British Benevolent Fund III

Born and educated in North Yorkshire, Rebecca made her concerto debut at the age of 17 performing Shostakovich's 2^nd piano concerto. Under the tuition of Jeremy Young of the RNCM, she was awarded a performance scholarship to the annual Birmingham International Piano Academy in 2005 and the following year she won the Piano Academy's concerto competition, performing Mozart's A major concerto K488 with the Queen's Park Sinfonia. She has also performed Mozart's other A major concerto (K414) and Beethoven's 3rd piano concerto in Oxford. In 2011 she appeared as a soloist with the Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra, performing in Muscat under the direction of Simon Wright.

Rebecca read music as Organ Scholar at Lincoln College, Oxford, studying with David Sanger. As both an organist and choral conductor she has broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 & 4, made CD recordings and performed in the UK and abroad in venues such as Westminster Abbey, St. George’s Chapel Windsor, York Minster, Christ Church Dublin, St Marks Venice. On completing her undergraduate studies Rebecca was appointed Head of Choristers and later Director of Music at Hall Grove School in Surrey. During her time in charge of the Choristers she toured to Ireland and Austria, performed in various venues including Eton Chapel, Liverpool Cathedral, Guildford Cathedral, Manchester Cathedral and recorded broadcasts for BBC Radio 4 Daily Service.

In the 2012 Rebecca was répétiteur for the Ryedale Festival Opera, also performing as accompanist in the Yorkshire Young Musicians Concert and organist in a performance of Fauré's Requiem with Leeds Festival Chorus. She has also worked as a répétiteur for Eugene Onegin and Ariodante under the direction of Jane Glover and as Musical Director for Silent Opera's production of Holst's Savitri. As a coach her work has included collaborating with the Russian baritone Sergei Leiferkus in preparation for Mahler's 8th symphony and Wagner's Parsifal with Kent Nagano and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. Rebecca has taken part in various master classes including with Melvyn Tan, Helmut Deutsch, Kathryn Stott, Barbara Bonney, Roderick Williams, John Mark Ainsley and Susan Bullock. Orchestrally she has worked with numerous conductors including Martyn Brabbins, Jac van Steen, Gianandrea Noseda and accompanied choirs such as the English Chamber Choir and the Philharmonia Chorus under Stefan Bevier.

Rebecca recently completed her studies for an MA in piano accompaniment at the Royal Academy of Music with Michael Dussek and Carole Presland. During her studies she was a member of the prestigious Academy Song Circle and the following year was a Trainee Répétiteur Junior Fellow. She achieved a distinction in her LRAM diploma and was a prize winner in the Rex Stephens Lieder Prize, a finalist in the Richard Lewis Song Competition and was highly commended in both the Major van Someron-Godfrey English Song Prize and the Scott Huxley Piano Accompaniment Competition.

Rebecca has performed at numerous venues throughout the UK and Europe, including St. Martins-in-the-Field, The Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Macedonia Opera House & Real Academia de Bellas Artes Madrid. She has taken part in the Henry Wood Lectures at the Royal Academy of Music, playing both Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings and Strauss's Horn Concerto no.1 using original performance material. Rebecca has been a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra for two Summer Tours, working most recently with Thomas Søndergård. During this time she performed and broadcast throughout Europe, including Italy, the Netherlands, Germany & Macedonia. Earlier this year she attended the Solti Accademia in Venice where she worked with Richard Bonynge. Recently she took part in the Musique Cordiale Festivale in France, projects included Rossini's Barber of Seville, Bach B minor Mass and a recital with Andrew Staples. With soprano, Emily Garland, they will be performing a song recital at next year’s Three Choirs Festival after jointly winning the 2014 Competitive Master class with Felicity Lott.

Hailed by The Irish Times as “most promising young Irish Tenor heard in years”27 year old Tenor Ross Scanlon is in constant demand on the Operatic, Oratorio and Concert platform. Originally from County Wicklow, Ireland, Ross is now living in London and recently graduated from the Royal Academy of Music Opera School with singing professor Philip Doghan and Coach Mary Hill. Ross is an alumnus of the D.I.T Conservatory of Music and Drama, with a BMus first class honours degree and the Michael McNamara Gold Medal for excellence in performance.

