Geoff Williams

Baritone

Geoff Williams trained at the Royal Academy of Music completing a Master’s Degree in Performance, with Distinction.

Recent roles include Papageno and Sprecher Die ZauberflöteGeronio Il turco in Italia, Escamillo and Dancaire Carmen, Don Alfonso Cosi fan tutti, General Achilla Giulio Cesare (Handel). He also covered the role of Marchese d’Obigny La Traviata for Longborough Festival Opera.

Geoff’s concert performances have included Herod in Berlioz’s L’Enfance du Christ (Scherzo Ensemble), Orff’s Carmina Burana (Colston Hall), Verdi’s Requiem (L’église de la Madeleine and Chartres Cathedral), Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle (St Margaret’s Church, Westminster), Pilatus and Arias in Bach’s St Matthew Passion (Wells Cathedral), Pilatus and Arias in St John Passion (Southwell Minster and Galway Cathedral), Barber’s Dover Beach with the Villiers Quartet (St John’s Smith Square).

He also understudied Roderick Williams in the World Premiere of the ‘Da Vinci Requiem’ by Cecilia Mcdowall with the Philharmonia Orchestra (Royal Festival Hall).

Upcoming performances in 2022 include: Brahms Requiem. Handel’s Messiah, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and a new work by Steve Banks ‘Blue Pearl’ which will be filmed in St Giles, Cripplegate, London with the London Mozart players.

He studies with Janice Chapman and Gavin Carr

For further information, visit www.geoffwilliamsbaritone.com

Colin Campbell

Baritone, Soloists

Colin Campbell is an established concert soloist and has appeared throughout the UK, in Europe, the U.S.A. and the Far East, in repertoire ranging from Monteverdi to Tavener.

International concert performances include the arias in Bach’s St John and St Matthew Passions with Trevor Pinnock and The English Concert; Christus in Bach’s St Matthew Passion in Tampere, Finland and in Beijing, China (Chinese Premiere); Bach’s B Minor Mass in Japan and Korea with Sir John Eliot Gardiner; Beethoven’s Leonore at the Lincoln Center New York, the Salzburg Festival and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, also with Sir John Eliot Gardiner; Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem in Shanghai; and Marcel Dupré’s cantata De Profundis in Munich with the Bayerische Rundfunk and Marcello Viotti;

In the UK he has appeared at the Royal Albert Hall with the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Choir of King’s College Cambridge in Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on Christmas Carols and with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Mahler’s Eighth Symphony. At the Queen Elizabeth Hall Colin has performed with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius and the City of London Sinfonia in Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem.  At Westminster Cathedral he has appeared with the Bach Choir and the English Chamber Orchestra in Fauré’s Requiem and has performed Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem at Symphony Hall, Birmingham.

Colin’s operatic repertoire is extensive and he has performed with Kent Opera, English Touring Opera, Welsh National Opera, Aix en Provence Festival, Bermuda Festival and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

 

Stephen Cooper

Baritone, Soloists

Stephen Cooper: BaritoneStephen began his singing career as a choirboy, finishing runner-up in the national Choirboy of the Year Awards in 1978. His adult solo performances have included the title roles in Elijah and Eugene Onegin, and past recitals have included Schubert’s Die Schöne Müllerin at the Leicestershire Literature Festival. He has also commissioned a song/duet cycle setting of A Village Romeo and Juliet, with words by Radio 4’s Nigel Forde and music by Suffolk composer Jack Hawes. The first performances were given with soprano Caroline Palmer in 1993.

Stephen has been a member of Nottingham Bach Choir, conducted by Paul Hale, since 2001, and frequently takes solo roles in their concerts, including Christus in Bach’s St Matthew Passion, performed at Southwell Minster in March 2012, and baritone soloist in Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem in June 2013. Stephen is an Auxiliary Lay Clerk at Southwell Minster, and has joined the Minster Chorale as a soloist on a number of occasions, including Vaughan Williams’ Mystical Songs in 2014. In July 2016 Stephen will be accompanied by his father John in a Friday lunchtime recital at the Minster, which will include songs by George Butterworth, who died at The Somme in August 1916.

Marcus Farnsworth

Baritone, Soloists

Marcus Farnsworth is a baritone who performs in operas, concerts and recitals around the world. He is also a conductor with a particular specialism in choral and vocal music. He was awarded first prize in the 2009 Wigmore Hall International Song Competition and the Song Prize at the 2011 Kathleen Ferrier Competition.

Marcus began his musical training as a chorister at Southwell Minster in Nottinghamshire. He went on to study at Chetham’s School of Music, the University of Manchester and the Royal Academy of Music. In addition to a busy career as a performer, Marcus is Head of Vocal and Choral Studies at Chetham’s and is Founder and Artistic Director of the Southwell Music Festival. He was also recently appointed as Musical Director of the Southwell Choral Society.

He has appeared as a principal artist with opera companies in the UK and abroad including English National Opera, Welsh National Opera, Bergen National Opera, Boston Lyric Opera and Teatro Real Madrid. Equally at home on the concert platform, Marcus has performed and recorded extensively with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, Gabrieli Consort, Academy of Ancient Music, Arcangelo, and Aurora Orchestra. He is also a keen recitalist and an advocate for new music. He has given recitals at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, La Monnaie, the Oxford Lieder Festival, Leeds Lieder and the Wigmore Hall.

Marcus lives in Southwell in Nottinghamshire with his wife and four-year-old son and, thanks to the latter, has developed an unlikely interest in agricultural vehicles. Marcus is a keen cook and consumer of food. He also enjoys cycling and hiking, both of which are good for working off all that food.

 

James Williams

Baritone, Soloists

James Williams was born in London and studied at the Royal Academy of Music. Since graduating, James has distinguished himself as a successful artist on the operatic stage as well as in concert and recital.

In 2015-16, James completed the trilogy of the Mozart/Da Ponte operas, performing the title role of Don Giovanni, Don Alfonso/Così fan tutte and Il Conte/Le nozze di Figaro in fully-staged productions across the UK with Dulwich Opera Company and Opera Seria.

In oratorio, James has performed as baritone soloist in: Brahms’s Ein Deutsches Requiem, Finzi’s In Terra Pax, Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, and Jonathan Rathbone’s Christmas Truce.