Guildhall Singer and Repetiteur Summer Successes

English National Opera’s new Harewood Artists include Claire Barnett-Jones (Artist Diploma Vocal Studies 2019) and John Findon (Advanced Certificate Opera Studies 2017), who will join alumni David Ireland (Opera Studies 2017) and Elgan Llŷr Thomas (Opera Studies 2016) on the scheme. John returns to Guildhall this September to perform Rachmaninov’s epic choral symphony The Bells with the Guildhall Symphony Orchestra & Chorus.

The Royal Opera House Jette Parker Young Artist programme will see Filipe Manu (Guildhall Artist Masters Opera Studies 2019) and Andrés Presno (Guildhall Artist Masters Vocal Studies) join alumni Edmund Whitehead (Guildhall Artist Masters Repetiteur 2015) and Patrick Milne (Guildhall Artist Masters Piano Accompaniment 2017), who continue as the Opera Conductors and Repetiteurs on the programme.

The National Opera Studio Young Artists for 2019/20 include singers Alexandra Lowe (Artist Diploma Opera Studies 2019), Frederick Jones (Artist Diploma Opera Studies 2019) and Benson Wilson (Guildhall Artist Masters Vocal Studies & Opera Studies 2018, Advanced Certificate Opera Studies 2019) and pianist Mairi Harris Grewar (Advanced Certificate Repetiteur 2018).

Christian Valle (Guildhall Artist Masters Vocal Studies & Opera Studies 2018, Advanced Certificate Opera Studies 2019) also joins the Bavarian State Opera Young Artist programme, while fellow 2019 opera singer Samuel Carl (Guildhall Artist Masters Vocal Studies & Opera Studies 2018, Advanced Certificate Opera Studies 2019) joins the Dutch National Opera Studio.

Michael Papadopoulos (Advanced Certificate Repetiteur 2017) joins Scottish Opera as an Emerging Artist repetiteur, while Nathan Harris (Guildhall Artist Masters Repetiteur 2018) will join English National Opera as the new trainee repetiteur and Michael Pandya (Artist Diploma Piano Accompaniment 2019) follows in Nathan’s footsteps taking over as repetiteur at the Bavarian State Opera Young Artist programme.

At this summer’s Garsington Opera Young Artist Awards, Bianca Andrew (Advanced Certificate Opera Studies 2017) was the joint winner of the Leonard Ingrams Foundation Award and Seán Boylan (Guildhall Artist Masters Vocal Studies & Opera Studies 2018, Advanced Certificate Opera Studies 2019) was the winner of the Helen Clarke Award. It was also announced that Gethin Lewis (Guildhall Artist Masters Vocal Studies 2019) will join Glyndebourne Touring Opera.

The Wigmore Hall and Independent Opera International Song Competition saw Harriet Burns (Guildhall Artist Masters Vocal Studies 2018 and now Artist Diploma Opera Studies) win second prize, accompanied by Michael Pandya (Artist Diploma Piano Accompaniment 2019) who also won the Pianist’s Prize.

Liam Bonthrone (Guildhall Artist Masters Vocal Studies) was awarded the Basil A Turner Award by British Youth Opera, as well as the Sadler's Wells Dame Hilda Bracket Prize for his performance of Don Ramiro in Rossini's La Cenerentola with British Youth Opera.

In international successes, Aida Gimeno Garcia (Guildhall Artist Masters Vocal Studies) will join the Opera Studio Centre de Perfeccionament Plácido Domingo in Valencia next year, while Heldur Põlda (BMus Vocal Studies) will join the Estonian Opera Young Artist Studio. This summer also saw Benson Wilson and Carmen Artaza (Guildhall Artist Masters Opera Studies 2019) participate in the Young Singers Project at the Salzburg Festival.

Fabian Langguth (Artist Diploma Vocal Studies) was awarded first and audience prizes at the International Johannes Brahms Competition in Austria. Olivia Boen (Guildhall Artist Masters Vocal Studies) took part in the Verbier Festival Academy alongside fellow Guildhall singer Ema Nikolovska (Guildhall Artist Masters Vocal Studies and now Guildhall Artist Masters Opera Studies).

Graduating Guildhall singers also took on a number of major performance roles over the summer, as Samantha Clarke (Artist Diploma Opera Studies 2019) sang the title role in the Buxton Festival’s 40th anniversary special commission, Georgiana, and is now singing Musetta in Opera North’s new production of La Bohème. Benson Wilson played Marullo in Glyndebourne’s first ever production of Rigoletto, while Zoe Drummond (Guildhall Artist Masters Opera Studies 2019) understudied and performed as Papagena in ENO’s production of The Magic Flute. Alexandra Lowe sang Fiordiligi in Neville Holt Opera’s production of Così fan tutte. Final-year singer Will Thomas (Advanced Certificate Opera Studies) will be playing Snug in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Wiener Staatsoper.

Armin Zanner, Head of Vocal Studies, said: “We are thrilled about the opportunities and accolades that have been piling up for Guildhall singers, repetiteurs and piano accompanists over the summer – and the list here is just the tip of the iceberg! Congratulations to every one of them.”

Many congratulations to all our singers and repetiteurs on a fantastic summer of success, and congratulations also to three opera course alumni couples who have married this summer: pianists Nathan Harris and Mairi Harris Grewar; singers John Findon and Elizabeth Skinner (Opera 2017); and singers Thomas Atkins (Opera 2016) and Elizabeth Karani (Opera 2016).