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We caught up with Finalist Laura Kim who really impressed us at the auditions with her performance of Prokofiev’s 2nd Violin Concerto.

What is your main occupation at the moment?

I’m currently a 4th year undergraduate student at the Royal Academy of Music! I plan to start my masters of music degree this autumn

What made you choose to play your instrument and how old were you when you started?

I started violin when I was 8 years old – when my mom brought me to a string shop to try out different instruments, I remember liking the sound of the violin when one of the luthiers played a song for me, and immediately picked it

What made you choose the concerto that you will be playing?

I was deciding between learning Prokofiev Concerto 1 and Prokofiev Concerto 2 with my violin professor at the Academy, and he suggested that the 2nd concerto would suit my sound more – I learned a bit of the first movement after speaking with him, and agreed with his sentiment!

What do you feel you would gain from the experience of winning this competition and playing your concerto with ERSO and Chris Stark?

This will be the first time I’ve played a concerto with an orchestra since I was young, and it will also be the first time I’ve played Prokofiev with orchestra – I especially like the percussion parts and the woodwind solos that are scattered throughout the piece

While it’s thrilling to hear these parts come out during a concert, I think it would be even more exciting to listen to while performing on stage! I think I would be happy to collaborate with the orchestra members and the conductor on stage and make music together

One of our Finalists in the ERSO Soloist of the Year competition is a familiar face as she is ERSO’s Principal Cellist . Currently a fellow with Southbank Sinfonia, Jennifer Sturt finds the most enjoyable projects to be in small or chamber ensembles and with current composers, where collaboration and teamwork is essential to realising new and exciting artistic directions.

At Trinity Laban Conservatoire she obtained a first-class Bachelor of Music with honours, whilst focusing on diverse repertoire with her teacher Naomi Butterworth. Highlights include joining the Smith Quartet for a performance of Steve Reich’s triple quartet, performing in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia with the conductor Jonathan Tilbrook, and leading the Trinity Laban Symphony Orchestra as the principal cellist at Cadogan Hall in a performance of Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique. These efforts, along with many more, gained her the silver medal award for outstanding contribution to the strings department.

During her Master of Music Studies at the Royal Academy of Music, Jennifer continued her search for ‘off-canon’ repertoire and composer collaboration. Specifically, she delved into a research project exploring the musical canon, asking the thought-provoking question: “What has the Canon ever done for us?” This endeavour involved examining overlooked and forgotten repertoire, dissecting conscious and unconscious biases in our critical judgments and listening habits, and evaluating current practices in music education and concert programming.

Born in East Sussex to a very musical family, Jennifer has been playing the cello since 2001. In her spare time she enjoys yoga, role-playing games and opera.

We’re proud of our ERSO Talent Programme (founded in 2017) which provides valuable professional experience for young musicians at the start of their careers. We have a bit of a track record here – famous names who benefitted experience with ERSO during their early professional lives include: horn player Dennis Brain, clarinettist Jack Brymer, oboist Evelyn Rothwell, flautist James Galway and cellists Jacqueline du Pre and Guy Johnston.

To date we’ve worked with soloists, orchestral musicians, conductors, composers and opera singers and we hope that the experience will help them on the way to amazing careers!

This week we’re excited for the final of our annual soloist competition. The winner will be our soloist in our June concert.

In ERSO’s performance of Ravel’s L’heure espagnole we are so excited that the role of Gonzalve, the amorous poet, will be played by the wonderfully talented young singer Jack Dolan. Check out this video to hear his amazing singing!

6.30pm on 17 March 2024, St John’ s Waterloo

Tickets are £12 in advance from https://www.wegottickets.com/event/607742# and £15 on the door. Children and student tickets are £5

We are so excited to have cast the incredibly talented young mezzo Phoebe Rayner as Concepción in our production of Ravel’s L’heure espagnole. Here’s a sneak peak of her amazing singing in the aria where she is voicing her frustration with both of her admirers – one is obsessed with poetry (and finds it more exciting to be inside a clock thinking about wood nymphs than her!) and the other she finds grotesquely unattractive. 

Join us on March 17th to find out what happens next! 

Tickets are £12 in advance from https://www.wegottickets.com/event/607742# and £15 on the door. Children and student tickets are £5

We enjoyed a morning of really great auditions last weekend and were impressed by the performances and the level of talent demonstrated.  Selecting players to move onto the final stage of the competition was an extremely difficult.

We are very excited to work with two fabulous soloists, cellist Jenny Sturt and violinist Laura Kim, in the Final of our annual competition on Feb 25th.  Jenny will be playing Haydn’s Cello Concerto in D and Laura will play Prokofiev’s 2nd Violin Concerto. The winner will be our summer soloist. 

Watch this space!

