Biography
Stephen was born in London and he aspired to a life in the arts after taking part in operas at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, as a child.
He went on to study voice at the Royal College of Music. Graduating with Honours in 1979, he was then engaged to perform much of the Gilbert & Sullivan repertoire in concerts and productions throughout the UK, Europe and the Middle East.
Other productions in this country include THE DANCING YEARS (Ceruti), JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR (Jesus) and, in the West End, CAMELOT (Sir Lionel) and CATS (Vocal Booth). In addition, operatic roles include ARNALTA (The Coronation of Poppea), BOB BOLES (Peter Grimes), MONOSTATOS (Magic Flute), FERRANDO (Cosi Fan Tutte), DON JOSE (Carmen) and TURRIDU (Cavalleria Rusticana).
He has worked for Kent Opera, The Royal Opera, Festival d'Aix en Provence, Salzburg Festival, Edinburgh Festival, Opera de Lyon, Garsington Festival Opera, De Vlaamse Opera, Les Arts Florissants, the Boston Camerata and Music Theatre Ulster.
Concerts have taken Stephen around the world with a varied repertoire including REQUIEM (Ligeti), REQUIEM (Verdi), GURRELIEDER and MOSES UND AARON (Schoenberg), SINFONIA and CORO (Berio), THE SEASONS (Holliger), MESSIAH (Handel), and Beethoven's NINTH SYMPHONY in Zurich and the finale to FIDELIO performed at the United Nations 50th anniversary concert in Geneva, both under Sir Georg Solti. Favourite among these is the tour of the ST MATTHEW PASSION for The English Concert, conducted by Trevor Pinnock, during the Bach anniversary year of 2000 with concerts given in The Canary Islands, Spain, Germany, Austria, Turkey and Japan. This was reprised at the Proms in the summer of 2002.
In 2006 he joined the ranks of "monks" that perform for the German group GREGORIAN. Engagements have included a tour of Russia, and concerts in a medieval castle near Vienna filmed for DVD release and to be broadcast on American PBS TV. He also took part in the recording of Sir Paul McCartney's oratorio ECCE COR MEUM and sang in its first performance at the Royal Albert Hall.
Stephen has spent his whole life as a church singer including seven years as a member of the choir of the GUARDS ROYAL MILITARY CHAPEL.
In moving to Norfolk, he left behind his role as a Gentleman of the Choir at THE QUEEN’S CHAPEL OF THE SAVOY after ten years service. He has also regularly performed as the Earl of Essex at the HATFIELD HOUSE TUDOR EVENINGS and at the Dunstable LIVING HISTORY events. In the past year he has taken part in LE PASSION DE SIMONE (Saariaho) for the London Barbican’s New Crowned Hope Festival, the LIGETI REQUIEM for the 2007 Lucerne Summer Festival and the 2008 summer tour of Germany with GREGORIAN. He also performed a cabaret concert at Gresham’s School for its IN PRAISE OF AUDEN festival.
He now sings with the Norwich Cathedral Choir and regularly gives concerts in the Norfolk area.
Stephen is also honing his skills as an organiser, having brought together various performers for special occasions and public events which he has devised. He now serves on the committee of the Association of English Speakers & Singers (AESS) and has co-ordinated both the 2008 and 2009 Senior Prize, The Patricia Routledge National English Song Competition. Visit: www.aofess.org.uk.
Stephen is also a member of The Associaiton Of Teachers Of Singing (aotos.org.uk)
