Carolyn Sampson

Carolyn Sampson comes from Bedford and read music at the University of Birmingham. She currently studies with Richard Smart and Jonathan Papp.

She has sung the title role of Semele and Pamina The Magic Flute with English National Opera as well as roles in The Coronation of Poppea and The Fairy Queen with the company, First Niece in Peter Grimes for Opéra de Paris, Euridice and La Musica in L’Orfeo with Le Concert d’Astrée, at The Barbican, Asteria Tamerlano for Opéra de Lille and Antonia The Tales of Hoffmann in concert with Richard Hickox at the St Endellion Festival

Carolyn’s concert engagements have included Messiah with The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment a US tour with The King’s Consort as featured soloist, Bach St Matthew Passion with The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra/Philippe Herreweghe, St John Passion with The Freiburg Baroque Orchestra/Gustav Leonhardt, Monteverdi Vespers with The Washington Bach Consort/Harry Christophers, St Matthew Passion at the BBC Proms with The English Concert / Pinnock, Esther in New York with The Gabrieli Consort / Paul McCreesh, Les Illuminations with the Manchester Camerata/Nicholas Kraemer, Stravinsky and Bach with La Chapelle Royale, Mendelssohn and Schubert with Orchestre des Champs Elysées / Herreweghe and Mozart and Gluck with Music of the Baroque, Chicago / Harry Bicket. Together with Robin Blaze she has given a joint recital at the Wigmore Hall. She has also performed with Hallé Orchestra / Mark Elder, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Scottish Chamber Orchestra/Stephen Layton, Ensemble Baroque de Limoges / Christophe Coin, Il Giardino Armonico/Giovanni Antonini, RIAS Kammerchor, Holland Sinfonia, the City of London Sinfonia and Sonnerie and has toured Belgium, Germany and France with Collegium Vocale Gent.

She has appeared in The Proms Chamber Music Series and given recitals for BBC Radio 3, at the Saintes Festival with Jonathan Papp and a programme of lute songs at the Wigmore Hall with Matthew Wadsworth. She has recorded 15 discs as soloist with The King’s Consort for Hyperion of Kuhnau, Knüpfer, Vivaldi, Zelenka, Monteverdi and Handel. Also she has recorded Bach for Harmonia Mundi and Bis, Orfeo for Virgin Classics, Amor in Gluck’s Elena e Paride for DG Archiv, Buxtehude for Linn Records and lute songs for Avie. Her disc of Rameau Opera Arias Règne Amour, with Ex Cathedra and Jeffrey Skidmore, has received great critical acclaim.

Carolyn’s future opera engagements include Susanna Le Nozze di Figaro for Opéra de Montpellier.  In coming seasons she will make début appearances with the San Francisco Symphony, Detroit Symphony, NDR Symphony Orchestra and Wiener Akademie. Her recording plans include Bach with The Gabrieli Consort / McCreesh for DG Archiv and with Bach Collegium Japan/Suzuki for BIS; Mozart sacred work with The King’s Consort / King for Hyperion and Stravinsky and Handel with the RIAS Kammerchor / Reuss for Harmonia Mundi.

Hana Blažíková

She was born in Prague. In 2002 she graduated from the Prague Conservatory in the class of Jiří Kotouč.

She undertook further study with Poppy Holden, Peter Kooij, Monika Mauch and Howard Crook.

She specializes in the interpretation of baroque, rennaisance and medieval music, performing with ensembles and orchestras around the world, including Collegium Vocale Gent, Bach Collegium Japan, Sette Voci, Gli Angeli Genève, La Fenice, Tafelmusik, Collegium 1704, Collegium Marianum, Musica Florea, among others.

Hana Blažíková has performed at many European festivals, including Prague Spring, Oude Muziek Utrecht, Resonanzen (Vienna), Tage Alter Musik (Regensburg), Festival de Sablé, Festival de La Chaise – Dieu, Festival de Saintes.

