Nicky Spence OBE Tenor Year at the Studio: 2009/10 Expand Opera Singer Nicky Spence is one of Scotland’s proudest sons and his unique skills as a singing actor and the rare honesty of his musicianship have earned him a place at the top of the classical music profession. Nicky was schooled locally in Dumfries and Galloway before receiving a scholarship to the Guildhall School as their youngest singer at 17 years old. During his training, he won a record contract with Decca Records before taking a place at the National Opera Studio and latterly a position at the English National Opera as one of their inaugural Harewood Artists. Safely inhabiting the repertoire of Strauss, Janáček and Wagner, Nicky is fulfilling his exciting potential as a Heldentenor having recently made his role debut as Parsifal with the Hallé orchestra under Sir Mark Elder. Described in The Times as ‘a tenor who combines heroic tone and a poetic sensibility that takes the breath away’, Nicky has recorded prolifically and is a regular featured recitalist at the Wigmore Hall, London though he can mostly be found on the International stages of Opera de Paris, Covent Garden and the Metropolitan Opera, New York. This summer Nicky will return to Glyndebourne Festival Opera as Tichon in Damiano Michieletto’s new production of Káťa Kabanová conducted by Robin Ticciati, and he will be featured in the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. Nicky is also a keen charity worker which encompasses his position as patron for both Blackheath Halls in London and Scottish Opera's Young Company, as an ambassador for Help Musicians UK, and proud president of Dumfries’s own Musical Theatre Company. In 2019, Nicky joined the board of the Incorporated Society of Musicians. Nicky is a Samling Artist, recently joining their team as a leader of young singers, and enjoys giving masterclasses internationally. Spence was nominated by the International Opera Awards for Young Singer of the Year in 2015 and was also one of ten artists included in the Times Breakthrough Award at the South Bank Sky Arts Awards celebrating the best up and coming young British talent from across the Arts industry. In 2020 he won the BBC Music Magazine Vocal Award and Gramophone’s Solo Vocal Award for his critically acclaimed recording of Janáček’s The Diary of One who Disappeared with Julius Drake and he was nominated as Singer of the Year by the Royal Philharmonic Society. During the pandemic, Nicky was a volunteer vaccinator and he's just taken up the role of judge and mentor on Sky Arts' TV show Anyone can sing. Voice type/Instrument: Tenor Year at the Studio: 2009/10 Website: www.nickyspence.com/
Elizabeth Llewellyn MBE Soprano Year at the Studio: 2009/10 Expand Specialising in the Italian repertoire, Elizabeth’s roles have centred around the operas of Puccini and Verdi – Madama Butterfly, Magda La Rondine, Giorgetta Il Tabarro, Tosca, Suor Angelica; Aida, Luisa Miller, and Amelia Simon Boccanegra for which Elizabeth was nominated for “Singer of the Year 2013” in OpernWelt. In 2014, she also made her Wagner debut as Elsa Lohengrin in Germany, about which Opera magazine wrote: “With well-nigh-perfect diction, she modulated her ever-so-slightly smoky timbre from the dreamy forlorness of the first scenes to an unusually strong confrontational tone. Her voice carried to the furthest nook, even in the pianissimo passages, and – almost alone in the cast – she seemed to have power in reserve during even her most outgoing effusions.” Elizabeth is a sought-after soprano on the concert stage. Recent appearances have included Verdi’s Requiem , Britten’s War Requiem, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with Donald Runnicles (with whom she also gave a live performance of Strauss’ Vier Letzte Lieder on BBC Radio 3 with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra), Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Elgar’s Caractacus and Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony with Martyn Brabbins, both recorded for Hyperion. Voice type/Instrument: Soprano Year at the Studio: 2009/10 Website: www.elizabethllewellyn.com/
Gerald Finley OC CBE Bass-Baritone Year at the Studio: 1987/88 Expand Acclaimed Canadian bass-baritone Gerald Finley is a Grammy Award-winning singer and dramatic interpreter of our time, with celebrated performances at the world’s major opera and concert venues and recordings on CD and DVD with major labels in a wide variety of repertoire. Mr Finley’s extensive career is devoted to the complete spectrum of vocal art, encompassing operatic, orchestral and song repertoire, collaborating with the greatest composers, orchestras and conductors. His career initially focussed on the music of Mozart; his Don Giovanni and Count in Le nozze di Figaro have been heard live and broadcast throughout the world. His expanding repertoire soon encompassed what are now signature roles including Bluebeard, Guillaume Tell, J. Robert Oppenheimer in John Adam’s Dr. Atomic, and Jaufré Rudel in Saariaho’s L’amour de loin. He created Harry Heegan in Mark Anthony Turnage’s The Silver Tassie. Voice type/Instrument: Bass-Baritone Year at the Studio: 1987/88 Website: www.geraldfinley.com