Opera Roles with numerous Opera Companies include Male Chorus The Rape of Lucretia, Lurcanio Ariodante, Masino La Vera Costanza, Tamino & Monostatos Magic Flute, Remendado Carmen, Lord Lieutenant, Master of the Rolls and Skeffington The Earl of Kildare (Irish Premiere), PierreThe Wandering Scholar (Irish Premiere)and Midas Midas. Opera Scenes at the Royal Academy include Pong Turandot, Eisenstein Die Fledermaus, Aceste Ascanio in Alba, Scaramuccio Ariadne auf Naxos and Tinca Il Tabarro. Ross was a Young Associate Artist for 2009/10 season with the Opera Theatre Company Dublin.

On the oratorio platform, Ross has performed with some of Ireland’s and the UK’s finest Choral Societies. Works include Handel’sMessiahwhere he performed in the composers home town of Halle, Germany for the Handel Anniversary Festival, Handel’s, Alexander’s Feast and Coronation Anthems, Haydn Die Jahreszeiten, The Creation and Missa in Tempore Belli, Mendelssohn Elijah and St Paul, Stainer Crucifixion, Mozart’s Vesperae Solemnes de Confessore and Coronation MassSchubert’s Mass in B flat, Jenkins ‘The Armed Man – A Mass for Peace’ and Goodall Eternal Light – A Requiem (Irish Premiere).

His debut Oratorio performance of Haydn’s Creation, at the National Concert Hall with Our Lady’s Choral Society and the RTE Concert Orchestra, received critical acclaim from the Irish Times stating “Tenor Ross Scanlon sang with a commanding lightness and clarity (he’s the most promising young Irish tenor I’ve heard in years)”.

Ross has won numerous prizes for his singing, most notably the Thomas Moore Cup, the Tenor Solo Cup and Gold Medal and the prestigious Count John McCormack Cup and Silver Medal for overall best male singer at the Feis Ceoil, Ireland. Ross has also been the recipient of the Bray Endeavour awards receiving their Culture and Arts Award as well as the recipient of the John McCormack society young artist Bursary.

Recent engagements saw Ross making his debut with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Centre, London singing Ravel’s L'enfant et les sortilèges. He also made his debut with the Welsh National Youth Opera singing the role of Hot Biscuit Slim in Britten’s Paul Bunyan.

Ross gratefully acknowledges the sponsorship and support of theMatthew & Sally Ferrey, Irish Arts Council and Wicklow County Council.

Anna completed her undergraduate degree in music at New College, Oxford University, where she held a music scholarship; she is now studying for her MA in performance at the Royal Academy of music. Anna is supported by the Kohn Foundation and the Josephine Baker Trust and received a Help Musicians UK Postgraduate Award. In 2013 she won third prize in the Maureen Lehane vocal awards and in 2011 was awarded the prestigious Harriet Cohen Memorial Prize. While at university Anna worked in masterclasses with eminent singers, such as Renee Fleming, Toby Spence, Ann Murray and Mark Wildman. She was also involved in the performance of new student works with Ensemble ISIS and worked closely with the contemporary composer Rhian Samuels.

Anna has completed two seasons with Garsington Opera, covering the role of Anna in Maometto Secondo (Rossini) and Argene in L’Olimpiade (Vivaldi). Other operatic experience includes Tamiri (cover) in Il Re Pastore (Mozart) for New Chamber Opera, Monica in The Medium (Menotti) & Eurydice in Orfeus and Eurydice (Gluck) for New Chamber Opera Studio, Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart)& Miss Wordsworth in Albert Herring (Britten) for Young Opera, Belinda in Dido and Aeneas (Purcell) & Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart) for Oxford Opera Society. Anna has been involved in many education projects for Garsington Opera, bringing opera to new areas of the community.

Anna is in much demand as a soloist and recently recorded some Fauré songs for BBC Radio 3 Music Matters; previous oratorio concerts include the soprano soloist in Poulenc’s Gloria performed in the Sheldonian Theatre, soprano soloist in Mozart’s Requiem and Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater performed in Arundel cathedral, soprano soloist in Haydn’s Nelson Mass and Dvorak’s Stabat Mater with Oxford Harmonic Society in Oxford Town Hall and the title role in Handel’s Esther & Iole in Handel’s Hercules for New Chamber Opera Studio.