Develop your love of singing with
SINGING SALON
Singing Salon is for classically trained, operatic soloists who, whilst having their own teachers, wish to develop their musical, dramatic and performance skills under the tutelage of mezzo-soprano, Pippa Dames-Longworth and her colleagues. For able and experienced amateur singers and would be professional singers, this is an opportunity to be cast in ensembles, often operatic, but also from the worlds of song and oratorio, that both suit the individual singer and give them the chance to sing some of the greatest ensembles in the repertoire. We work diligently and with care but also have great fun. The nine Singing Salon Saturdays also lead to a performance or two throughout the year. Pippa intends that Singing Salon works in a generous and supportive atmosphere, in which each singer is equally valued.
DIRECTOR
Pippa Dames-Longworth - is an experienced and versatile opera and concert singer. She has worked with The Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Paris Opera, Teatro Real Madrid, Glyndebourne, Maggio Musicale, Florence; Frankfurt, Aldeburgh and Edinburgh Festivals and sung on the South Bank, Royal Albert Hall, Kings Hall, Vredenburg, Utrecht and with the Hallé Orchestra, RPO, BBC Symphony Orchestra and Phlharmonia. She has given masterclasses in Spain, France, Africa, Moscow, the Caribbean, Wales and in the UK. www.pippadameslongworth.com
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COACHES/TUTORS
Ian Rutherford - has directed critically acclaimed revivals of The Barber of Seville, Falstaff, Madam Butterfly, The Magic Flute and La Boheme for ENO. He has directed a new production for the Festival les Azuriales in Cap Ferrat of Cimarosa’s Il Matrimonio Segretto and directed revivals of Ariodante at Houston Grand Opera, Vlaamse Opera; Lucia di Lammermoor at Canadian Opera, Opera Gothenburg, and Washington National Opera; Peter Grimes at Deutsche Oper Berlin and Otello at Kungliga Operan Stockholm. For Glyndebourne, he has directed revivals of Michael Grandage’s award-winning Billy Budd and Le Nozze di Figaro. Future engagements include Le Nozze di Figaro at Houston Grand Opera and Glyndebourne and Lucia di Lammermoor at Theater Bonn.
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Richard Wigmore - read modern languages at Cambridge, studied music at the Guildhall School of Music and in Salzburg. After a career as a professional singer he now works as a writer, broadcaster and lecturer specialising in Romantic and Classical chamber music and in Lieder. Richard writes for Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine, gives regular pre-concert talks and has taught classes in the history and interpretation of Lieder at Birkbeck College, Royal Academy of Music and Guildhall. He appears frequently on Radio 3’s Record Review, runs his own music study events (www.wigmoresworld.co.uk) and lectures regularly in Salzburg and Vienna. Richard’s publications include Schubert: the complete song texts and the Faber Pocket Guide to Haydn.
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Adrian Thompson - has appeared at Glyndebourne, English National Opera, Scottish Opera, Badishes Staatstheater Karlsruhe, Staatstheater Stuttgart, New Israeli Opera, Netherlands Opera. He is particularly in demand for his interpretations of all the major works of Benjamin Britten, Verdi’s Requiem, Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius and the Evangelists of Bach’s St John and St Matthew Passions. An experienced recitalist, he regularly appears at London’s Wigmore Hall. A frequent visitor to The Aldeburgh Festival, he has given recitals in the South Bank, Geneva, Stuttgart and Amsterdam.
Brian Parsons - is a highly experienced singer and teacher. As a singer, his career involved many operatic roles, a great deal of contemporary music as well as being an experienced singer of Bach. He was made a Professeur de Chant at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et Danse in Lyon - a post he has held in conjunction with his appointment to the Guildhall School Vocal Studies Department since 1998. He is currently a member of Les Solistes de Lyon directed by Bernard Têtu.
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William Pool - studied at The RNCM and at the National Opera Studio. His professional debut was with Glyndebourne Opera, playing Jacquino in Fidelio and he continued to work with the ROH, La Scala, Lincoln Centre New York and South Bank in London. He has performed extensively as an actor and singer in West End Musicals and Repertory Theatre nationwide. Credits include Jesus Christ Superstar [Jesus], A Man For All Seasons [King Henry], Chess [original West End cast], Bernadette (Henrie in original West End cast), Pirates of Penzance [Frederic], Piaf and Les Miserables [Royal Variety Show].
