Author: Joseph Wicks

During her time in Cambridge she was a member of Trinity College Choir with whom she did many recordings and tours, including a recording for Hyperion and video release of Duruflé’s Requiem in Saint Eustache, Paris, for which she performed the Pie Jesu. 

Katherine was awarded first prize in the prestigious Clare College Song Competition during her final year in Cambridge, having been awarded second prize in the same competition two years earlier. She has sung roles in many Cambridge opera productions including Countess in Mozart’s Le Nozze Di Figaro (Trinity College Music Society), Rosalinde in Strauss’ Die Fledermaus (Cambridge University Opera Society), The Queen of the Night in Mozart’s The Magic Flute (CUOS) and Juno in Handel’s Semele (CUOS). 

Katherine was also on the Pembroke Lieder Scheme 2022-2023 where she received regular sessions with acclaimed piano accompanist Joseph Middleton. She has participated in masterclasses with Sir Thomas Allen and Ailish Tynan as part of the scheme. 

Katherine’s recent engagements include Durufle’s Requiem (The Bach Choir and David Hill), Brahms’ Requiem (Trinity College Choir with Stephen Layton and Three Spires Singers with Christopher Gray), Handel’s Messiah (Truro Choral Society), Mendelssohn’s Hear My Prayer (Three Spires Singers with Christopher Gray), Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Mozart’s Requiem (The Knightsbridge Festival Choir with Nicholas Danks). 

Katherine currently studies with Ann De Renais, previously studying with Margaret Kingsley.

Here she is with duo partner Madeleine Brown:

Grab your tickets for the concert here.

Cumbrian born Jess Dandy is the foremost British contralto of her generation and has been praised for her instrument of velvety plangent timbre, and her artistic remarkable immediacy.

This 2022/23 season highlights have included performances of the Messiah with the Welsh National Opera and Academy of Ancient Music, Bach’s Weinachtsoratorium with Salzburg Kulturvereinigung, Bach’s St Matthew Passion with Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Dunedin Consort and premiered a new opera All Seas by Josephine Stephenson at Opéra Grand Avignon. Other performance highlights yet to come this season will include Handel’s Samson at the BBC Proms with The Academy of Ancient Music, C.P.E Bach’s Heilig with the Dunedin Consort at the BBC Proms, Elgar’s Music Makers with the English Symphony Orchestra and a new commission with the BBC Philharmonic.

Jess has appeared on the concert platform with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, The English Concert, The Academy of Ancient Music, Orchestre révolutionnaire et romantique, Minnesota Symphony Orchestra, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra & Chorus of Wales, BBC Welsh National Opera, BBC Symphony Orchestra, The Dunedin Consort, Les Arts Florissant, Opera Settecento, Hallé Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic; collaborating with conductors including Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Harry Bicket, Laurence Cummings, Osmo Vänskä, Trevor Pinnock, Gemma New, John Butt William Christie, Kristian Bezuidenhout and Stephen Layton.

In 2021, Jess was shortlisted for a Royal Philharmonic Society Award in the category of Young Artist. She is a multi-faceted artist with a keen interest in ecology, body psychology and spirituality. She is the co-founder of SongPath, a mental health initiative creating musical walking trails in nature for better mental health. With composer Alex Mills, she developed the Music & Being Collective, an open laboratory space exploring music and our sense of self through interdisciplinary dialogue.

We’re pleased to reveal a video from our concert in London last November. The Gloria from the Mass for Double Choir by Frank Martin is a real jewel in the repertoire, and we had such a good time performing it in St James’ Sussex Gardens. We love performing this work as part of our O Magnum Mysterium programme. If you would like to book the group to sing a concert at Christmas, do get in touch.

If you haven’t already, please subscribe to our YouTube channel and turn on notifications – that way, you won’t miss an upload!

The dates for your diary are 31 August–3 September 2023. Mass on the Sunday morning will be the climax, featuring the setting of the Mass in G by Poulenc.

We have set up a dedicated page on our website which shows you all the events, dates and ticket links.

If you would like to support this year’s festival, then you can join our Friends’ Scheme. We are also delighted to hear from you with any further queries – contact us here.

We had an amazing time last weekend performing our brand new O Magnum Mysterium programme. Thank you to those who braved the weather and the Football World Cup temptations (!) to come and hear us.

We look forward to more exciting adventures in the New Year! You can find out more in the What’s On section of our website.

We are delighted to have received a grant from Hymns Ancient & Modern to support our upcoming concert in London on 29th November!

Thank you so much to them for accepting our application and we are delighted to direct you to their website at www.hymnsam.co.uk where you can find out more about the Charity.

We are extremely excited to be welcoming Helen Charlston to the Boxgrove Choral Festival!

Tickets for her concert are available here.

It’s on Saturday 4th September at 2.30pm, and it will be the first time that Isolation Songbook has been performed to an in-person audience.

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Acclaimed for her musical interpretation and “warmly distinctive tone” (The Telegraph), Helen Charlston won first prize in the 2018 London Handel Singing Competition and was a finalist in the 2019 Grange Festival International Singing Competition. She was a founder participant of the Rising Star of the Enlightenment programme, working alongside the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment; and is a member of Les Arts Florissants Young Artist Programme (Jardin des Voix) for 2021/22. Helen is a 2018 City Music Foundation Artist and a BBC New Generation Artist.

Recent concert highlights include Handel Messiah: Reimagined (London Handel Orchestra/Laurence Cummings); Bach Matthew Passion (Gabrieli Consort and Players/Paul McCreesh); Dussek Mass in C (Academy of Ancient Music/Richard Egarr); Bach B Minor Mass (Slovenia Philharmonic Orchestra/Stephen Layton). Solo recital performances have taken Helen to Wigmore Hall, Barbican Sound Unbound Festival, Oxford Lieder Festival, York Early Music Festival, Händel-festspiele Halle, Korčula Baroque Festival, and Leicester International Music Festival.

The hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic saw Helen’s music making return closer to home. Her Isolation Songbook, a collection of songs by 15 different composers, was commissioned during the first UK lockdown. Recorded by Delphian Records, the set was released on CD in early 2021.

Helen began singing as chorister and head chorister of the St Albans Abbey Girls Choir. She then studied music at Trinity College, Cambridge where she held a choral scholarship for four years and was a scholar on the Pembroke College Lieder Scheme, led by pianist Joseph Middleton.