Susan Bullock CBE Soprano Year at the Studio: 1984/85 Expand Susan Bullock’s unique position as one of the world’s most sought-after dramatic sopranos was recognised by the award of a CBE in June 2014. Of her most distinctive roles, Wagner’s Brünnhilde has garnered outstanding praise leading Susan Bullock to become the first ever soprano to sing four consecutive cycles of Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Royal Opera House under Sir Antonio Pappano. Appearances as Richard Strauss’ Elektra have brought her equal international acclaim and collaborations with some of the world’s leading conductors including Fabio Luisi, Semyon Bychkov, Seiji Ozawa, Sir Mark Elder and Edo de Waart. In recent seasons, Susan has begun to explore new repertoire making debuts as Klytaemnestra (Elektra) for the Canadian Opera Company under Johannes Debus, the role of Liz Stride in the world premiere of Iain Bell’s Jack the Ripper for ENO; and her acclaimed portrayal of Mother for Scottish Opera in Mark Anthony-Turnage’s Greek at BAM which she debuted at the Edinburgh International Festival. Further debuts include in the role of Kostelnička (Jenůfa) for Grange Park Opera, both Gertrude and The Witch (Hänsel und Gretel) for Opera North and Grange Park Opera, Mrs Lovett (Sweeney Todd) for Houston Grand Opera, her debut as Mother in the European premier of Missy Mazzoli’s award winning Breaking the Waves for Scottish Opera also at the Edinburgh International Festival, and a welcome return to the role of Mrs Lovett with Bergen National Opera. The 19/20 season brough further new roles including in special virtual projects Feast in the Time of Plague and her debut as an actor in Keith Warner’s unique staging of King Lear in which she plays Goneril at The Grange Festival. In the current season, Susan returns to Opera Frankfurt as Magdelone in Carl Nielsen’s Maskarade and new production by Tobias Kratzer conducted by Titus Engel and she returns to the role of Kostelnička for Den Norske Opera. Voice type/Instrument: Soprano Year at the Studio: 1984/85 Website: http://www.harrisonparrott.com/artist/profile/susan-bullock
Marie McLaughlin Soprano Year at the Studio: 1978/79 Expand Distinguished soprano Marie McLaughlin has enjoyed more than four decades of performance at the highest international level. Over that time, she has collaborated with some of the world’s greatest conductors, including Daniel Barenboim, Bernard Haitink, Sir Antonio Pappano as well as such legends as the late Leonard Bernstein and Giuseppe Sinopoli. A wide repertoire of core roles took McLaughlin around the world at an early age including to the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House, Opéra National de Paris, and the Salzburg and Glyndebourne Festivals. Her substantial discography includes many of those roles including Zerlina with Sir Neville Marriner for Philips, Despina with James Levine for Deutsche Grammophon as well as Micaëla and Violetta under Bernard Haitink. Key roles in today’s repertory include Marcellina (Le Nozze di Figaro) which has been heard at Gran Teatre del Liceu, Opéra National de Paris, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, at the Salzburg and Ravinia Festivals and at the Metropolitan Opera, La Ciesca (Gianni Schicci) at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and Glyndebourne Festival, Madam Larina (Eugene Onegin) at Teatro Regio di Torino, Glyndebourne Festival and Opéra de Lille, Despina (Cosi fan tutte) at Scottish Opera and the Spoleto Festival, Alisa (Lucia di Lammermoor) at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Mrs Grose (The Turn of the Screw) at Teatro Real Madrid and Berlin’s Staatsoper unter den Linden, and Miss Jessel in the highly-acclaimed co-production by the late Luc Bondy at the Aix-en-Provence Festival and Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, conducted by Daniel Harding and released on DVD by BelAir Classique. Voice type/Instrument: Soprano Year at the Studio: 1978/79 Website: http://www.harrisonparrott.com/artist/profile/marie-mclaughlin
Brindley Sherratt Bass Expand The British Bass Brindley Sherratt is one of the most respected singers in the world of Opera.He was born into a family of strong singers but initially studied trumpet at the Royal Academy of Music. After winning several opera competitions which he entered “for experience” he went on to study singing full time. He is now enjoying a busy international career. Notable career highlights have included Sarastro Die Zauberflöte at the Vienna State Opera, the Netherlands Opera and at Covent Garden; Claggart Billy Budd at the Aldeburgh and Glyndebourne Festivals, the BBC Proms, the Teatro Real in Madird and in New York at the Brooklyn Academy of Music; Arkel for the Oper Frankfurt and the Opernhaus Zurich; Sparafucile Rigoletto at Covent Garden; Rocco Fidelio at the Glyndebourne Festival; Bottom A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence; Doctor Wozzeck at the Lyric Opera of Chicago; Ochs and Pogner Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg for the Welsh National Opera; Filippo Don Carlo for Opera North and Pimen Boris Godunov and Fiesco Simon Boccanegra at the English National Opera.