Katherine Manley  (soprano)

Born in 1979, Katherine Manley began her musical training at Leicester Arts In Education. Here she participated in various ensembles and choirs such as the Leicester Bach Choir and the Chanterelles, performing in venues including the Royal Albert hall and the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

For four years from 1997 she was scholar studying at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, where she was chosen as the young singer to represent the college in the Kathleen Ferrier Society Bursary. She has appeared in master classes with Benjamin Luxon, Roger Vignoles and recently with Sarah Walker. She took part of college opera performances of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte and Bizet’s Carmen.

Katherine is now continuing her postgraduate training on the Diploma Course at the Royal College of Music.

As a soloist Katherine has worked with both amateur and professional performances of oratorio and as a member of the RSAMD Chamber Choir performed with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Forthcoming engagements include work with Opera Holland Park, and singing in Händel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Nelson Mass, and an orchestral recital in Cambridge of Britten’s Les Illuminations.

Nicola Stonehouse  (mezzo-soprano)

Now 27 years old and currently a postgraduate at the Royal College of Music, Nicola began her training in 1994 at the London College of Music.

After gaining her degree Nicola qualified as a teacher whilst undertaking professional engagements. She participated in a course with English National Opera ending with a production of Shauna and Ron’s Half Moon Café, a modern opera commissioned by ENO in which Nicola played the role of Leanne.   In 2000, she took part in other ENO workshops which led to the creation of a new opera   A Palace in the Sky, later performed by local community groups at The Hackney Empire.

From 1997 Nicola worked with the professional chorus in English Festival Opera’s production of Turandot in the Holland Park Theatre. She also sang in Iolanthe with Grosvenor Light Opera, and in Carmen last season with Opera Holland Park. Carmen also came in 2002 to the Royal Albert Hall and Birmingham Indoor Arena. She has just finished working again with Opera Holland Park where she took the role of Lay Sister in Suor Angelica.

Nicola is an experienced choral singer and is currently a regular member of the chorus of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, with whom she has toured Europe. With them she has made CD recordings, the most recent with Richard Hickox was a compilation of Percy Grainger choral works, when Nicola was given a solo.

Recent solo engagements include Rossini’s Stabat Mater and his Petite Messe Solennelle, and the Mozart Requiem.

Nathan Vale began his singing career as a chorister in Hereford Cathedral Choir. As a soloist there he undertook many engagements including radio and TV broadcasts, recordings and concerts.

Engagements this year have included Mozart's Vespers and the Beethoven Mass in C minor with the BBC Scottish Philharmonic in the Usher Hall, Edinburgh, and a variety of works sung in Cambridge, Birmingham, the Banqueting Hall, Whitehall, and St John’s Smith Square in London. He will be returning to his home ground when he sings in Händel’s Messiah in Hereford Cathdral, and Bach’s Mass in B minor in Wells Cathedral.

Nathan is currently studying at the Royal College of Music, where he has won a full scholarship.

Johan Bogren  (baritone)

Born in Linköping Sweden, Johan Bogren’s musical talent was discovered at a young age when he sang as a soloist with Johannelund’s boys choir.

Pursuing his love of singing, in 1995 he took the decision to begin formal voice studies at Vadstena folkhögskola, and began to extend his experience on the concert platform. In 1997 he was accepted onto the BMus (honours) degree course at the Birmingham Conservatoire. Whilst there he sang in several operatic performances, among them taking the roles of Ottone in Monteverdi's The Coronation of Poppea, Sid in Britten's Albert Herring and Escamillo in Bizet's Carmen. Oratorio performances have included Mendelssohn's Die erste Walpurgisnacht with Birmingham University, the Requiems of both Fauré and Brahms, and a Bach Cantata no. 82 Ich habe genug.

Johan is currently studying on a postgraduate course at the Royal College of Music in London.