Hana also plays gothic harp and presents concerts in which she accompanies herself on the harp.

Joanne Lunn

Joanne Lunn studied at the Royal College of Music in London and, on leaving, was awarded the prestigious Tagore Gold Medal.

She sang solos for Sir John Eliot Gardiner many times throughout the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage in the year 2000 and is featured on a Deutsche Grammophon recording.  She has also recently performed Handel’s Israel in Egypt in Vienna and at the Salzburg Festival, and Handel’s Messiah in the Halle Handel Festival and St Mark’s Venice with Sir John Eliot Gardiner.

She has sung regularly with both the New London Consort and Musicians of the Globe appearing in concert, on radio and recordings.  Joanne Lunn also performs internationally as a soloist with many other leading groups such as Collegium Vocale, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Academy of Ancient Music and The Gabrieli Consort. She has also formed a relationship with The Hilliard Ensemble singing Arvo Pärt’s Miserere.

Joanne Lunn made her English National Opera debut in Steven Pimlott’s new production of Monteverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea, conducted by Harry Christophers.  Other engagements include Euridice in a new production of Graun’s Orfeo at the Musikfestpiele Potsdam, performances of the St Matthew Passion with Phillipe Herreweghe and Collegium Vocale and with Paul McCreesh and The Gabrieli Consort, Handel’s Il trionfo del tempo e il disinganno with Rinaldo Alessandrini and the OAE, Mozart Requiem, and performances and a recording of Haydn Heiligmesse, Harmoniemesse and Paukenmesse with Sir John Eliot Gardiner.

Recent engagements have included further performances of Graun’s Orfeo in Potsdam and Bayreuth, Michal in Handel’s Saul with Frieder Bernius at the Ruhr Festival, a recording of Vivaldi Sacred Music with The King’s Consort, Messiah with the RLPO, Messiah and Vivaldi sacred music with Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk Leipzig, the UK premiere of John Rutter Mass of the Children (also recorded) with the Guildford Philharmonic, Sieben letzten Worte with the OAE/Daniel Harding, Haydn Theresienmesse and St John Passion with Sir John Eliot Gardiner, and with the City of London Sinfonia/Richard Hickox for the 2003 Mostly Mozart Festival at the Barbican, Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Teatro La Fenice, Monteverdi Orfeo with Philip Pickett and Jonathan Miller at the South Bank Centre, Christmas Oratorio with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Haydn Nelsonmesse with MDR in Leipzig, Bach Cantatas at the Moscow Easter Festival, Bach programme and recording with Musik Podium Stuttgart, various concerts and a recording with the Hilliard Ensemble.

Engagements this season and future commitments include St Matthew Passion with the Rotterdam Philharmonic, Musik Podium Stuttgart and with Roger Norrington and the OAE, Bach Magnificat and Biber Missa Bruxellensis at the BBC Proms, concerts in the UK and USA with the Hilliard Ensemble, Messiah in Belfast and with the Academy of Ancient Music, concerts in Montreal, Rutter Requiem and Nelson Mass with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Fauré Requiem in Toulouse.

Marianne Beate Kielland

The Norwegian mezzo-soprano Marianne Beate Kielland has quickly established herself as one of Scandinavia’s foremost singers. She studied at the Norwegian State Academy of Music in Oslo. The season 2001/02 she was engaged as soloist at the Staatsoper Hannover.

She regularly works with conductors such as Fabio Biondi, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Daniel Reuss, Philippe Herreweghe, Manfred Honeck, Masaaki Suzuki, Federico Maria Sardelli, Robin Ticciati, Helmut Rilling, Lars Ulrik Mortensen, Pierre Cao, Andreas Spering, Christoph Spering, Joshua Rifkin, Hans-Christoph Rademann, Jos van Immerseel, Helmut Müller-Brühl, Ari Rasilainen, Harry Christophers, Philip Picket, Bruno Weil, Michael Willens, Christophe Coin and Thomas Søndergård.