L’heure espagnole was described by its composer Ravel as a comédie musicale, based on the play by Franc-Nohain who also created the libretto for the opera.

The story takes place in eighteenth century Spain at the shop owned by the clockmaker Torquemada.

One evening Ramiro, a muleteer (or delivery man) arrives to have his watch mended just as Torquemada’s wife Concepcion comes to remind her husband he needs to go and look after the town clocks. She complains that he has not moved the clocks that she asked to be put in her room and her husband replies that this is because they were too heavy for him to carry.

Torquemada leaves, asking Ramiro to wait until he gets back so that the watch can be mended.

Concepcion is delighted that her husband has left so that she can see her lovers but irritated that Ramiro might get in the way of her plans, and so she asks him to move one of the grandfather clock to her bedroom.

Meanwhile, her lover Gonsalve arrives.  He is poet who is very self-absorbed and far keener to talk about poetry than to take any action, much to Concepcion’s frustration. Ramiro comes back down and to get rid of him again, she asks him to move the other clock upstairs, bringing the first one back. While he goes back upstairs to retrieve the first clock, Concepcion pushed Gonsalve into the second clock. Ramiro comes back with the first clock and effortlessly carriers the clock that contains Gonsalve upstairs, followed by Concepcion who is impressed with his Ramiro’s strength.

Don Iñigo, a banker who is another of Concepción’s admirers, arrives. He admits that he got Torquemada the job of looking after the town’s clocks to get him out of the way.  Whilst Concepion is upstairs he decides to be playful and hide in the remaining clock.

Ramiro comes down, having been asked to look after the shop whilst Concepion is upstairs with Gonsalve.  But she comes down complaining that the clock upstairs is noisy and asking Ramiro to check on it.  Don Inigo comes out of his clock and tells Concepion that he loves her, but she turns him down. Ramiro returns with the clock containing Gonsalve and offers to take up the second (containing Inigo who has hidden again). Concepcion accepts his suggestion.

She tried to get Gonsalve to leave as she is frustrated with his obsession with poetry, but he hides in his clock as Ramiro returns. As Concepcion returns, Ramiro realises that she isn’t happy with the clock upstairs and goes to fetch it.

Left alone, Concepcion voices her frustration with both admirers – one is obsessed with poetry and the other she finds unattractive.  She realises that she finds Ramiro’s strength much more attractive.  When he brings the clock containing Don Ingo back down, she asks Ramiro to accompany her upstairs – this time without any of the clocks!

Inigo and Gonsalves come out of their clocks as Torquemada returns. He apologises for keeping them waiting and seeing their interest in the clocks, he insists that they buy them. 

The cast join together to tell the moral of the tale  – in the pursuit of love, there comes a moment when it’s the muleteer’s turn.

The role of Torquemada, the clockmaker, will be played by Guy Beynon.

Guy is a first class graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music and is currently in the final year of his postgraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music, studying under Adrian Thompson.

Guy made his operatic debut with Bampton Classical Opera in their Haydn double bill of Lo Speziale and La Canterina. Alongside this Guy also played the Innkeeper Rasojo inBampton’s UK premier of Salieri’s At the Venice Fair. Guy’s time at the Royal Academy has seen him perform in their production of Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress directed by Frederic Wake-Walker as well as become a regular soloist in the Academy’s ‘Bach in Leipzig’ series working with world renowned guest conductors, including Masaaki Suzuki and John Butt. Guy is also a recent winner of the Marjorie Thomas Art of Song Prize for best overall recital as well as the Flora Nielsen French Song Prize, being very highly commended in both the Lieder and English song categories too. 

When did you start singing and what drew you to a career?

It was around the age of 17, where I realised it that Friday evening choir rehearsals were the highlight of my week. It was around this age that I started lessons with a quite inspirational teacher and very much caught the ’singing bug’.

What are you up to at the moment? 

I’m currently in the penultimate term of my postgraduate degree at The Royal Academy of music. I’m also involved with HGO’s production of Purcell’s ’The Fairy Queen’, with performance running 19th-28th April.

What might you gain from the ERSO experience?

Beyond French song and some scattered arias, I’ve not yet sung any French opera, and certainly not had the opportunity to delve into any roles. In addition much of Torquemada’s music is similar to spoken word which will surely test and hopefully enhance my French language skills.

The role of Don Iñigo Gomez, a banker will be played by Dominic Felts. 

