Philippa Hyde - Soprano

Philippa Hyde commenced her singing studies with Ann Lampard and continued under the tuition of David Johnston and Yvonne Minton CBE at the Royal Academy of Music. She graduated with the coveted Dip RAM in 1993. In 2001 she was awarded the ARAM, an honour granted to past students of the Academy who have achieved distinction in their profession.

Philippa is an experienced recording artist. In 1995 she became a regular soloist for Hyperion, for whom she created the role of Semira in the first performance for nearly 200 years of Arne’s Artaxerxes, which was also broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.

Her busy and varied concert, operatic and oratorio career has taken her all over Europe and to many of its major concert venues and festivals, such as The Usher Hall, Edinburgh, The Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool (with Sir ), The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, Symphony Hall Birmingham (Richard Hickox), Southbank Centre, Wigmore Hall London and the Palau de la Musica, Barcelona (Robert King, Sir Roger Norrington). She has performed with many of the leading period orchestras and ensembles and is also a member of the group The Musicke Companye, which performs choreographed programmes using period instruments. More information can be found at www.themusickecompanye.com.

Recent engagements include a tour of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas to Libya and China with the and a performance of Handel’s Messiah in Valetta with the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra. In November 2010 she made a recording of music by Christopher Gibbons with the Academy of Ancient Music, for Harmonia Mundi. Philippa has just released a CD with the Parley of instruments entitled “Musical London”.

Until moving to London in the autumn of 2011, Philippa taught period performance at the Royal Northern College of Music and singing at Leeds University. She now teaches singing at Eltham College in south-east London.

Philippa is married to Richard Tanner, who became Director of Music at the Royal Naval College Chapel, Greenwich in March 2011. They have two sons, James and Ben. In her leisure time, Philippa enjoys reading, walking and travel.

Robert Ogden - Countertenor

Robert Ogden was born in Harrogate, read music as a choral scholar at King’s College, Cambridge and studied opera at the Royal Northern College of Music and at the Netherlands Opera Studio in Amsterdam. He was a finalist in the Elizabeth Harwood Memorial Competition, the Royal Overseas League Competition and the Great Elm Competition and was awarded the prestigious Curtis Gold Medal for Singing on leaving the RNCM.

Recently described by Opera Magazine as ‘a rare and exciting find’, Robert made his critically acclaimed international debut in the role of Kreon in Rolf Liebermann’s Medea for Stadttheater Bern, in 2001. Since then, he has performed all over the world, working with conductors such as Rinaldo Alessandrini, Richard Hickox, Sir David Willcocks, Owain Arwel Hughes, Nicholas McGegan, Heinz Fricke and Richard Bradshaw, and orchestras including the Washington Opera Orchestra, the Belarus State Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the Brandenburger Sinfoniker.

Recent opera roles include Andronico in Tamerlano (Handel) and Antonio in Gesualdo (Craig Armstrong) for Scottish Opera, Nireno in Giulio Cesare (Handel) for the Norwegian National Opera, Delfa in Giasone (Cavalli) for Stadttheater Klagenfurt, Austria, The Page in Sly (Wolf-Ferrari) and The Shepherd in Tosca (Puccini) for the Washington Opera, U.S.A. in casts including José Carreras, Sherrill Milnes, Marcello Giordani and Maria Guleghina, the title roles in Orfeo (Glück) and Orlando (Handel) for Ryedale Festival, the covers of Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Britten) and the title role in Radamisto (Handel) for Opera North, Consigliere in Arianna (Monteverdi) for Muziektheater Transparant and the Netherlands Opera Studio, Ptolomeo in Giulio Cesare (Handel) for the Handel Opera Society, Athamus in Semele (Handel) in the Teatru Manoel, Malta and a new one-man show, Food of Love, directed by Klaus Bertisch, dramaturge at the Netherlands Opera.

Robert’s concert repertoire is extensive: he is a regular oratorio soloist in major venues all over Europe. He also performs frequently in recital from a wide repertoire that has included two world premières by Giles Swayne, has made several broadcasts on BBC, Australian, Japanese and German radio and recently sang recitals at the Concertgebouw and the Muziektheater, Amsterdam.

