Faye Hart

Faye Hart trained at the Royal Northern College of Music as a coloratura soprano, relishing any opportunity to display her vocal height and agility through tackling a variety of characters such as: ‘Musetta’ – La Boheme; ‘Nedda’ – Pagliacci; ‘Marguerite’ – Faust; ‘The Queen of the Night’ – The Magic Flute; ‘Lucia’ – Lucia di Lammermoor; ‘Zebinetta’ – Ariadne auf Naxos, and ‘Adele’ – Die Fledermaus.

During her time at college, Faye also won a prestigious Peter Moore’s scholarship and traveled to Italy to perform ‘La Calisto’ – Cavali in Batignano.

Soon after Faye graduated from RNCM with a Professional Performance Diploma in Opera, she was invited to sing in numerous galas, festivals, oratorios and concerts in between operatic engagements including: ‘First Lady’ – The Magic Flute and ‘Princess Kalyba’ – Utopia Ltd (Isle of Man Festival Opera); ‘Musetta’ – La Boheme (Crystal Clear Opera and Isle of Man Festival Opera); ‘Kate’ — The Yeomen of the Guard (Opera Holland Park) and touring the USA and Europe as ‘Adele’ – Die Fledermaus (London City Opera) — ending at the Queen Elizabeth II Hall on London’s South Bank.

With a rising reputation Faye successfully secured a chorus position with English National Opera and, within nine months of singing at the Coliseum, was asked to audition for principal cover roles.  Faye made her principal debut with ENO playing the part of the ’15-year-old Girl’ in Berg’s critically-acclaimed opera, Lulu.

During her time with ENO Faye’s local highlights included: performing as the soprano soloist with the English Sinfonia for the Bedford Proms in the Park; singing for Dame Norma Major at a celebrity charity gala; and, providing the entertainment for one of John Major’s conservative party dinners.

Faye was fortunate enough to sing with ENO at its grand re-opening when she particularly enjoyed performing The Pirates of Penzance on The Royal Variety Show hosted at the Coliseum.

Soon afterwards Faye took maternity leave to have twins, Emily and Jason, during summer 2005, but was keen to return to the concert and recital stage later that year.

Since then Faye has sung soprano solo in much of the oratorio repertoire, most recently: Mozart’s mass in C minor, Schubert’s mass in A flat major, Exsultate Jubilate, Brahm’s Requiem, Carmina Burana, Handel’s Solomon and Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle.

Faye also enjoys performing recitals and concerts whilst she also teaches singing at Kimbolton School.

 

Charne Rochford

Charne trained at the Royal Academy of Music, where he was the recipient of the MBF Sybil Tutton Award. Operatic roles include Don Jose/Carmen (Mananan Festival, Isle of Mann); 1^st 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.

 

Julia Riley

British mezzo-soprano Julia Riley studied at the Royal Academy of Music, the National Opera Studio in London and was the winner of the 2007 Mozart Singing Competition.

During the 2010/11 season, Julia sang her first Sesto La Clemenza di Tito for English Touring Opera to great critical acclaim: “It was her vocal ability which stole the show. I could not only hear every note but every word; combine this with poignancy and conviction of her acting and for me her performance was the tour de force of this production.” (Opera Britannia). She also performed with the Academy of Ancient Music under Richard Egarr in concerts at both Auditorio Nacional de Música, Madrid and Cadogan Hall, and with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Opera and Theatre du Capitole, Toulouse.

Operatic highlights have included Julia’s French debut as Nancy Albert Herringfor both Opera Comique, Paris and Rouen Opera House, Cherubino Le nozze di Figaro, Nancy Albert Herring and Zweite Dame Die Zauberflöte all for Glyndebourne on Tour, Donna Elvira Don Giovanni and Giovanna Seymour Anna Bolena for English Touring Opera, Flora La Traviata for Opera Holland Park, Alessandro Eliogabalo for Grange Park Opera, and roles in both I Puritani andL’Italiana in Algeri for Scottish Opera.

On the concert platform, Julia has performed at the BBC Proms under Sir Andrew Davies, Leeds Lieder Festival, the BBC Welsh Proms, the London Bach Festival, Teatro Nacional de Sao Carlos, Lisbon, and in the 2006 Glyndebourne Festival, a staging of Jonathan Dove’s mezzo song cycle All you who sleep tonight.

Future highlights include Xerxes for English Touring Opera, concerts with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in Edinburgh and Glasgow and concerts with the English Chamber Orchestra and the Mozart Festival Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall.

From 2012 Julia will become a member of the ensemble at Zurich Opera House.

 

Arwen Gilbert accompanist

Arwen began learning the piano at the age of four and followed this with the violin at six.  A childhood full of music led to her studying the subject at University and after graduating from Selwyn College, Cambridge in 1996 where she held a Choral Exhibition, Arwen embarked upon a career in the classroom, progressing from teacher of music to Head of Music at St Ivo school in St Ives.  Within this context, accompanying principally involved playing for Associated Board music exams!  Arwen’s musical activities thereafter included singing and playing the viola,  respectively with Cambridge Chorale and COSI, a local orchestra in St Ives.  Since 2006, Arwen has been the Director of the Duxford Saturday Workshop, a Saturday music school catering for all abilities and ages.  Arwen recently performed with Faye Hart in a local concert at Buckden and also teaches the piano privately.  After  having twins in 2007, she now concentrates on  parenting instead of running a classroom and is currently very much enjoying having the time to play the piano again.