Dominic is a Bass-Baritone from Lincolnshire, now living in London. He graduated from the University of Hull in 2021 with a First-Class Bachelor of Arts degree with Honours in Music and received the Andrew Brown Memorial Prize for academic achievement. Dominic continued his studies at Trinity Laban Conservatoire and in July 2023 he graduated from the Master of Music programme with Distinction, specialising in Vocal Studies. As a budding solo artist, Dominic has recently won both the Trinity Laban English Song and Lillian Ash French Song competitions, as well as making the final of the AESS Dorothy Richardson English Song Prize with duo partner Pietro Iacopini. Together the duo were also selected for the Oxford International Song Festival Mastercourse in October 2023. In Opera, Dominic made his debut performance as Sarastro in Mozart’s The Magic Flute with Leeds Youth Opera. Since then, he has taken on significant roles in Trinity Laban’s Postgraduate Opera Scenes including Leporello in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Claggart in Britten’s Billy Budd, Scrooge in Musgrave’s A Christmas Carol, and Sparafucile in Verdi’s Rigoletto. 

Dominic also has a keen interest in ensemble performance, singing regularly with London-based groups such as the Philharmonia Chorus, Exodus and Opera Rara Chorus. He has completed young artist programmes with several eminent UK-based ensembles, including The Sixteen and Stile Antico. Dominic is currently a member of the VOCES8 UK Scholars and the Emerging Artists Scheme at St Martin in the Fields. When he is not performing, Dominic enjoys assisting on music outreach and education programmes, most recently working with Gabrieli Roar for a performance of Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius. 

In the academic year 2023/24, Dominic continues his studies at Trinity Laban part-time on the Artist Diploma course, generously supported by the Morag Noble, Kathleen Roberts and Elliot Rosenblatt Memorial Scholarships, whilst he continues to forge his path in a freelance career.

We caught up with Dominic to find out more:

When did you start singing and what drew you to singing as a career? 

I began singing in my local church choir at the age of 7. Weekly football and cricket matches before our Wednesday afternoon rehearsals kept me interested until I realised how much I loved singing! I began having singing lessons at secondary school and was involved in concerts and performances every year. The nerve-racking thrill of performing on stage was something I always thrived in, but the joy of singing with friends and meeting new people through music is what has encouraged me to pursue a career as a professional singer. 

What are you up to at the moment? 

After graduating from the Masters course at Trinity Laban Conservatoire in the summer of 2023, I am continuing my studies there part-time on the Artist Diploma course. As part of the course I am performing in the Postgraduate Opera Scenes, Masterclasses and weekly Song Classes to further my vocal development and performance. Meanwhile, I continue to build my professional career as part of the Emerging Artists scheme at St Martin in the Fields and one of the VOCES8 Scholars 2023/24. I also give regular recitals with my pianist, Pietro Iacopini, having participated as a duo in the Oxford International Song Festival Mastercourse in October 2023. 

What do you feel you might gain from this experience with ERSO?

Working with ERSO presents an opportunity to learn an opera role in its entirety and bring to life my own version of the character Don Iñigo Gomez. I also look forward to working with other young artists at a similar stage in their career, as well as getting the chance to sing as a soloist with a full orchestra behind me. 

The role of Ramiro will be performed by the hugely talented Michael Temporal Darell. He is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music where he studied with Raymond Connell, Marcus van den Akker and James Baillieu.

Recent performance highlights include, a return to New Sussex Opera to perform with Sir John Tomlinson, solo recital at Am Hof 8 in Vienna, and a recital with legendary pianist Leslie Howard. Baritone solos in Carmina Burana and Brahms Requiem under the baton of John Lubbock, his role debut as Valentin in Faust for New Sussex Opera, Bach cantatas at the Royal Academy of Music under the baton of Masaako Suzuki, The Prisoner for Gardner’s new opera ‘The Prisoner’ with libretto by author and historian Matthew Green and directed by Eleanor Burke, Troll in Waley-Cohen’s ‘Witch’ for Royal Academy Opera directed by Polly Graham and conducted by Ryan Wigglesworth, Cox (Cox and Box) at the Reform Club for Opera at Home, Earl Mountararat (Iolanthe) for Green Opera directed by Eleanor Burke, King Alfred in Gardner’s ‘A New England’ at the Royal Academy of Music and Téte á Téte Opera Festival, Dr. Malatesta (Don Pasquale), Count Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro), and Figaro (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) for Opera Scenes at the Royal Academy of Music directed by Franciska Ery. Michael was also a Southrepps Festival Young Artist in 2022.

We caught up with Michael to find out more:

When did you start singing and what drew you to singing as a career? 

I started singing lessons when I was seven just because I enjoyed it. The combination of acting and the feeling of singing opera drew me to the career. I look forward to the day where I can sing and act on stage as much as possible!

What are you up to at the moment? 

Presently, I am taking some time out from Conservatoire to gain as much performance experience as possible. I hope to join a Young Artist Programme in Europe in the coming seasons.

What do you feel you might gain from this experience with ERSO?

The role of Ramiro is a role that I will sing for a long time. It’s quite well suited to my voice so the opportunity to learn it and perform with a great orchestra is really great. I also am really looking forward to collaborating with the wonderful musicians involved in this project!