Marianne Beate Kielland is a much noted concert singer and she regularly appears in opera houses, festivals and concert halls throughout Europe. She has worked with orchestras such as Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre des Champs-Elysées, Royal Flemish Philharmonic, Bach Collegium Japan, Europa Galante, Modo Antiquo, Akademie für alte Musik Berlin, RIAS Kammerchor Berlin, WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart, Concerto Köln, Cologne Chamber Orchestra, Hamburger Camerata, Das Neue Orchester, Scharoun Ensemble Berlin, Holland Baroque Society, Lorraine National Orchestra, Collegium Vocale Gent, Anima Eterna and Concerto Copenhagen.

She has built an unusually vast concert repertoire that spans music from the early 17th Century works of Monteverdi, via Buxtehude, Bach, Händel, Vivaldi, Gluck, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, Berlioz, Dvorak, Grieg, Elgar, Mahler, Schönberg, Webern, Berg, Weill, Berio, up to contemporary works of Cage, Stockhausen, Ratkje and Plagge.

The summer of 2008 included highlights such as Messaggiera and Proserpina in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, the title role in Vivaldi’s Juditha Triumphans, and concerts of Haydn’s Theresienmesse. She also had a huge success singing Berlioz’ Les Nuits d’Été. Engagements in the autumn of 2008 included a recording of Hamor in Jephta with Fabio Biondi, Haydn’s Te Deum and Missa Cellensis in Dresden and Rotterdam with Jos van Immerseel, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9  in Stavanger with Frans Brüggen as well as in Paris, Brussels and Brugge with Jos van Immerseel, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis in Essen with Christoph Spering, Piacere in Handel’s Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno with Rinaldo Alessandrini, Israelite man in Judas Maccabaeus in Tokyo with Masaaki Suzuki and Handel’s Messiah in Amsterdam with Daniel Reuss.

 

Makoto Sakurada

He completed his master degree at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in vocal music, working with Professor Tadahiko Hirano. He continued his studies with Professor G.Fabbrini in Bologna at the National Conservatory “G. B. Martini”. He studied also with Mo. W.Matteuzzi and Ma. G.Banditelli in Italy.

He is very active as a soloist for Oratorio performances especially for the baroque era. He collaborates with various group/orchestra as Le Concert de Nacion, Accademia Bizantina, Capella della Pieta’ de Turchini, Europa Galante, Il Giardino Armonico, Orchestra Barocca di Venezia, Orchestra S.Cecilia di Roma, La Stagione Armonica, La Venexiana, Collegium Vocale, La Petite Bande, Ricercar Consort and with the numbers of conductor as J.Savall, O. Dantone, A. Florio, F.Biondi, G.Antonini, A.Marcon, S.Balestracci, C.Cavina, P.Herreweghe, S.Kuijken, T.Koopman, Ph.Pierlot in Italy and the other countries in Europe.

Since 1995, He has worked together with Masaaki Suzuki and the Bach Collegium Japan on a regular basis, including tour-performances in Europe, U.S.A, Israel and Australia. Their successful collaboration has been documented on several CDs.

In addition to his oratorio singing career, also he has operatic repertories includes “Orfeo”, “Il ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria”, “L’incoronazione di Poppea” by C.Monteverdi, Don Ottavio in “Don Giovanni”, Don Basilio in “Le Nozze di Figaro” by W.A.Mozart,, Don Ramiro in “La Cenerentola” by G.Rossini and so on.

He was awarded the 2nd prize at the “International Early Music Concours Brugge” in 2002.

Robin Blaze

Now established in the front rank of interpreters of Purcell, Bach and Handel, Robin Blaze’s busy schedule has taken him to Europe, South America, North America, Japan and Australia. He read Music at Magdalen College, Oxford and won a post-graduate scholarship to the Royal College of Music where he trained with assistance from the Countess of Munster Trust and is now a Professor of Vocal Studies.

