HELEN CHARLSTON
mezzo soprano

Masterclass: 22 September 2023 | Songs of a Wayfarer: 23 September 2023

Helen Charlston is a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist (2021-23), and finalist of the 2021 Kathleen Ferrier Awards for which she was a recipient of the Ferrier Loveday Song Prize. Described as “surely one of the most exciting voices in the new generation of British singers” (Alexandra Coghlan, Gramophone 2022), Helen was a ‘Rising Star’ of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment 2017-2019, and was selected for Le Jardin des Voix academy with Les Arts Florissants in 2021.

In 2022/23, Helen sings the title role in Dido & Aeneas with William Christie in Versailles, and  Sorceress/Spirit in the same piece at The Grange Festival, Handel’s Israel in Egypt with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the role of Irene Theodora with the Philharmonia Baroque in San Francisco, both with Richard Egarr, Handel’s Messiah with the Orchestra of The Age of Enlightenment in Copenhagen, and Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus with the RIAS Kammerchor at the Berlin Philharmonie with Justin Doyle. 

Recent highlights include Helen’s debut at the BBC Proms in Dido and Aeneas with La Nuova Musica, and with the LPO under Adam Fischer (Mozart’s Requiem), Irene Theodora with the Philharmonia Baroque in San Francisco, a European tour of Handel’s Partenope under William Christie and Les Arts Florissants, Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, and solo recitals at Wigmore Hall, Leeds Lieder, Cheltenham Festival, York Early Music Festival, and London Handel Festival.

In 2022, Delphian Records released her second album, Battle Cry: She Speaks with Toby Carr, which received high praise from British press including Editor’s choice in Gramophone.

SAM HIRD
baritone

Shipston Song Rising Star 2023

Sam Hird is studying at the Royal College of Music in London for a Master of Performance under the tutelage of baritone Peter Savidge. He is a Richard Silver Scholar and is supported by the Josephine Baker Trust. Recent engagements include baritone solo in Jonathan Willcocks' In Praise of Singing at the Petersfield Musical Festival, baritone solo in Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony conducted by Jonathan Willcocks, London Song Festival masterclass with Sir Thomas Allen, and a Winter’s Night Recital of songs by Schubert, Britten and Fauré for baritone and guitar at All Saint's Church, York. In March this year Sam was baritone soloist in a special concert at the Royal College of Music to celebrate the life of composer Joseph Horovitz, and played the L’Ambasciatore in the RCM production of Respighi’s opera La Bella Dormente nel Bosco. He also performed the role of Jesus in Bach's St John Passion with Milton Keynes Chorale. Previous engagements include baritone solo in Handel’s Messiah with the Orchestra of St John’s at Dorchester Abbey conducted by John Lubbock, bass chorus in Leoncavallo's Zingari with Opera Rara and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Cadogan Hall under Carlo Rizzi, Songs by George Butterworth at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and Maquerelle in John Marston’s The Malcontent in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at Shakespeare’s Globe in London.

DAFYDD JONES
tenor

Shipston Song Rising Star 2023

Welsh tenor, Dafydd Jones, has just made his international debut as Clotarco in Haydn’s Armida for the Bregenzer Festspiele. Busy making a name for himself on the operatic stage, he also made his role and festival debut as Pastore in John Caird’s production of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo for Garsington Opera as an Alvarez Young Artist.

Other operatic roles include Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni (OPRA Cymru), Title role in Orpheus in the Underworld (Royal College of Music International Opera Studio) and Joe in La Fanciulla del West (Verbier Festival) – Cancelled due to COVID-19. 

Recently, Dafydd was a finalist in the Royal Over-seas Singer Section with pianist Emily Hoh. Other recent success saw him win the Brooks-Van der Pump English Song Competition and was runner up in the Joan Chissell Schumann Competition at the Royal College of Music. At the College, Dafydd has also won the Ted Moss and Berther Taylor-Sach award for First Prize in the Lieder Competition and was Runner Up and recipient of the Cuthbert-Smith prize in the College’s Lies Askonas Competition. 

In the summer of 2021, Dafydd won the Prix Thierry Mermod at the Verbier Festival as a member of the Academy Atelier Lyrique. He has also gained many accolades in Welsh competitions, to include winning the prestigious Osborne Roberts Memorial Prize – The Blue Riband at the National Eisteddfod of Wales in 2019.

LAURENCE KILSBY
tenor

Boyhood’s End: 22 September 2023

Currently a member of the studio at the Opéra national de Paris, Laurence studied as an ABRSM Vocal Scholar at the Royal College of Music in London, and at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. An inaugural Lies Askonas Fellow, he was the winner of the 2018 Kathleen Ferrier Society Bursary for Young Singers. He is the winner of the 2022 Wigmore Hall/Bollinger International Song Competition, the 2022 Cesti Competition at the Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik and joint winner of the 2023 Das Lied Competition at the Heidelberger Frühling Festival.

His upcoming engagements include a return to the Salzburg and Aix-en-Provence Festivals and debuts for the Opera Comique, Oper Koln and the BBC Proms.

His recent engagements have included Lucano / Soldato I / Famigliare II in L’incoronazione di Poppea in his debut for the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence; Apollo/Pastore/Spirito in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo for the Nederlandse Reisopera and Henrik Egerman in Sondheim’s A Little Night Music for Opera North. Recent concert engagements have included Mozart’s Mass in C and Schubert’s Hymnus an den heiligen Geist at the Salzburg Festival with Ensemble Pygmalion/Raphaël Pichon; Bach’s Johannes Passion on tour with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/Mark Padmore.