Recent engagements include Messiah in York Minster and Ripon Cathedral, an evening of works by Bach in Sheffield Cathedral and the world première of The Rosenhan Experiment (Tim Benjamin) at the South Bank Centre and a debut CD of solo cantatas by Vivaldi and Telemann. Robert co-founded Landor Records in 2006, an award- winning independent classical label that has recorded some of the brightest names in classical music. He is now Artistic Director of The Northern Aldborough Festival.

Joseph Cornwell - Tenor

After studying music at York University and singing as a postgraduate at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Joseph was awarded a BP Scholarship to study on the Guildhall Opera Course for two years. He began his career with The Consort of Musicke, and the Taverner Consort, singing Monteverdi's Vespers in his first BBC Prom shortly afterwards under Andrew Parrott, which he also recorded for EMI. He has now made three recordings of the Vespers. He has sung under such conductors as William Christie, Harry Christophers, Eric Ericson, Sir , Trevor Pinnock, Sir Roger Norrington, Gabriel Garrido, Steuart Bedford, Ivan Fischer, Peter Seymour, Christian Curnyn and Hervé Niquet. His international engagements have taken him throughout Europe and to North America and the Far East as well as throughout the UK.

Operatic roles have included Snout A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Britten at the Teatro di San Carlo, Naples, Mitridate Il Pompeo Magno, Cavalli at the Varazdin Festival, Croatia, Polimone Il Tito, Cesti for the Opéra National du du Rhin, Strasbourg, Il conte Le nozze di Dorina, Galuppi, at the Musikfestpiele Potsdam Sanssouci, Achille Iphigénie en Aulide, Gluck for Opera Factory at the QEH, Lurcanio Ariodante, Handel for St Gallen Opera, Pilade Oreste, Gluck for the English Bach Festival, Monteverdi Orfeo for the Boston Festival, Capella Cracoviensis and for Oslo Summer Opera, Giove Il ritorno d’Ulisse, Monteverdi and King Arthur, Purcell in Lisbon, Eumete Il ritorno d’Ulisse at the Aix-en-Provence Festival (a production now available on DVD), Thespis / Mercure Platée, Rameau for TCC Productions, Lisbon, and Tamese Arsilda, Regina di Ponto, Vivaldi at the Barga Festival.

His recordings include St Matthew Passion with the Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble, Boyce Peleus & Thetis with Opera Restor’d, Campra Requiem and King Arthur with Le Concert Spirituel, Israel in Babylon with the Kantorei Saarlouis, Messiah, Monteverdi Vespers 1610 and Selve Morale with the Taverner Consort, Acis & Galatea (GRAMOPHONE Baroque Vocal CD of 2000), Monteverdi Vespers 1610 and Mozart Mass in C Minor with Les Arts Florissants, Monteverdi Vespers 1610 with the Gabrieli Consort, Rossini Petite Messe Solennelle with Jos van Immerseel (BBC Radio 3 Building a Library Choice), Mozart Requiem with the Yorkshire Baroque Soloists, Shepherd Oedipus Rex, Stravinsky with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Tamese Arsilda, Regina di Ponto, Vivaldi with Modo Antiquo, Peri's Euridice, Arcetro, with Opera de Rouen and Fairest Isle with the Parley of Instruments.

He recently sang Orfeo L’anima del filosofo for the Atelier Lyrique de Tourcoing with Jean-Claude Malgoire, Eumete Il ritorno d’Ulisse at the Teatro Real, Madrid, with William Christie, the B Minor Mass with Capella Cracoviensis, J. S. Bach Cantatas at the International Bach Festival, Swidnica, and Messiah with the Choeur de Chambre de Namur and Les Agrémens in Brussels and Namur and also Ugone Flavio for English Touring Opera, Mars Dido and Aeneas with the London Consort and Philip Pickett and Messiah with Capella Cracoviensis.