He works with most of the distinguished conductors in the early music field – Christophers, Cleobury, Gardiner, Herreweghe, Hickox, Hogwood, Jacobs, King, Koopman, Kraemer, Leonhardt, McCreesh, McGegan, Mackerras, Pinnock and Suzuki. He has visited festivals in Ambronay, Beaune, Boston, Edinburgh, Halle, Iceland, Jerusalem, Innsbruck, Karlsruhe, Leipzig, Lucerne, Saintes and Utrecht. He regularly appears with The Academy of Ancient Music, Bach Collegium Japan, Collegium Vocale, The English Concert, The Gabrieli Consort, The King’s Consort, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, RIAS Kammerchor and The Sixteen. Other engagements have included the National Symphony Orchestra, Washington, the St Paul Chamber Orchestra, La Chapelle Royale, City of London Sinfonia, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Royal Flanders Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, The Hallé Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Tafelmusik, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.

Robin’s opera engagements have included Athamas Semele at The Royal Opera House; Didymus Theodora for Glyndebourne Festival Opera; Arsamenes Xerxes, Athamas Semele, Hamor Jephtha and Oberon A Midsummer Night’s Dream for English National Opera, and Bertarido Rodelinda for Glyndebourne Touring Opera and at the Göttingen Handel Festival.

Chamber music is an important part of his musical life and Robin regularly joins forces with Concordia, Fretwork, Florilegium and The Palladian Ensemble. He has given recitals in Tenerife, at the Théâtre Grévin in Paris, in Karlsruhe, Innsbruck, Göttingen, at the York Early Music, West Cork International Chamber Music, Sherbourne and Gloucester Three Choirs Festivals, for BBC Radio 3 and at The Wigmore Hall.

With a fast-growing number of acclaimed recordings to his name Robin continues to enjoy fruitful relationships with BIS and Hyperion records. For BIS he is adding to their Cantata Cycle with Bach Collegium Japan and joined Carolyn Sampson for a disc of Handel Oratorio Duets with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Nicholas Kraemer. His projects with Hyperion have included recital discs of lute songs with Elizabeth Kenny, Byrd Consort Songs and Salve Regina, a programme of Italian Cantatas with The Parley of Instruments. Amongst his other recordings are Didymus in Theodora with The Gabrieli Consort and McCreesh for DG Archiv, Vivaldi, Kuhnau and Knüpfer with The King’s Consort, all for Hyperion, and Purcell’s Odes with Collegium Vocale Gent and Herreweghe for Harmonia Mundi. He also recorded Thomas Adès’ The Lover in Winter for EMI.

Robin’s recent engagements include Guido Flavio with the Academy of Ancient Music and Christopher Hogwood, Israel in Egypt with Concerto Köln at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and with the SCO at the Edinburgh International Festival conducted by Emmanuelle Haïm, and Bach’s St John Passion at the BBC Proms with The Monteverdi Choir and Sir John Eliot Gardiner.  Concerts this season and beyond include Handel’s Athalia with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Nicholas McGegan, Messiah with Bernard Labadie in Colorado and Vancouver, Bach’s St Matthew Passion with the Nederlandse Bachvereniging and Lars Ulrik Mortensen, Jephtha for The King’s Consort, a tour of Europe with Bach Collegium Japan and Masaaki Suzuki, Bach’s St Matthew Passion with Collegium Vocale Gent and Philippe Herreweghe and a recital with Sonnerie at the Lufthansa Baroque Festival. His disc of solo Bach Cantatas with Masaaki Suzuki was released at the beginning of 2007 on the BIS label.

Andrew Kennedy

Andrew Kennedy studied at King’s College, Cambridge and the Royal College of Music in London.  He was a member of the Young Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden where he performed many solo principal roles.  Andrew has won numerous prizes and awards including the 2005 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Rosenblatt Recital Prize.  He is a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award winner and won the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Young Artists’ Award in 2006.  He was also a member of BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists Scheme.