Laurence began his formal training as a chorister with the Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum, and won the title of BBC Radio 2 Young Chorister of the Year in 2009, subsequently making his solo debut at the Royal Albert Hall. He appears as treble soloist on a number of recordings, including the Grammy nominated album, Handel’s L’Allegro, Penseroso ed il Moderato with the Gabrieli Consort and Paul McCreesh. He has appeared in masterclasses with Dame Sarah Connolly, Roderick Williams, Kathryn Harries and James Gilchrist and has given recitals at the Akademie der Künste, Berlin and Cheltenham Festival.

FRANCESCA LAURI
piano

Shipston Song Rising Star 2023

Francesca Lauri recently graduated from the Trinity Laban Conservatoire for Music and Dance, where she studied with Sergio De Simone, with a First-Class Honours degree receiving the TCL Silver Medal for piano studies and winning the David Gosling Prize for Piano Accompaniment. During her time there, she won the duo prize in the Lilian Ashe French Song Competition and the English Song Prize two years in a row. She is currently studying Collaborative Piano with Simon Lepper, Kathron Sturrock and Roger Vignoles at the Royal College of Music and is the recipient of the Ian Evans Lombe Scholarship. Francesca has performed in venues such as Wigmore Hall, Milton Court, the Fazioli Concert Hall, LSO St. Luke’s and Teatru Manoel in Malta. She is a 2023 Leeds Lieder Young Artist and has recently won the RCM Lieder Competition piano prize and is also the winner of the 2022 Somerset Song Piano Prize and the AESS Dorothy Richardson English Song Piano Prize, as well as a finalist in the 2023 ROSL awards. In recent years, Francesca has participated in masterclasses with Veronique Gens, Dame Sarah Connolly, Kate Royal, Nikky Spence and Stephan Loges. 

As well as performing song repertoire, Francesca has repetiteured for various opera companies such as for HCO’s production of ‘Don Pasquale’ last Easter and SPO’s production of ‘Albert Herring’ last summer. She was also assistant conductor for Gothic Opera on their double bill of operas by female composers; ‘Le Loup Garou’ by Louise Bertin and ‘Le Dernier Sorcier’ by Pauline Viardot in October. Francesca recently repetiteured for the RCM Opera Scenes and her projects for 2023 include repetiteuring for Hurn Court’s production of Puccini’s ‘La Boheme’ and the Opera Maker’s concert of ‘Der Wald’ by Ethel Smyth.

HENNA MUN
soprano

Shipston Song Rising Star 2023

Born in Japan and raised in Canada, Henna Mun is a South Korean soprano based in the United Kingdom. She is a recent master’s graduate of the Royal College of Music, London, with a full scholarship.  

Henna has played Eurydice in Orpheus in the Underworld, La Principessa in La bella dormente nel bosco, Jenny Lind in Barnum’s Bird, Adina in L’elisir d’amore (Opera Scenes) and covered the roles of Papagena (Die Zauberflöte) and the Dew Fairy (Hänsel und Gretel). She was scheduled to play the Sandman (Verbier Festival) in Hänsel und Gretel and Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro (Verbier/IbizaClásico) last year.  

Additionally, Henna has been the soprano soloist for Ein Deutsches Requiem, Gloria, Messiah, Mass in C Minor, and Dixit Dominus.   

This year, she was a Basil Coleman Opera Award Holder supported by the Midori Nishiura Scholarship, as well as the Josephine Baker Trust and the Drake Calleja Trust. Henna is delighted to be joining the RCM International Opera Studio starting this September. 

RODERICK WILLIAMS
baritone

Masterclass: 23 September 2023 | The Elements: 24 September 2023

Roderick Williams is one of the most sought after baritones of his generation.  He performs a wide repertoire from baroque to contemporary music, in the opera house, on the concert platform and is in demand as a recitalist worldwide.

He enjoys relationships with all the major UK opera houses and has sung opera world premieres by David Sawer, Sally Beamish, Michael van der Aa, Robert Saxton and Alexander Knaifel.   Recent and future engagements include the title role in Eugene Onegin for Garsington, the title role in Billy Budd with Opera North, Papageno for Covent Garden, and productions with Cologne Opera, English National Opera and Netherlands Opera.

Roderick sings regularly with all the BBC orchestras and all the major UK orchestras, as well as the Berlin, London and New York Philharmonic Orchestras, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris,  Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Cincinnati Symphony, London Symphony and Bach Collegium Japan amongst others.   His many festival appearances include the BBC Proms (including the Last Night in 2014), Edinburgh, Cheltenham, Bath, Aldeburgh and Melbourne Festivals.

Roderick Williams has an extensive discography.  He is a composer and has had works premiered at the Wigmore and Barbican Halls, the Purcell Room and live on national radio. In December 2016 he won the prize for best choral composition at the British Composer Awards. From 2022/23 season he takes the position of Composer in Association of the BBC Singers

He recently completed a three year odyssey of the Schubert song cycles culminating in performances at the Wigmore Hall and has subsequently recorded them for Chandos. Future releases include more Schubert, Schumann in English as well as works by Vaughan Williams.

He was Artistic Director of Leeds Lieder in April 2016, is Artist in Residence for the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra from 2020/21 for two seasons and won the RPS Singer of the Year award in May 2016.  He was awarded an OBE in June 2017 and will sing at the Coronation Service of King Charles III in May 2023 as well as composing a choral work for the event.