Catherine Hamilton – soprano
Catherine was the first singer to be awarded a Junior Exhibitioner’s scholarship in the history of the Royal Academy of Music at the age of ten. After gaining a BA Hons from Southampton University she returned to the RAM on the post-graduate opera course and was awarded the Diploma of Advanced Studies and a LRAM with Distinction. During her time there she was chosen as the soloist for an official recording for HRH Prince William.
Catherine is a versatile performer whose international career has encompassed opera, oratorio, recitals, and musical theatre. She made her West End debut at The Queen’s Theatre with the acclaimed production of Masterclass and toured Germany as Christine in “Das Phantom der Oper”. Her many operatic roles have taken her throughout Europe and closer to home for Opera Holland Park’s summer season and Devon Opera.
Catherine is in great demand as an oratorio soloist and has sung extensively for choirs and choral societies across Europe in major venues.
Highlights have included Mozart’s Exultate Jubilate at the Festival Saint- Eloi in France and a concert tour in Italy, culminating in a performance in St. Peter’s Rome.
Among her performances as a recitalist was a concert series of Rodrigo’s songs for the Spanish ambassador at their Institute in London and a recording of Bachianas Brasileiras no 5 by Villa Lobos. Catherine was also chosen as the soloist for the regional premier of “The Great War Symphony” by Patrick Hawes.
Robyn Lyn Evans – tenor
Robyn is from Ceredigion in mid Wales and is a postgraduate of the Royal College of Music, a graduate of Trinity College Carmarthen, and recipient of the Stuart Burrows Bursary.
His operatic roles include Rodolfo La bohème (English National Opera, Mid Wales Opera, Diva Opera); Don José, Carmen, Alfredo La traviata and Macduff Macbeth (Scottish Opera); Lord Cecil and Roberto Devereux, Ismaele Nabucco, Lord Hervey Anna Bolena (Welsh National Opera); Malcolm Macbeth (Opera North); Don Ottavio Don Giovanni and Rodolfo La bohème (English Touring Opera); Pinkerton Madama Butterfly and Ruggero La rondine (West Green House Opera); Lensky Eugene Onegin, Luigi Il tabarro (Mid Wales Opera); Duke of Mantua Rigoletto (Opera Project, Longborough Festival Opera); Cavaradossi Tosca, Rinuccio Gianni Schicchi and Fenton Falstaff (Opera Project); Nemorino L’elisir d’amore; and Alfred Die Fledermaus (Pavilion Opera).
Robyn can be frequently heard on the concert platform with countless performances from the oratorio repertoire and appearances which have taken him to the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Philharmonic Hall Liverpool, Usher Hall Edinburgh, St David’s Hall Cardiff, as well as guest soloist with choirs touring Europe.
Clare McCaldin – mezzo-soprano
Clare began her singing life as a choral scholar at Clare College, Cambridge. Described by The Independent as “an outstanding singing-actress”, she brings charm, charisma and passion to her live performances.
In oratorio she has performed with the Academy of Ancient Music/King’s College, Cambridge (Bach B Minor Mass), The Three Choirs Festival (Mozart Requiem, Handel Messiah), Barokksolistene (Bach, St Mark Passion), the Orchestra of the Golden Age (Messiah), the Northern Sinfonia (Bach, B Minor Mass), Harrogate Choral Society (Rossini Stabat Mater), Ryedale Festival and St Albans Bach Choir (Rossini, Petite Messe Solennelle). She made her solo debut at the 2012 BBC Proms in Debussy’s The Martyrdom of St Sebastian with the BBCSO, which also opened the 2014 Edinburgh International Festival.
Clare is in demand as an ensemble musician, working with artists such as Libby Burgess, Iain Burnside, Simon Lepper, Andrew West, the Brodsky Quartet and Berkeley Ensemble. She has appeared in recitals at the Royal Opera House, Ludlow English Song Weekend, Oxford Lieder and Presteigne Festival.
