Soloists

Soprano

Emily Mitchell

Scottish soprano, Emily Mitchell began her formal classical training at the RSAMD
(now Royal Conservatoire of Scotland), where she gained a Bachelor in Music and a
Masters in Music under the tutelage of Margaret Aronson. During her time at the
Conservatoire, she represented the RSAMD in the Junior Kathleen Ferrier and has
worked in Masterclasses with Malcolm Martineau, Lisa Milne, Patricia MacMahon,
Richard Stokes, David Gowland and Professor John Butt. She is now continuing her
vocal study with soprano Jane Irwin.
Emily has given many performances across Europe; the Messiah in Berlin and
Potsdam and recitals at the Transeuropeanes Festival, Rouen. She recently gave a
recital in Heilbronn, Wuerttemberg and performed Bminor Mass with the Dunedin
Consort at the Torroella de Montgri Festival, Spain.
She appeared with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in a concert performance of
Poulenc’s Les Carmalites in the Edinburgh International Festival and returned the
following year to perform Kurt Weil’s The Rise and Fall of Mahagony conducted by
H.K.Gruber. She has recently performed with RSNO and Stèphane Denève once
again, in a performance of Linberg’s Graffiti.
Emily has been heard on the radio, broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland inMendelssohn
Rediscovered, and BBC Radio 3 several times including the BBC Proms. Her most
recent appearance on BBC Radio 3 was with the BBC SSO and the London
Symphony Chorus singing in the Scottish premiere of MacMillan’s St JohnPassion.
Emily made her BBC Proms debut in August 2010 at the Royal Albert Hall with the
BBC SSO, conducted by Donald Runnicles in Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music.
Emily has just completed a tour of Scotland as the soloist in a production for babies,
The Present from director Katherine Morley and renowned children’s composer Paul
Rissmann. It is due to tour again later this year.
As a regular performer with the Dunedin Consort, Emily has performed in Bach’s
Bmino Mass and Magnificat, Handel’s Messiah and Dixit Dominus and has recorded
Handel’s Esther with Linn Records, due to be released this spring.
Her solo oratorio engagements include Mozart’s Coronation Mass, Haydn’sCreation,
Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Faure’s Requiem, Brahms Requiem, Rutter
Requiem, Howard Goodall’s EternaLight, Mozart’s Exultate Jubilate, Handel’s
Dixit Dominus and Messiah, Howell Hymnus Paradisi, Rutter Magnificat, BachMagnificat, and Rossini’s Petit Mess Solennelle.

Mezzo

Lynda - Jane Workman

Paul Young

Paul began singing in the choir of Hythe parish church in Kent, where he became Head Chorister. This experience inspired him to pursue music at Exeter University, where he was a choral scholar at the cathedral. He ran several music groups including the Exeter Early Music Group, through which he developed his interest in Medieval music. On leaving Exeter he took up employment as a member of the Music staff of the Benedictine school Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire. He also sang frequently in the choir of York Minster. As with the Exeter choir this involved tours and recordings. In 1993 he moved back to Kent to become Director of Music at the Junior King’s School, Canterbury. He also became a Lay Clerk at the cathedral. Here he took part in BBC recordings, tours to the USA and around Europe. With his family he spent a year living in Andalucia in Spain, enjoying the relaxed way of life, climate and culture, before returning to England this year to take a new post of Director of Music at Dover College in Kent.

Throughout his career he has sung professionally as a soloist, mainly in oratorio roles, specialising in repertoire of the Baroque. However, his performances have ranged from music from the early church to 20^th century works such as Britten’s “St Nicholas” and Orff’s “Carmina Burana”. For the last three years he has sung roles for Canterbury Cathedral Garden Opera - Don Basilio and Don Curzio in Mozart’s “Marriage of Figaro”, Ferrando in “Cosi Fan Tutte” and Tamino in “The Magic Flute”. Recent performances have included Mendelssohn’s “Elijah”, Schubert’s “Winterreise” and Ridout’s “The Pardoner’s Tale” for Stour Music.

Bass

Bartholomew Lawrence

Bartholomew began his musical career at an early age when he became a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral at the age of 9. Aged 16 Bart became a member of the National Youth Choir of Great Britain and their chamber choir Laudibus.  In 2005 he moved to Scotland to start his BMus Vocal Studies course at the RSAMD under the tutelage of George Gordon.  Bart understudied the role of Prince Gremin in the RSAMD production of Eugene Onegin by Tchaikovsky and was in the semi-chorus of Ridicules in Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges, both of which were joint production with RSAMD and Scottish Opera. Bartholomew graduated from the RSAMD in 2009 going onto study a Master of Arts at the Royal Academy of Music in London studying with Glenville Hagreaves. While in London he played the role of Somnus in the Hampstead Garden Opera’s production of Handel’s Semele. Bartholomew graduated with an MA from the Royal Academy of Music in 2011 and is currently studying for a Master of Music in Opera at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.  This summer he will be working for Glyndebourne Festival Opera.

Piano

Matthew Shipton

Matthew Shipton (Piano) was awarded the Parnell accompaniment prize in 2005, gained a Masters degree in piano performance in 2008, and performs extensively as a chamber musician and repetiteur. A regular performer in the Canterbury Festival, recent performances have included collaborations with the Maggini strings in Beethoven’s Archduke Trio, the Sacconi quartet in Schumann’s piano quintet, and Rachmaninov’s 2nd piano concerto and Mozart’s D minor concerto with the Old Carthusian Orchestra. Matthew is currently engaged in teaching and research at Canterbury Christ Church University

Harmonium

David Newsholme

David is currently Assistant Organist at Canterbury Cathedral and Organist of the King’s School, Canterbury.  He is also Musical Director of the Canterbury Singers.

David’s earliest musical experiences were with the choir of Worcester Cathedral, where he was a chorister and later an Assistant Bass Lay Clerk.  After spending a gap year as Organ Scholar at Salisbury Cathedral, David went up to Oxford to read music at New College, where he held both an Academic Scholarship and the Organ Scholarship.  Upon leaving university, David spent two years as Organist at Bury Parish Church in Lancashire.  During this time, he gained a Postgraduate Certificate in Secondary Education and began work on a Ph.D thesis at York University, researching cathedral music of the Restoration period.  He was subsequently appointed Assistant Organist at Winchester College, a position that he held until moving to Canterbury in 2011.

David learnt the organ with David Sanger and continues his studies with Gillian Weir, while also taking harpsichord lessons from David Ledbetter.  He has received tuition on the Harmonium from Anne Page.  In 2009, David was awarded the W.T. Best Scholarship by the Worshipful Company of Musicians which provides substantial financial support for his continuing keyboard studies.

Harmonium - Wikipedia