Songs from the Shows British Benevolent Fund

Since graduating from the Royal Academy of Music on the MA Piano Accompaniment course under Michael Dussek and Carole Presland, Rebecca Taylor has been increasingly in demand both as an accompanist and repetiteur. Whilst at the Academy, Rebecca was a prizewinner 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 was awarded a distinction in her LRAM diploma and was a member of the prestigious Academy Song Circle.

After graduating, Rebecca continued her training as a Junior Fellow Trainee Répétiteur and was also successful in gaining a place on the Solti Peretti Repetiteurs’ Masterclass Course in 2014. As an accompanist, Rebecca’s reputation is growing following her success in winning the Maureen Lehane Accompanist Prize at Wigmore Hall. In June 2015, Rebecca accompanied the Welsh candidate in the Song Prize Competition of BBC Cardiff Singer of the World which was broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and she also be performed a song recital at the Three Choirs Festival 2015.

As a repetiteur, Rebecca has worked on an wide range of operas, which include Tom Randle's Love me to Death; Ariodante, Handel; Eugene Onegin, Tchaikovsky; and a new work by Laura Bowler in conjunction with the Ligeti Quartet at the Royal Opera House. She regularly plays for singers’ lessons, masterclasses, rehearsals and auditions; working regularly with Michael Chance, Ryland Davies and Neil Mackie.

Rebecca’s work also has an international dimension in that she has performed across Europe and the Middle East at venues which include the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, St Martin in the Fields in the UK, St Mark’s Basilica in Venice, Macedonia Opera House in Skopje and Al Bustan in Muscat.

Rebecca is Director of Music at St.Philip's Earls Court Road where she is founder and Artisitic Director for the SPECR Recital Series. She was recently appointed accompanist to the Leeds Festival Chorus, additional to her post as Assistant Conductor and Pianist for Twickenham Choral Society.

Irish born Tenor Ross Scanlon trained at the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama where he was awarded the Michael McNamara Gold Medal of excellence in performance and at the Royal Academy of Music, London. He continues his studies with Philip Doghan.

At the Royal Academy of Music, his roles included Lurcanio Ariodante, Masino La vera costanza, Monostatos Die Zauberflöte and Scaramuccio Ariadne auf Naxos. Elsewhere, his roles have included Le Thérière L’Enfant et les sortilèges with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Hot Biscuit Paul Bunyan for Welsh National Youth Opera, Male Chorus The Rape of Lucretia for Irish Youth Opera, Bookkeeper The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny for OTC, Dublin, Remendado Carmen for Lyric Opera, Dublin, Bill A Hand of Bridge, Remendado Carmen and Tamino Die Zauberflöte for Glasthule Opera.

Ross sings widely in concert, his engagements including Alexander's Feast, Messiah and The Creation with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, Messiah at the Halle Festival, Germany, at the Handel Music Festival, Dublin, and with the Irish Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as performances with choral societies through the UK and Ireland. Other oratorio’s include Britten Saint Nicolas, Dvorák Stabat Mater, 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 Mass, Schubert’s Mass in B flat, Jenkins ‘The Armed Man – A Mass for Peace’, Goodall Eternal Light – A Requiem (Irish Premiere).

“The important narrative-cum-commentary function that Britten assigned to parts he eventually labelled Male and Female Chorus is most engagingly performed with deceptive ease by tenor Ross Scanlon and soprano Jennifer Davis”. Male Chorus, The Rape of Lucretia / Irish Youth Opera / The Irish Times.

“Ross Scanlon instantly stole my heart as Lurcanio, Dalinda's unhappy lover. His smooth and lyrical tenor was a pleasure to hear”. Lurcanio, Ariodante / Royal Academy of Music / Bachtrack.

“Tenor Ross Scanlon sang with a commanding lightness and clarity (he's the most promising young Irish tenor I've heard in years)”. The Irish Times.

Jenny Stafford was born in Huddersfield and studied at the Royal Academy of Music where she won the Isabel Jay Operatic Prize and Dame Eva Turner Operatic Award. This year Jenny was a semifinalist in the Kathleen Ferrier Awards, making her debut at the Wigmore Hall. She previously undertook a BMus at King’s College, London, ENO Opera Works and the prestigious Georg Solti Accademia di Bel Canto, participating in masterclasses with Angela Gheorghiu, Richard Bonynge and Dennis O’Neill. She has also taken part in masterclasses with Edward Gardner, Angelika Kirchschlager, Barbara Bonney and Lillian Watson and is now studying under Susan Roberts in London.

Jenny has performed the roles of Vitellia (Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito) and Dido (Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas) in Cadogan Hall, Fiordiligi (Mozart’s Così fan tutte), Musetta (Puccini’s La Bohème) and 2nd Woman (Dido & Aeneas) for Silent Opera at The Vaults Festival (Old Vic), First Lady (Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte) for Ryedale Festival Opera, Grimeborn Festival 2013 and Young Opera Venture, Soprano (Handel’s Messiah staged) and Jenny / Rachel (John Ramster’s Kiss Me, Figaro!) with Merry Opera Company and Savitri (Holst’s Savitri) and Alison (Holst’s Wandering Scholar) at Grimeborn Festival 2011.

Jenny has given recitals and concerts in such venues as the Barbican Centre, Southwark Cathedral, Huddersfield Town Hall, and for the Spitalfields Music Festival and Chipping Campden Music Festival. Solo performances include Handel’s Messiah (Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra), Brahms’ Requiem, Poulenc’s Gloria, Mendelssohn’s St Paul, Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate, C Minor Mass and Vesperae Solennes de Confessore, Haydn’s Harmoniemesse, Theresienmesse, Missa Sancti Nicolai (Zurich, Switzerland) and Missa in Angustiis, Faure’s Requiem and Monteverdi Vespers 1610. 

Jenny’s studies were kindly supported by the Rhoda Jones Roberts Scholarship and Josephine Baker Trust. In the 2016/2017 season, Jenny’s engagements include Mimì (Puccini’s La bohème) with Woodhouse Opera, Donna Anna (Mozart’s Don Giovanni) with Heritage Opera (UK tour), Micaëla (Bizet’s Carmen) for the Northern Aldborough Festival, Fiordiligi with Opera Loki (UK and France tour), and both Strauss’ Vier Letzte Lieder and Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem with York Musical Society Chorus and Orchestra.