Major operatic roles include Tom Rakewell The Rake’s Progress (La Scala, La Monnaie (DVD with Kazushi Ono) and Opéra de Lyon and in concert with Noseda/Stresa Festival); Vere Billy Budd and Quint The Turn of the Screw (Houston Grand Opera); Tito La Clemenza di Tito (Opéra de Lyon, Oper Frankfurt); Tamino The Magic Flute (English National Opera and Opéra Toulon); Don Ottavio Don Giovanni and a staged Messiah (Opéra de Lyon); Belmonte Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Welsh National Opera); Almaviva The Barber of Seville (ENO and WNO); Fenton The Merry Wives of Windsor (ENO); Flute A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Royal Opera, Covent Garden); Jacquino Fidelio (Glyndebourne Festival and LSO/Sir Colin Davis); Ferrando Così fan tutte (Teatro Reggio Torino, Glyndebourne Touring Opera); Nemorino L’elisir d’amore (Opera North); Flamand Capriccio (Grange Park Opera); Baron Lummer Intermezzo and Belfiore La Finta Giardinera (Buxton Festival); Male Chorus The Rape of Lucretia and Oedipus Oedipus Rex for Den Norske Opera and Max in a French version of Der Freischütz for Opéra Comique, Paris under Sir John Eliot Gardiner and at the BBC Proms.

Concert engagements include Bach St. John Passion (AAM/Egarr, King’s College Choir/Cleobury, Polyphony/Layton); Bach St. Matthew Passion (Netherlands Philharmonic/Sir Colin Davis); Orfeo in Haydn Orfeo e Euridice (Boston Handel and Haydn Society/Sir Roger Norrington); Tobia Il Ritorna di Tobia (OAE/Norrington); Haydn Die Jahreszeiten (Bamberg Symphoniker/Norrington); Haydn Die Schöpfung  (BBC Philharmonic/Noseda, Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra/Sir John Eliot Gardiner, OAE/Sir Mark Elder and OAE/Fischer); Mozart Requiem (LPO/Jurowski CBSO/Nelsons); Orff Carmina Burana (LPO/Graf); Handel Il Trionfo (Gabrieli Consort/McCreesh); Beethoven Symphony No. 9 (Philharmonia/Esa Pekka Salonen, LPO/Gatti, BBCNOW/Thierry Fisher, Musikkollegium Winterthur/Boyd); Handel Messiah (Tonhalle and Tonkünstler orchestras, Zürich); Berlioz Grande Messe des Morts (LPO/Tortelier) Elgar Dream of Gerontius (Hallé) and Mozart Mass in C Minor (Hallé Orchestra/Elder).  Performances of Britten include Nocturne (BBC National Orchestra of Wales/Atherton and a studio recording for the BBC), Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings (St Louis Symphony Orchestra/Robertson, Helsinki Philharmonic/Sir Neville Marriner and live broadcasts with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Nash Ensemble/Edward Gardner), Les Illuminations (Edinburgh International Festival/Scottish Ensemble) and Spring Symphony (BBCNOW/Atherton).  Recent appearances at the BBC Proms include Finzi Intimations of Immortality (BBCSO/Daniel); Hymnus Paradisi (BBCSO/Brabbins); a live televised performance of Sullivan The Yeoman of the Guard (BBC Concert Orchestra/Jane Glover) and Elgar Spirit of England at the 2007 Last Night of the BBC Proms with Jiri Bêhlolávek.