Recent engagements include Monteverdi madrigals at the Spitalfields Festival with Harry Christophers, recorded commercially afterwards, Orfeo with the New London Consort in the Three Choirs Festival, Mozart operatic arias, duets and the C Minor Mass at the Gdansk Mozartium Festival, Monteverdi Vespers in the Bath Mozart festival with the Gabrieli Consort and Paul McCreech, Pisandro and Giove in Ulisse for the Flanders Opera in Ghent and Antwerp and a production of Purcell's Fairy Queen with Philip Pickett in Paris, Barcelona, Luxembourg, Rotterdam, Manchester and Birmingham. This autumn Joseph takes part in nine staged performances of Cavalli's La Didone with William Christie and Les Arts Florissants in Caen, Luxembourg and Paris.

Alex Ashworth - Bass-baritone

Alex Ashworth sang with the choirs of Tewkesbury Abbey and St John's College Cambridge before winning an Entrance Scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in London where he studied with Mark Wildman and Julius Drake. Whilst there he won many prizes and awards, including the Countess of Munster "Star Award", the Musician's Benevolent Fund's Ian Fleming Scholarship and the Mario Grisi Recital Prize.

Alex has wide experience on the concert platform. Most recent performances include Monteverdi's Vespers on tour with Sir John Eliot Gardiner including a live television broadcast from the BBC Proms. Also with Sir John Eliot, Alex was a soloist on tour with Bach's B Minor Mass, Handel's Israel in Egypt and Duruflé's Requiem. Alex has also recorded Monteverdi's Vespers for the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. In 2009, he made his debut at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam as the baritone soloist in Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on Christmas Carols, also performed at Birmingham's Symphony Hall. He sang the part of Joseph in L'Enfance du Christ (Berlioz) for Sir Colin Davis at the Cadogan Hall in London and performed Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas for Trevor Pinnock at the Halle Festival. Alex sang the rôle of Tobit in Haydn's Il Ritorno di Tobit for Sir Roger Norrington and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in Paris, which was recorded for DVD. Alex has appeared several times as a soloist at the Three Choirs Festival.

Other performances include Haydn's Creation (The Faroe Islands, Brighton), St Matthew Passion (Exeter Cathedral, Derby Cathedral, Carlisle Cathedral, Winchester Cathedral, BBC Proms), St John Passion (Hereford Cathedral, Chichester Cathedral), Monteverdi Vespers (Durham Cathedral, Coventry Cathedral, St Martin in the Fields), Mendelssohn St Paul (Sheffield Cathedral, Hereford Cathedral) Brahm's Requiem (Truro Cathedral, Gloucester Cathedral), Messiah (St David's Cathedral, Iceland's New Year's Concerts, Lichfield Cathedral, Gloucester Cathedral), Mozart Requiem (Maribor Festival, Slovenia, St Martin-in-the-Fields).

His operatic rôles include Alidoro in La Cenerentola (Iford Festival 2010, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, cover, 2005, Opera East 2004), Procurator in Monteverdi's Flying Circus (Armonico Consort, 2010), the title rôle in Wozzeck (WNO 2009), Marcello in La Bohème (performances in Palestine and London 2009), title rôle in The Bear by William Walton (Mahogany Opera 2008, Cambridge University Opera Society 1998), Silvio in I Pagliacci (Icelandic Opera 2008), Belcore in L'Elisir d'Amore (Iford Festival 2008, Cambridge University Opera Society 1997), Curio in Giulio Cesare (Opera de Lille 2007, Glyndebourne Festival Opera and the Proms 2005, available on DVD), Don Giovanni (title rôle, Scottish Opera 2007 (cover), Royal Colleges' Joint Opera School 2001, conducted by Sir Colin Davis and directed by John Copley,) Falstaff (title rôle, Royal Academy Opera 2002, The Ice Theatre, 2004), The Cunning Little Vixen (The Forester, Opera East 2002) and Eugene Onegin (title rôle, Scottish Opera 2003 and 2004).