Clare has recorded songs by Hugh Wood (NMC) and Ned Rorem (Champs Hill Records) as well as a significant body of mezzo-soprano repertoire written especially for her, notably Stephen McNeff’s Madrigali dell’Estate and Vivienne. She has also recorded the role of Miss Tina in Michael Hurd’s The Aspern Papers (Lyrita) and Mrs Fairfax/Hannah in John Joubert’s Jane Eyre (Somm).
Clare has sung as a soloist with Sir Antonio Pappano, Vladimir Jurowski and Esa Pekka-Salonen. Her operatic roles include Fox The Cunning Little Vixen/Örsze Hary Janos (Ryedale Festival) Meg Page Falstaff (Iford Arts), Oreste La Belle Helene (Diva Opera), In contemporary opera, Clare has appeared as the Stardust Seller (The Gentle Giant, ROH Linbury), the Mezzo Actor (A Night at the Chinese Opera, Scottish Opera) and Mezzo Cautioner (Cautionary Tales, Opera North), as well as works in development at ROH, Opera North, WNO and Aldeburgh Music. Clare’s one-woman operas Vivienne (2013) and Mary’s Hand (2018) were reviewed with ✮✮✮✮✮ by the Evening Standard and Independent respectively.
Robert Rice – baritone
My interests as a musician have led me to some extraordinary places and I hope to share some of my performing experiences with you on these pages, as well as giving news of forthcoming concerts and opera performances.
I am a Londoner, and apart from studying in Cambridge I have always lived in London, so when Opera Circus invited me to tour Bosnia with a new opera by Nigel Osborne in 2007 I jumped at the chance to explore this cultural watershed of a country; you can read my blog about it, fresh even for my calm demeanour – singing unfamiliar Shostakovich from the pit, and recording Elgar at three hours’ notice, for a start – there is always something positive to take from them.
I firmly believe in the power of music as a connecting force for the good of the whole community, not merely as entertainment, and that’s why I have always been pleased to be involved with workshops, coaching, and teaching other singers, and in arranging vocal music, and I hope that my career will always allow me those opportunities.
After a choral scholarship at King’s College, Cambridge, British baritone Robert Rice gained a DipRAM in London under Mark Wildman, continuing his studies with Richard Smart, Sheila Barnes and Nicholas Powell. As a concert artist his repertoire is extensive and varied: in 2015 he has premiered Andrew Edwards’ Christmas Story, Jacques Cohen’s Exodus Fragment, and Paul Drayton’s St Mark Passion, in addition to familiar works such as Bach’s St John and St Matthew Passions, and Mozart’s Requiem. His future plans include Monteverdi’s Vespers for the Royal Choral Society in London, and the premiere of Philip Cooke’s Noah’s Fire in Chester Cathedral. His interest in performing contemporary music encompasses the modernist expressionism of Peter Maxwell Davies and Ligeti, and staged premieres by Judith Bingham and Nigel Osborne (with Opera Circus, touring the UK and Bosnia & Herzegovina); more recently he covered two roles in Birtwistle’s Yan Tan Tethera for the Britten Sinfonia. In recital he often collaborates with guitarist Erich Schachtner in Germany and in the UK on programmes of lieder and lute songs.
Robert has recorded Judas in The Apostles with Canterbury Choral Society and the Philharmonia Orchestra, and his version of Cornelius’ Die Drei Könige (The Three Kings) with the choir Polyphony is a favourite on both Classic FM and BBC Radio 3 whenever Christmas approaches. When not performing, he leads workshops, adjudicates, and teaches widely, including for the National Youth Choir, Eton Choral Courses, and Oxford and Cambridge Universities. Novello & Co. Ltd have published many of his vocal arrangements, while others are sung worldwide, and have been recorded, by the King’s Singers. His nickname Berty has confused countless acquaintances. He often tries to arrange his singing engagements around skiing trips to the Alps, although aware that it should be the other way round.
http://www.robertrice.co.uk/