Equally passionate about song repertoire, Andrew gives numerous recitals in Europe and the UK, is a frequent performer at the Wigmore Hall, London and appears regularly with the pianists Julius Drake, Iain Burnside, Malcolm Martineau and Eugene Asti.  Andrew’s fast growing discography includes six solo albums (Hyperion, Signum Classics, Landor Records, Altara and Naxos); three shared recital discs (Signum Classics and Delphian); numerous recordings for LSO live including Mozart Requiem and Francesco in Berlioz Benvenuto Cellini both with Sir Colin Davis and Novice Billy Budd with Daniel Harding;  Haydn The Seven Last Words of Christ (LPO/Jurowski);  Elgar The Spirit of England (BBCSO/David Lloyd Jones); Shepherd in Chausson Le Roi Arthus (BBCSO/Leon Botstein); Oebalus in Mozart Apollo & Hyacinthus and Christgeist in Mozart Die Schuldigkeit des Erstens Gebots (Classical Opera/Ian Page); John Tavener Requiem (Petrenko/RLPO for EMI); Stainer Crucifixion (Huddersfield Choral Society) and Delius Mass of Life (Bournemouth Symphony/David Hill).  2013/14 will see a further six recordings released including a disc of Vaughan Williams songs (RLPO/Paul Daniel), Bach St John Passion (AAM/Richard Egarr), Britten St Nicholas (King’s College Choir/Stephen Cleobury) and Quint The Turn of the Screw (LSO/Richard Farnes).

Future performances include, Britten War Requiem (BBC Symphony Orchestra/Bychkov, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de Espana), Vaughan Williams On Wenlock Edge (Nash Ensemble) Beethoven 9th Symphony at the BBC Proms (National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain / Vassily Petrenko),  Mozart Requiem with the Bergen Philharmonic and Masaaki Suzuki,  a world tour of Handel’s Theodora with the English Concert and Harry Bicket and Messiah in Perth,  Adelaide and Melbourne with Matthew Halls.

Promoters please note: if you wish to include this biography in a concert programme etc, please contact Hazard Chase to ensure that you receive the most up to date version.

 

Gerd Tuerk

Gerd Türk began his vocal training as a member of the “LIMBURGER DOMSINGKNABEN“.  (Boys Choir of the Limburg Cathedral in Germany)He went on to study Music Education, Church Music and Choral Direction at the Frankfurt Conservatory of Music, amongst others with Helmuth Rilling and Arleen Auger.

After a two-year lectureship at the Speyer Institute of Church Music, Gerd Türk devoted his attention entirely to singing. Studies of Baroque Singing and Interpretation at the renowned “SCHOLA CANTORUM BASILIENSIS“ (with René Jacobs and Richard Levitt) and Masterclasses with E.Haefliger, K.Equiluz, N. Shetler, amongst others, led to a career as sought-after soloist, touring in Europe, South-East Asia, Japan, North and South America, and Australia.

Gerd Türk has performed at the most prestigious concert halls, including the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Berlin Philharmonic, Palais Garnier Paris, Teatro Colón, Musikverein Wien, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center New York, under the baton of such conductors as Ph. Herreweghe, R. Jacobs, T. Koopman, J. Savall, M. Corboz, M. Suzuki, Fr. Brüggen  and others.

Mr. Türk has been member of various ensembles, amongst them “CANTUS COELLN“, Germany’s leading Vocal Group, and “GILLES BINCHOIS“ (France), renowned for it’s interpretation of Medieval Music.

Gerd Türk has also been active on the Opera stage, having been invited to perform in, amongst others, Montpellier, Innsbruck, Barcelona, Antwerp and Madrid.

With Sony, Erato, BIS, BMG, Virgin and harmonia mundi France labels, Gerd Türk has recorded more than 100 CDs, including all Bach Oratorios, Monteverdi’s Vespers, Mozart’s Requiem and Lieder by Carl Orff, which have received numerous awards. (Edison, Gramophone Award, Cannes Award, Grand Prix du Disque, Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik)  He is regularly involved in the complete recordings of Bach‘s Vocal Music with the “BACH COLLEGIUM JAPAN“, which have been highly acclaimed by the international press and the public.

