Scottish Soprano KATY THOMSON is a graduate of Durham University and The Royal College of Music. She was awarded the Worshipful Company of Musicians Silver Medal upon graduating from the Royal College of Music Opera Studio in September 2020, for her outstanding talent and contribution to life at the College. She was a Britten Pears Young Artist (2021-2022), Garsington Opera Alvarez Young Artist (2021 & 2022) and an Oxford Song Young Artist (2022-2023).

At Garsington Opera in 2021, she stepped in to make her debut as the Marschallin in Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier (“… a graceful, wise and moving Marschallin…” – Neil Fisher) and won the Helen Clarke Award. Other recent operatic engagements include Woglinde (cover) in Das Rheingold with English National Opera, Lady Dunmow in Lennox Berkeley’s A Dinner Engagement and the title role in Sāvitri (Holst)   with Opera Cameratina, as well as featuring as a guest artist with If Opera and Scottish Opera.

Katy’s “delicious Soprano” is as in-demand on the concert platform as on the operatic stage, in a wide range of repertoire. Recent concert performances include Strauss’ Vier Letzte Lieder, Mahler’s 2nd Symphony, Respighi’s Il Tramonto and Shostakovich’s Seven Romances on Poems by Alexander Blok. Katy regularly features at the Oxford International Song Festival and in Schubert & Co concerts, curated by Sholto Kynoch.

Passionate about contemporary music, Katy is known for her exceptional musicianship and creative curiosity. Recent world premiere performances include:

Lliam Paterson, Sherlock Holmes and The Sign of Four – Northern Opera Group, Leeds Opera Festival 2024.

Toby Hession, In Flagrante (Libretto: Emma Jenkins) – Scottish Opera Autumn Highlights Tour 2023 

Peter Foggitt What happens if she eats the pear (Text: Venetia Bridges) and Emily Hazrati Mother Love (Text: Venetia Bridges) – in a recital inspired by the Grimm Fairytale, The Girl with no Hands (Oxford International Song Festival, Spring 2023).

Omri Kochavi’s Nahar Amok – 2022 Aldeburgh Festival. This programme also included Judith Weir’s On the Palmy Beach and Shostakovich’s Seven Romances on Poems by Alexander Blok. 

Oliver Tarney’s St. Mark Passion at the 2019 St. Endellion Easter Festival.

Welsh National Opera soprano soloist for Rebecca Dale’s Materna Requiem at the 2018 North Wales International Music Festival.

An experienced creative director and event manager, Katy was Festival Director of the St. Endellion Easter Festival for five years (and part of the larger team for a decade). She has also worked as a researcher, including projects on Dr. Ruth Gipps and contributing to an RCM catalogue of vocal chamber works composed by women. She is currently a Trustee for the Sir George Dyson Trust and The Berners Trust.

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OLIVER TARNEY was born (1984) and educated in Lancaster, moving on to read music at Manchester university. After completing a Master's Degree in composition, and training as a teacher, he is now Assistant Director of Music at Tiffin School, Kingston, after holding the position of Head of Academic Music and Composition at Winchester College in Hampshire.

His most recent works are published by Oxford University Press, including the Missa Media Nocte and The Wise Men and the Star. Other recent pieces Lux Stellarum, a requiem written for the American Cathedral in Paris, first performed at St Sulpice, and Majora Canamus, written for the Southern Cathedrals' Festival in Winchester, and broadcast on BBC Radio 3. A Prayer of St Richard of Chichester was written for Sansara Chamber Choir (winners of the 2015 London International A Cappella Choir Competition) with whom he is an associate composer, and has been recorded on their their acclaimed CD, Cloths of Heaven (Convivium Records).

​2019 saw his St Mark Passion, commissioned by the St Endellion Easter Festival 2019, given its first performance. His 2014 Magnificat has been recorded by Serafine Chamber Choir & Sinfonia and released on the Convivium Records label to wide critical acclaim. Other recent recordings include a setting of Maria Virgo assumpta est for Suzi Digby's ORA Singers, and a set of three Christmas pieces (The Waiting Sky, Balulalow, and The Wise Men and the Star) recorded for Sansara’s most recent album, The Waiting Sky. Other recent commissions include a work for Sonoro Chamber Choir as part of their ‘Choral Inspirations’ series, and the Festival Commission for the St David’s Cathedral Festival, 2020.

Oliver has worked extensively with 'Sing for pleasure', the national choral organisation that promotes choral singing in communities, choirs, and classrooms. He is passionate about inspiring others to find a love of singing. 

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MARK JORDAN is the Musical Director of Oxford Pro Musica Singers, Musical Director of Milton Keynes Chorale, Musical Director of the John Lewis Partnership Music Society (which includes a chamber choir: the Cavendish Singers, a chorus: Voices in Partnership, and an orchestra: the Cavendish Ensemble). He is also a guest conductor of the award-winning choir Canzonetta and North Cotswold Chamber Choir. 

Equally adept with Byrd motets and large-scale choral–orchestral works, Mark demonstrates expertise across a broad repertoire. Recognised as ‘inspirational’, ‘dynamic’, and ‘a joy to work with’, he has served as chorus master for Karl Jenkins’ Birthday Concert Tour and is an artistic director at Chester Choral Week, the UK's largest single-week choral course. He maintains an active freelance conducting schedule throughout the UK. 

Alongside his distinguished conducting career, Mark is committed to developing future choral conductors and is a respected tutor at all levels for both Sing for Pleasure and the Association of British Choral Directors. 

When he has time, he still enjoys work as a choral accompanist and organist, and has held positions with many choirs over the years. He is also a highly-experienced choral singer having worked with several award-winning amateur and semi-professional choirs including Choros Amici, Encoro, Chantage, and Singscape.

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