We’re delighted to welcome four top soloists to join us and the orchestra for our concert on 30 November: here’s a little more about each one of them.
Katharine Hawnt, soprano
Katharine is no stranger to us: she lives locally and has sung with SCC several times in the past. She is passionate about the promotion of community and diversity through singing and group acts of kindness. She views singing as a highly beneficial, social and health giving life-skill and enjoys encouraging others to take part, whether that be through her teaching at Sherborne Girls, private lessons or leading local community groups.
Katharine has a large number of recordings and broadcasts under her belt with Collegium Vocale Ghent, Ensemble Plus Ultra and, in particular, a number of celebrated discs with the all-female ensemble Musica Secreta with whom she still works very closely.
Her early interests in pre-Classical repertoire were reinforced by her degree and choral scholarship at King’s College London, followed up by postgraduate studies in Switzerland at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, and subsequent singing career. A desire to develop her interests further led her towards an in-depth examination of the history of the Early Music Revival through her PhD research into the keyboard collector Raymond Russell (1922-1964) at the University of Southampton. This research, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and National Trust, has resulted in a significant contribution to a number of heritage sites in the UK, and at conferences related to musical instrument collections, Queer musicology and events seeking to examine music’s role in museums and the heritage sector through the Sound Heritage network. Her thesis and further publications are forthcoming.
Helen Charlston, mezzo-soprano
Helen was originally booked to sing in our performance of Bach’s B Minor Mass back in 2020, which had to be cancelled due to the Pandemic, so we’re delighted we can finally welcome her to Sherborne!
Helen was recently a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist (2021-23), and finalist of the 2021 Kathleen Ferrier Awards for which she was a recipient of the Ferrier Loveday Song Prize. In 2023 she won a Gramophone Award for Best Concept Album, and collected the Vocal award at the BBC Music Magazine Awards, both for her second Delphian album Battle Cry: the only recording that year to win at both ceremonies.
Recent appearances on the concert platform include premieres of a new song cycle written for her as a companion piece to Schumann Dichterliebe by Héloïse Werner at the Oxford International Song Festival and Wigmore Hall, Bach B minor mass with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Richard Egarr, as well as Mendelssohn’s Elijah at the BBC Proms with Maxim Emelyanychev, Handel’s Messiah with the Warsaw Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, and Britten Sinfonia, and Irene in Handel Theodora with the Philharmonia Baroque in San Francisco.
This season, Helen makes her debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu as Sesto in Calixto Bieito’s production of Giulio Cesare conducted by William Christie, and sings Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius at Windsort Festival, Bach’s St John Passion with the Academy of Ancient Music, and Bach’s Magnificat with RIAS Kammerchor under Justin Doyle in South Korea. In recital she performs Battle Cry with Toby Carr at Brucknerhaus Linz, a programme of Handel with the Prague Philharmonia at Lobkowicz Palace, and she returns to Wigmore Hall with London Handel Players, Dunedin Consort, Florilegium and Toby Carr.
Edward Woodhouse, tenor
Edward is in regular demand as a soloist, and has worked with Irish Baroque Orchestra, Bampton Classical Opera and the Baroquestock Festival. He is experienced in singing the role of evangelist in J.S. Bach’s passions. As a consort singer, Edward has worked with some of the foremost ensembles around, including The Tallis Scholars, Alamire, Dunedin Consort and Tenebrae. He is a member of Chamber Choir Ireland and performs regularly with The Marian Consort.
Edward has worked in church and cathedral choirs for much of his life. As a chorister, Edward sang in the choir of St. Peter’s Church, Brighton. Following this, he was a choral scholar at Portsmouth Cathedral and a choral scholar, then lay vicar, at Exeter Cathedral; these roles were combined with his undergraduate and postgraduate studies in History. Following this, Edward was a lay clerk at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. Until recently, he was a lay clerk at Southwark Cathedral.
Tom Butler, baritone
Tom was a memorable soloist in our performance of Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem last year, so we were keen to invite him back. Already graduate of St John’s College Cambridge, since then he has has completed his Master’s degree at the Royal Academy of Music, studying with Mark Wildman.
Tom started singing as a chorister at Southwark Cathedral and was a keen participant in community opera. As a boy he sang in the Elixir of Love, Noyes Fludde and Der Freischütz at Blackheath Halls, and performed at the Royal Opera House premiere of Zaid Jabri’s opera Cities of Salt. At Cambridge he sang in St John’s College Chapel Choir. He entered the Clare College song competition in 2021 and was awarded first place with his accompanist George Herbert.
In 2022 Tom performed the premier of a song cycle by Tim Watts at the festival ‘Our Place in Space’. He has performed as an oratorio soloist with Choir 2000, Putney Choral Society and the Chichester Singers. He sang in the chorus for Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress at the Royal Academy of Music and recently took part in a masterclass at Wigmore Hall with Thomas Quasthoff.