Yorkshire born soprano Ann Wilkes, studied at the Royal Northern College of Music both for her undergraduate studies, where she was awarded a first-class honours degree, and her masters where she studied with Louise Winter. Her roles at RNCM included Suor Dolcina in Puccini’s Suor Angelica, Moth in Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and chorus in Mozart’s CosÌ fan tutti.
Ann Wilkes has performed solos with the Colne Valley Male Voice Choir, Marsden Silver Band, Mill House Green Male Voice Choir, Oldershaw Singers, New Mill Male Voice Choir and Steeton Male Voice Choir and at the Buxton Festival. Ann has sung oratorios from Liverpool to Hull: Dvorak’s Stabat Mater, Haydn’s Creation, Handel’s Messiah, Mendelssohn’s Hymn of Praise and Poulenc’s Gloria. Upcoming concerts include: Handel’s Messiah with Amadeus: The Chamber Choir and Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana with Bolton Symphony Orchestra and the choir of BCMCS.
Ann also enjoys performing contemporary pieces and is thrilled to have been one of the featured soloists in the world premiere of Citizens of Nowhere, composed by RNCM alumna Anna Appleby at the Tête-à-Tête Opera Festival in 2017. Recently she sang Fireworks by Grace Mason, a solo written for Ann with symphony orchestra. She has sung annually at Slaithwaite Good Companions (a meeting group for elderly people likely to become isolated) since she was seven years old. Ann was a founding member of Offstage Opera who aimed to make opera more accessible.
Ann lives in Manchester and works as Creative Producer and Fundraiser for Manchester International Roots Orchestra (an orchestra founded to bring together musicians from refugee and migrant backgrounds with those who are classically trained), with whom she also sings, and as a fundraiser with a range of other arts organisations and charities.
Lorna Day is a mezzo soprano recently graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music, receiving a First Class BMus (hons) degree and MMus degree with Distinction under the tutelage of Jane Irwin. She won the RNCM Elsie Thurston Prize, was a finalist in the Kennedy Strauss Award and was highly commended in the Frost/Brownson Song Cycle Competition. Lorna has sung various operatic roles in the operas and opera scenes whilst at the RNCM, and has performed with Longborough Festival Opera Chorus in Orfeo ed Euridice. She is a keen singer on the concert platform – recent highlights include Elgar The Music Makers with Stafford Choral Society and Rossini Petite messe solennelle with Chipping Norton Choral Society. In Autumn 2021, she has been performing in Norway with the Bergen National Opera Chorus in Rusalka, and as a guest singer with the Edvard Grieg Kor
Joseph Buckmaster is a Lyric Spinto Tenor, who studied at both the Royal Northern College of Music and the Royal Academy of Music.
At the age of six he began singing in the Chester Cathedral choir and continued to sing there in various roles until the age of twenty-four. During his time at the Royal Northern College of Music he performed in the chorus for many of their operas, including La Belle Helene, La Clemenza di Tito, Carmen and Vanessa. He also covered the role of Giove in their production of Il Ritorno d’Ulise in Patria. Whilst at the Royal Academy of Music he performed the roles of Apollo (Semele) and Alméric (Iolanta) for Royal Academy Opera.
For Heritage Opera Joseph has performed the roles of Tamino (The Magic Flute), Ferrando (Cosi fan Tutte) and covered the role of Don Jose (Carmen).
Joseph co-founded Flat Pack Music and with them has performed the roles of Ferrando (Cosi fan Tutte), Rodolfo (La Boheme), Basilio and Don Curzio (The Marriage of Figaro), and Tamino (The Magic Flute). For Hampstead Garden Opera he has performed the role of Rodolfo (La Boheme). Joseph most recently worked with Grange Park Opera in their chorus for the 2021 season’s operas; Falstaff, La Boheme and Ivan the Terrible/The Maid of Pskov. He also sang the role of Male 1 in the world premiere of The Life and Death of Alexander Litvinenko.
2022 will see Joseph return to Grange Park Opera to perform the role of Isepo (La Gioconda) and Taborite 2 in (The Excursions of Mr Broucek) as well as appearing in the chorus for Otello and Der Fliegende Holländer. Joseph is an extra chorister for both the Royal Opera House and the English National Opera.
Concert performances include, Handel’s Messiah, Judas Maccabaeus and The Foundling Hospital Anthem, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Mozart’s Requiem and Puccini’s Messa di Gloria.
Stuart O’Hara – baritone
Stuart is a freelance singer based in London. A graduate of Durham University and the University of York, he is a student of Alexander Ashworth (RAM), and a former tutee of Robert Hollingworth (Director, I Fagiolini).
Stuart maintains a busy schedule of solo, consort, and choral singing across the U.K. Renowned for a wide vocal range and sensitivity to text, with a warm tone and power when necessary, he is equally happy as a recitalist, on the operatic stage, or singing polyphony in small ensembles. His specialisms include Russian and English song, and music of the Baroque era, particularly that of JS Bach.
Recent highlights include recording the music of Richard Blackford with Ikon and David Hill, filming Caccini’s Liberazione di Ruggiero at Brighton Early Music Festival with Tom Guthrie, and an ongoing project exploring the lieder and ballads of Carl Loewe with York-based pianist Ioanna Koullepou.
He is also a Lay Vicar in the Choir of Westminster Abbey.
Jon Barton – organist
Jon began studying the organ at Liverpool Cathedral with Ian Wells, and then with Matthew Owens and Kevin Bowyer at the Royal Northern College of Music. He also studied piano with Paul Janes and harpsichord with David Francis. Whilst at the RNCM he was awarded a scholarship to continue his studies abroad with Zsigmond Szathmary, Bernhard Haas and Yanka Hekimova. Since then he has performed in many cathedrals and concert halls across the UK, and also features regularly in concerts and functions at Liverpool Hope University.
He is Organist of Shrewsbury Cathedral, teaches at Birkenhead School and Merchant Taylors’ School, Crosby, and not only accompanies BCS, but also Formby Choral Society, and Amadeus: the Chamber Choir.
David Holroyd – conductor
Until summer 2019, David was Director of Music at Merchant Taylors’ School in Crosby. He studied organ and choir-training at the Royal Northern College of Music with Ronald Frost, Gillian Weir and John Bertalot.
David’s musical career began at the age of 7 as a choirboy at St Hilary’s Church Wallasey, where in due course he became Organist and Choirmaster. He spent a time as Assistant Organist at Chester Cathedral before moving to Merchant Taylors’ School. He has conducted BCS since 1985, and also conducts Formby Choral Society, and Amadeus: the Chamber Choir, and is Organist at St Peter’s Church, Formby.