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Clare Whistler - is an artist, performer, curator and writer with her roots in dance and choreography. She worked as a dancer and choreographer in Toronto, New York, and San Francisco, with her own company DanceArtCompany and for the past 15 years in opera, as a director and movement director, mostly at Glyndebourne Opera House, including working on iconic productions by Peter Sellers and Bill Viola, as well as directing numerous education and community projects. She has won two Royal Philharmonic Society Awards. www.clarewhistler.co.uk
Ptolemy Christie - has directed numerous productions for Grange Park Opera, for Nevill Holt Opera and for Pimlico Opera (including Barber of Seville, Cosi fan Tutte). He also worked on many productions with the great opera director, John Cox.
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John Hancorn – started his career as a Baritone and enjoyed great success winning many major prizes, as well as singing for ROH, Glyndebourne and Scottish Opera. He was also in demand as an oratorio and concert singer. He now conducts a number of choirs and consorts, such as ‘The Baroque Collective’ and ‘East Sussex Bach Choir’ as well as repertoire such as the Verdi Requiem. www.johnhancorn.com
ACCOMPANISTS
Lesley-Anne Sammons - is a very experienced repetiteur having worked for Scottish Opera, ENO, Glyndebourne, Netherlands Opera and Opera North. She has conducted Madam Butterfly and The Barber of Seville for Opera Holland Park and conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. She studied at Guildhall and the National Opera Studio and currently works with the Jette Parker Artists Programme at ROH, the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music. www.thevocalcoach.com
Nicholas Bosworth - is very much in demand as an accompanist and repetiteur. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music and the National Opera Studio and has worked for ENO, Wexford, Scottish Opera, Glyndebourne, Opera North, Grange Park and Garsington. Amongst many performances for TV and Radio, he has played for Masterclasses with Kiri te Kanawa, Brigitte Fassbaender and Thomas Hampson.
Fran Hills - studied at Guildhall School of Music and The National Opera Studio. Now a freelance repetiteur she has worked for many companies including Garsington Opera, Opera Holland Park, Opera North, English National Opera, Welsh National Opera, English Touring Opera and the Bregenz Festival. She coaches at the Royal College of Music and has played for West Side Story and Guys and Dolls in Wandsworth prison with Pimlico opera and worked on the plays Quartet and Callas in the West End.
Howard Beach - is a harpsichord player and previously a member of the baroque group ‘Red Priest’. He has performed and recorded extensively on both harpsichord and piano as a continuo player and concerto soloist. He has performed with artists such as Les Arts Florissants, the Apollo Chamber Orchestra and the London Mozart Players at concert halls throughout Europe, Canada, and the Far East, as well as many UK venues. He records frequently on radio.
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Jennifer Carter – won the Queen Mary II Accompanists prize at the Guildhall, and has now been made an accompanist for Junior and Senior Guildhall, the Royal College of Music and the Junior Department of the Royal Academy of Music. She was awarded scholarships for her postgraduate study from the Stationers’ Company, and the Lawrence Atwell Trust.
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Natalie Murray - studied music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Guildhall School of Music and and National Opera Studio. She has been Assistant Conductor for the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Festival d’Aix, Wiener Festwochen and Den Nye Opera, with the Philharmonia, Bergen Philharmonic, B’Rock Orchestra, Le Cercle de l’Harmonie and the Freiburger Barockorchester, and, mentored by Esa-Pekka Salonen, she has just made her debut with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic.
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Nicola Rose – Nicki studied at the Welsh College of Music and is now one of the vocal coaches at the The Royal Welsh College of Music. She worked with Welsh National Opera for many years and was a trainee repetiteur at the National Opera Studio. She now works with Music Theatre Wales.
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Alice Turner - is a song accompanist, vocal coach and repetiteur, specialising in art song and German, Italian and French language training. She lives in London, where she has worked on the music staff of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama since 2007.
INSTRUMENTALISTS
Julia Bishop - Violin - has toured the world with most of the UK’s leading period instrument orchestras, including The Age of Enlightenment Orchestra. She was a member of the English Concert for six years and was the violin player in the well respected baroque ensemble, ‘Red Priest’ for many years.
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Lucy Wilding - Cello - studied with Amaryllis Fleming, Pierre Fournier and Ralph Kirshbaum, Lucy has had a varied career as a cellist, these days dividing her time between living in London, working primarily as cellist in the Bridge Quartet, and in southern Spain where recent collaborations have included chamber concerts with Michael Thomas 2019. The Bridge Quartet has recently released a CD of Ivor Gurney's music featuring Michael Dussek, piano and the baritone Roderick Williams..
