Though he relinquished his highly distinguished career as one of the world’s great bass-baritones some years ago, Thomas Quasthoff will be well remembered by audiences for his outstanding performances over many years at Wigmore Hall and elsewhere. He returns to impart elements of his experience to a new generation of performers.

Ellen Pearson

​Ellen Pearson is a mezzo-soprano in the final year of her MMus at the Royal College of Music. An Ian-Evans Lombe scholar, she studies with Alison Wells and Sebastian Wybrew. She is also financially supported by the Countess of Munster and Josephine Baker trusts. Ellen Pearson is a Britten Pears Young Artist for 2024/25, a 2024 Shipston Song Rising Star and an Oxford International Song Young Artist for 2024/25. Additionally, she is an Opera Holland Park Young Artist for their 2023/24 Season, and will perform the role of Rosina in the Opera Holland Park Young Artist’s production of Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia. A keen song performer, she recently won first prizes at the Ashburnham English Song Competition and the Charles Wood International Song Competition. Recent achievements also include Highly Commended in the RCM Lieder Competition, Highly Commended in the RCM Brooks van der Pump English Song Competition, and First Prize in the AESS Dorothy Richardson Prize for English Song. She has also performed in masterclasses with Sir Thomas Allen, Michael Chance and Susan Manoff.

Alex Bower-Brown

​Alex Bower-Brown is a British baritone, currently studying in the opera school at the Royal Academy of Music with Glenville Hargreaves and Iain Ledingham. He is gratefully supported by the Norman Ayrton award. Whilst at the Academy, he has been a regular performer in the Royal Academy Bach consort, performing with Philippe Herreweghe, John Butt and Dame Jane Glover. A highlight of the series was singing Pilate in Bach’s St John Passion. He has also sung in masterclasses whilst at the Academy, most recently with Christoph Prégardien at Wigmore Hall. Opera roles at the Academy have included Tobias Mill in Rossini’s La cambiale di matrimonio, Mr Gedge in Britten’s Albert Herring and Alexander in Martinů’s Alexandre bis. Outside of the Academy, he has performed as a soloist in a wide variety of works including Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s St Matthew Passion, Brahms’s Requiem, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Vaughan Williams’s 5 Mystical Songs, Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle and Alec Roth’s A Time to Dance. He has made solo debuts at Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall, and St John’s Smith Square. His opera experience outside the Academy includes the role of Die Sprecher in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte with Cavatina Opera, the chorus in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas for Hurn Court Opera and the lead role of Mercy in a première performance of Michael Finnissy’s Mankind.

Zoë Jackson

Soprano Zoë Jackson is from the north-east of England, and is taught by Janice Chapman and Marcus van den Akker at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, where she is a postgraduate. Following being a Head Chorister at Durham Cathedral, where she was taught by Miranda Wright, she has been a member of the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain and a participant of the prestigious Samling Academy. Recent performances include the Marschallin from Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier and the Countess from Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro for GSMD Scenes, and English, Russian and Czech song projects curated by Iain Burnside and Lada Valešová in Milton Court. She is thrilled to be joining West Green House Opera this summer for Puccini’s Suor Angelica in the role of Suor Osmina, and she has just been selected as an Oxford International Song Festival Young Artist 2024/25. She is extremely grateful for her continued financial support as a Guildhall School and Hazell Trust Scholar.

Thomas Butler

​Thomas Butler read music at St John's College, Cambridge, and is now studying for a Master's degree at the Royal Academy of Music. He performed the role of Adonis in Blow's Venus and Adonis at Ryedale Festival in 2023, and as an undergraduate he sang roles in various operas: these included the Twin Brothers in Schubert’s Die Zwillingsbrüder, Don Magnifico in Rossini’s La Cenerentola, Kaspar in Weber’s Der Freischütz and Eisenstein in Strauss’s Die Fledermaus with Cambridge University Opera Society, and Achilla in Handel’s Giulio Cesare and Figaro in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro with Trinity College Music Society. At Cambridge, he sang in the Choir of St John’s College, which involved international tours and solo performances broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4. With the choir he performed as a soloist on the disc Magnificat 3 and with St John's Voices on their recording of Chesnokov's All-Night Vigil. He was awarded first place in the Clare College song competition in 2021 with his accompanist George Herbert, and was awarded the Donald Wort prize for his final recital at Cambridge. He regularly performs as a soloist in oratorio works, recently with the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. He is a Lay Vicar at Westminster Abbey, where he recently sang for the Coronation of His Majesty the King.