Mass in B Minor J S Bach

Stephen Davies Conductor

Stephen Davies, a former chorister of St Paul’s Cathedral, London, and Music Scholar of Queen’s College, Oxford, was awarded a scholarship by the Austrian Institute to study with the great organist and composer Anton Heiller at the Academy of Music in Vienna. He has since been active both in the field of music education – particularly at St Olave’s School, Orpington, where he was Director of Music for seventeen years – and as an organ recitalist. In this capacity he has given concerts in major venues throughout Europe, in New York and in New Zealand. In 2017 he gave concerts in Estonia, Germany, and Norway, and last year he performed in King’s College and Trinity College, Cambridge. He founded the Sine Nomine Singers in 1994 and conducted this chamber choir for almost 20 years, giving concerts in local venues as well as in Estonia, France and Germany. He was Director of Music here at St George’s from 2002 to 2016.

From the programme of 15 October 2022.

James Oldfield Bass-baritone

James Oldfield was a Choral Scholar at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he read Geography. He was then the Sir Thomas Allen Scholar at the Royal College of Music, and subsequently the inaugural Independent Opera Scholar at the Benjamin Britten Opera School. In December, James performed in Purcell’s The Fairy Queen on a tour of Israel with the Retrospect Ensemble. His recent concert performances include Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Haydn’s Nelson Mass with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and Monteverdi’s Vespers with the London Handel Orchestra. James’s future engagements include Figaro in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro for Garsington Opera, a Purcell programme at the Wigmore Hall, and Handel’s Messiah in the Spitalfields Festival. Please see www.james-oldfield.com for more information.

From the programme of 13 March 2010.

William Petter Tenor

William Petter (1982–2016) was Musical Director of the Sine Nomine Singers from 2013 to 2016. A chorister at New College School, Oxford, he read neuroscience at University College London before studying as a tenor at the Royal Academy of Music, and sang with Philharmonia Voices, the choirs of Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral, The Sixteen, Britten Sinfonia Voices and London Voices. He directed the professional choir of St Magnus the Martyr for ten years, as well as Concordia Voices and Sine Nomine, and in his last years composed a body of sacred music, recorded after his death. He died on 10 October 2016, a month after his 34th birthday; the choir's concert of 17 December 2016, Sing Lullaby, was given in his memory.

More at williampetter.org.

Harriet Webb Mezzo-soprano

Harriet Webb read music at Manchester University where she studied violin with Ronald Birks of the Lindsay Quartet and singing with Diane Matthews at the Royal Northern College of Music. She currently studies with Sarah Dunstan. She has sung and made numerous recordings with several of the top London chamber choirs and groups such as the BBC Singers, Polyphony, the King’s Consort, and her own five- voice group, Amici. Solo work has included performances of Bach’s St Matthew and St John Passions, Christmas Oratorio and Magnificat, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Handel’s Messiah, Israel in Egypt and Dixit Dominus, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Brahms’s Alto Rhapsody, Elgar’s The Music Makers, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Requiems by Duruflé and Bruckner, Liszt’s Via Crucis, Charpentier’s Messe de Minuit and Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb and Christ’s Nativity. Harriet has also participated in a masterclass on English song with Ian Partridge.

From the programme of 13 March 2010.

Jonathan Murphy Leader