Festivals. As Associate Conductor for the London Handel Society, he has introduced many rarely performed Handel operas to the London stage. Michael is also Director of Opera at the Royal College of Music.

In concert, Michael has appeared in Germany, Austria, France, Italy and Croatia and broadcast for Radio France Musique and Süddeutsche Rundfunk. He has conducted concerts at the Mayfield Festival with the London Mozart Players and internationally renowned baritone, Sir Thomas Allen. His recording, with Grammy-award-winning tenor Alfie Boe and the Orchestra of Scottish Opera, was recently released under the Decca record label.

Michael has been noted in the press as one of this country’s leading Mozartians and is also widely acknowledged as one of the foremost interpreters of the music of Benjamin Britten. His performances of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Bellini’s Norma, Janacek’s Katya Kabanova and Jenufa for English Touring Opera have been critically acclaimed for the style and theatricality of his interpretations, and the excellence of the orchestral playing. He was appointed Music Director for ETO, in 2009.