2003/04 Trainees:

Lee Bisset
Cora Burggraaf
Amy Freston
Lorina Gore
Kate Royal

Lise Christensen

Robert Murray
Andrew Sritheran

Paul Carey Jones
James McOran-Campbell

Helen Collyer
Oliver Gooch
Michael White

Vassilis Kostopoulos bass

Vassilis Kostopoulos (lyrical bass) started his music education at the age of eight with classical guitar and music theory. Simultaneously with his Mining and Metallurgical Engineering studies at the National University of Athens (up to a Master's Degree), he auditioned at the Hellenic Conservatoire and was accepted under a full scholarship, completing his undergraduate operatic studies in two years, obtaining his Opera Singing and Teaching Diploma with ‘Excellent unanimously and a 'Prize'. In 2000, he auditioned at the Royal Academy of Music and was accepted at its Opera Course under a two-year full-fees scholarship and a bursary.

He graduated from the RAM obtaining his Postgraduate Diploma in Performance with Distinction. He was also awarded the Diploma of the Royal Academy of Music (Dip RAM) for outstanding performance. He studied with the mezzo-soprano Lina Tentzeri in Greece and the baritone Glenville Hargreaves while at the RAM. His repertoire includes the main bass roles in the following operas: Le nozze di Figaro, Forza del destino, Don Carlo, Macbeth, L’incoronazione di Poppea, Eugene Onegin, Falstaff, Rigoletto, Cunning Little Vixen, Marathon-Salamis, Tosca, I Puritani and he is now in the process of learning Zaccaria Nabucco, Fiesco Boccanegra, Sarastro Zauberflöte, Brogni Juive and Silva Ernani.

Future plans include Schubert's Winterreise, Schumann's Liederkreis op 39 & op 24 at the Royal Academy of Music, Bartolo Nozze di Figaro for the Thessaloniki Concert Hall (Megaron) in May 2004, Commendatore Don Giovanni - November 2004, Colline La Boheme - January 2005 and High Priest Marathon-Salamis - March 2005, for the Greek National Opera (following a triumphant début last year as the High Priest in Marathon-Salamis). His NOS studies were supported by the Onassis Foundation, Friends of Covent Garden and an Alastair Ross Goobey bursary.

Vassilis' CV