Gerd Türk is currently holding a professorship at the “SCHOLA CANTORUM BASILIENSIS“ in Basel/Switzerland and gives master classes in numerous countries, most notably Japan  (Tokyo National University of Music and Fine Arts), Germany, Spain and South Korea

 

Hiroya Aoki

The Japanese countertenor Hiroya Aoki was born in Tokyo in 1976, and received his master’s degree in early music from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, and master’s degree in sacred music from the Elisabeth University of Music Hiroshima.  During his undergraduate days, he began to visit Europe regularly to deepen his musical experiences.  He studied vocal music with Hitoshi Suzuki, Sadao Udagawa, Max van Egmond, Yukari Nonoshita, Peter Kooij, Gerd Türk and Robin Blaze.  He is a member of the Bach Collegium Japan, the Vocal Ensemble CAPPELLA, the Ensemble CORURI and the Philharmonie Kammer Ensemble, currently.

As a religious music expert Hiroya Aoki specialize in oratorios and cantatas such as J. S. Bach’s both St. Matthew and St. John Passion, several cantatas,   G. F. Handel’s Messiah, Deborah and Theodora.  He appeared as a soloist of Messiah in Dublin (Ireland) and Mass in B-minor, Christmas Oratorio and Messiah at St. Nikolaikirche in Leipzig (Germany). He is currently widening his activity steadily abroad.

In 2007, Hiroya Aoki was invited to the commemorative concert in Dublin for the 50th Anniversary of the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between Japan and Ireland and sang the alto solo of Messiah (conducted by P. O Duinn) at which he won a great popularity.  As a member of the Bach Collegium Japan (BCJ), he engaged concerts and sound recordings in various countries both home and abroad.  In 2009, he performed Bach’s St. John Passion and several church cantatas at music festival ‘La Folle Journee au Japon’ as a soloist of the BCJ and also Bach’s St. Matthew Passion in the BCJ’s Germany tour.

Hiroya Aoki has participated actively as a chorus master in recent years. He is enjoying a good reputation as seen in a review: ‘His watertight rendering, elegant scenic depiction and superb handling of both the vocal and instrumental forces are derived from his high adaptability and experienced judgment earned through his past’.

Roderick Williams

Roderick Williams encompasses a wide repertoire, from baroque to contemporary music, in the opera house, on the concert platform and in recital.

He has enjoyed close relationships with Opera North and Scottish Opera, and is particularly associated with the baritone roles of Mozart. In autumn 2007 he gave highly acclaimed performances of Papageno/The Magic Flute for English National Opera which he successfully reprised in 2009 and in 2008 sang in La bohème at Covent Garden. He has also sung world premieres of operas by, among others, David Sawer, Sally Beamish, Michael van der Aa and Alexander Knaifel.

He has worked with orchestras throughout Europe, including all the BBC orchestras in the UK, and his many festival appearances include the BBC Proms, Edinburgh, Cheltenham and Aldeburgh.

Recent and future engagements include Count/Le nozze di Figaro for Scottish Opera, Ned Keene/Peter Grimes for ROH, Goryanchikov/From the House of the Dead for Opera North and Pollux in Rameau’s Castor and Pollux for English National Opera, as well as concerts with Le Concert Spirituel, Manchester Camerata, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Hallé, the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Rias Kammerchor, Avanti Chamber Orchestra, Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, Bach Collegium Japan, City of London Sinfonia, Britten Sinfonia,  London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Britten War Requiem with the Maggio Musicale and Semyon Bychkov in Florence. He is also an accomplished recital artist who can be heard at venues and festivals including the Wigmore Hall, the Perth Concert Hall, Howard Assembly Room, the Musikverein, Vienna and on Radio 3, where he has participated on Iain Burnside’s Voices programme.

He has an extensive discography and his recordings of English song with Iain Burnside have received particular acclaim.  He is also a composer and has had works premiered at the Wigmore and Barbican Halls, the Purcell Room and live on national radio.