Singers

Michael Bracegirdle is appearing with Bampton Classical Opera for the first time. This season, he also makes débuts with ENO, Opera Holland Park, the Huddersfield Choral Society and the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, and, as a winner of the Opera Competition and Festival with Mezzo, with Dicapo Opera Theatre, New York.

Samuel Evans was a finalist in the 2007 Kathleen Ferrier Award. He studied at King’s College Cambridge and the RAM, graduating with distinction. He has sung roles with English Chamber Opera, Opera by Definition and in Paris with Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Forthcoming engagements include Aeneas for the Armonico Consort, Mozart Requiem at the Royal Albert Hall, and Durufle Requiem with the Orchestre National de Paris. This is his Bampton début.

Martene Grimson graduated from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music before moving to London, where she studied at the RCM and the National Opera Studio and won second prize in the 2006 Kathleen Ferrier Awards. She has appeared on stage with Opera North, Classical Opera Company, National Reisopera, Pinchgut Opera and at the Wexford Festival. Current engagements include a Strauss tour of the UK for Raymond Gubbay, Susanna for Opera East and a concert performance as Dorinda Orlando with Independent Opera at Wigmore Hall.

Lina Markeby graduated from the Guildhall in 2006 and has been busy ever since. She has sung principal roles with Les Arts Florissants in Vienna and Paris and also at Wexford, Drottningholm and with ETO. This season’s highlights include Cherubino and Third Lady for the Armonico Consort, and the cover of Ascase Partenope for ENO. This is her first season with Bampton.

Cara McHardy studied at Guildhall and the Paris Conservatoire. Since leaving college she has performed a wide range of operatic repertoire, from Cleofide in Handel's Poro to Abigaille in Verdi's Nabucco and recently Puccini's leading ladies Tosca and Turandot for Kentish Opera and Dorset Opera respectively. Cara was a finalist in the 2007/8 Bayreuth Bursary held at the Royal Opera House.

Serena Kay is delighted to be returning to Bampton Classical Opera for the fourth time. She has performed principal roles with ENO, Opera North, WNO and ETO and has been soloist with London Philharmonic, BBC Concert, Metropolitan Orchestra of Lisbon and the Philharmonia orchestras. Serena’s repertoire ranges from playing sweet young things, pubescent boys, soldiers, old bitches and Gods!

Amanda Pitt performs a wide range of repertoire from opera to contemporary music. She has sung at many of the major London venues and festivals and has, with David Owen Norris, an increasingly busy international recital career. Her solo recordings include music by Lili Boulanger and Janácek for Hyperion, Ruth Crawford Seeger for DG, Roger Quilter for Naxos and Elgar on Avie.  A founder member of The Works, she is a popular regular at Bampton, returning this season after a break for the birth of her son, Theo.

Adrian Powter is delighted to be returning to Bampton Classical Opera for the third time. This season, he will also be working with ETO, Opera North and Scottish Opera, as well as appearing in concert with the London Sinfonietta.

Tom Raskin studied at New College, Oxford, and the RNCM. He undertakes a wide variety of singing work in opera, oratorio and song, from being a member of a three tenors stadium band, Boheme, to The Clerks, a consort specialising in 15th Century polyphony. He tried living in the wilds of Suffolk for bit, but prefers the bustle of London, where he lives south of the river with his wife.

Emily Rowley Jones has received critical acclaim for her portrayal of Queen of the Night for both BYO and Guildhall School, where she is nearing completion of her studies on the Opera Course. She is also the recipient of the 2007 Hampshire Singer of the Year Competition, and is a Sybil Tutton and Countess of Munster scholar. This is her Bampton début.

Jonathan Stoughton read French at UCL and is currently studying with David Maxwell-Anderson in the BBIOS on a major scholarship. Recent roles include the title roles in The Rake’s Progress and Idomeneo for BBIOS and Don José Carmen for Pavilion Opera. As a concert soloist he has appeared in many of the country’s major venues as well as in the Athens Festival, the Tokyo Festival and on board the QE2.

John Upperton makes his Bampton début. His varied career has brought him great critical acclaim from dramatic Rossini rôles (Pirro at the QEH and Rodrigo at St John's Smith Square) to his Purcell Room début with Janacek's Diary of One who Disappeared. He is a guest principal at ENO and he made his ROH début in 2005. An active oratorio and concert career, which includes Verdi's Requiem, Elgar's Gerontius and Janacek's Glagalotic Mass, takes him all over the UK and Europe.