Trainees 2010/11

Sopranos
Lucinda-Mirikata Deacon
Susana Gaspar
Aoife O'Sullivan

Mezzo-sopranos
Maire Flavin
Justina Gringyte
Hanna Hipp

Tenors
Tyler Clarke
Nathan Vale
John Pierce

Baritones
Duncan Rock

Bass
Jimmy Holliday
Ross McInroy

Repetiteurs
Sonia Ben-Santamaria
Julian Black
Elizabeth Rossiter
Heather Tomala

Oliver Dunn baritone

Oliver Dunn, baritone, is a Kentish man and has recently completed study on the Opera Course at the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied with Mark Wildman and Iain Ledingham. Previously to this he completed a degree and two Post Graduate years of study at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester under the tutelage of Robert Alderson.
 
Whilst at the Royal Academy, Oliver has taken part in private and public Masterclasses with Chevalier José Cura, Dennis O'Neill CBE and Robert Tear CBE. In January 2009 he was awarded Second place in the prestigious Richard Lewis/Jean Shanks Award within the Royal Academy. Most recently he performed the role of 'Don Parmenione' in Royal Academy Opera's summer production of Rossini's L'occasione fa il ladro and sang the part of 'Pilate' in a Royal Academy performance of Bach's St John Passion conducted by Edward Higginbottom as part of the Spitalfields Festival. In December 2009 he played the part of 'Cadmus' in RAO's autumn production of Handel's Semele conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras and Laurence Cummings. In March he performed the role of 'Mr Gedge, the Vicar' in RAO's Spring performances of Albert Herring which was directed by John Copley. This summer Oliver was part of the Glyndebourne Festival Chorus in the new production of Billy Budd in which he also covered the role of the 1st Mate.
 
On the concert platform he has appeared extensively across Britain with a variety of orchestras and ensembles including, The Hallé, The Hanover Band and Manchester Camerata. Oratorio performances include Mozart's Vesperae Solennes de Confessore, Bach St Matthew Passion (Christus) and St John Passion (Christus and Pilate), Mendelssohn Elijah,  Handel Messiah, Haydn Nelson Mass, Rossini Petite Messe Solennelle, Puccini Messa di Gloria, Purcell King Arthur and Karl Jenkins' The Armed Man, conducted by the composer. Oliver also performed concert excerpts of Disney's The Jungle Book and The Lion King with the RNCM Wind Orchestra at the Bridgewater Hall in which he played the roles of 'Baloo' and 'Scar'.

Operatically, for the Gawsworth Festival 2006 Oliver performed the role of 'Pish-Tush' in Phoenix Opera's production of The Mikado. In 2007 he returned to Gawsworth to play 'Captain Corcoran' in their production of HMS Pinafore. In July 2007 Oliver appeared as 'Aeneas' in the Yorke Trusts summer production of Dido and Aeneas. In 2008 he performed the role of 'Zurniga' for Clonter Opera in their summer production of Carmen. He returned to Clonter Opera in the summer of 2009 to sing the role of 'Count Monterone' in Rigoletto. He is currently rehearsing the role of 'Marullo' in the Iford Festivals' production of Rigoletto.
 
During his time at the RNCM, Oliver was involved in a wide variety of performances including chorus parts in the college's productions, after which he went on to perform a variety of roles in RNCM Opera productions, most notably 'the Forester' in Janačeks The Cunning Little Vixen, 'Zaretsky' in Eugene Onegin and also the title role in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro. He was involved in a number of staged excerpts and took part in various masterclasses within the RNCM with distinguished pedagogues such as Dame Emma Kirkby and Sir Mark Elder. In 2006 Oliver won the Alexander Young Prize and was awarded the William Macloud Johnson prize for Male singing and in 2007 the John Cameron Prize for the singing of Lieder.

During his time at the National Opera Studio, Oliver was geneerously supported by the Lionel Anthony Charitable Trust.