Sally-Ann Shepherdson – soprano
Sally-Ann was born in Yorkshire, and studied at the Royal Northern College of Music, the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, at the National Opera Studio in London funded by the Peter Stuyvesant Foundation, and in Paris on a scholarship from the Countess of Munster Musical Trust.
She has appeared in opera and concert throughout the world, working with Scottish Opera, Welsh National Opera, English Touring Opera, Garsington Opera, the D’Oyly Carte, Opera Factory, European Chamber Opera, Mid Wales Opera, Castleward Opera, Opera Interludes, Diva Opera, Court Opera, Opera South East, First Act Opera, Caledonian Opera, Stowe Opera, Opera Northern Ireland and Dublin Grand Opera.
Her roles include: Drusilla (The Coronation of Poppea), Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro), Despina (Cosí fan Tutte), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Pamina, and Papagena (Die Zauberflöte), Rosina (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor), Adina (L’Elisir d’Amore), Musetta (La Bohème), Lauretta and Nella (Gianni Schicchi), Micaëla (Carmen), Violetta (La Traviata), Adele and Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus), Valencienne and Hanna Glawari (The Merry Widow), and Yum Yum (The Mikado).
Engagements have included tours as a guest artist with P&O and Fred Olsen Cruises, MSC line, concerts in Paris, London and the Channel Islands with special guest José Carreras, Frasquita (Carmen) at the Royal Albert Hall, and performances as Clorinda (La Cenerentola), in the UK, Moscow, France, Tuscany, and at the newly restored Teatro La Fenice in Venice.
She has appeared as First Lady (Die Zauberflöte), Berta (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Nella (Gianni Schicchi) and Madame Larina (Eugene Onegin) for Diva Opera, in many venues across the UK and Europe; as Norina (Don Pasquale) for Garden Opera, and as Musetta (La Bohème) and Norina (Don Pasquale) on a nationwide tour of the UK and Ireland. She also sang the role of Musetta with the company at the Cayman Islands Arts Festival. Other roles include Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus) for Riverside Opera, Hanna Glawari (The Merry Widow) for Opera South East and Yum-Yum (The Mikado) for Opera 2000 in Brighton.
Sally-Ann has appeared as soprano soloist with the British Philharmonic Orchestra in two World War anniversary celebration concerts at Lincoln Castle, and many times with the Spa Concert Orchestra in Scarborough. She directed, and sang the role of Yum-Yum in The Mikado for The Bedford Park Festival and at The Gatehouse Theatre in Highgate, London, and has appeared in concerts in Dublin, Donegal, Lancaster Priory and Leeds Town Hall.
Mail Sally-Ann • 07778 313479 • www.sallyannshepherdson.co.uk
Trevor Alexander – baritone
Trevor studied singing at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Since graduating he has worked for many companies including The Royal Opera, ENO, Opera North, European Chamber Opera, The New D’Oyly Carte, Crystal Clear Opera, Midsummer Opera and The RSC.
His operatic roles include Papageno (Die Zauberflöte), Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), Marcello (La Bohème), Sharpless (Madama Butterfly), Ping (Turandot), Dr Bartolo (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Dr Dulcamara (L’Elisir d’amore), Germont Pere (La Traviata), Lescaut (Manon), Albert (Werther), Silvio (Pagliacci), The Father (The Prodigal Son), Nottingham (Roberto Devereux) and Captain Corcoran (H.M.S.Pinafore).
Equally at home on the concert platform, Trevor’s repertoire is varied and extensive. His oratorio work includes Carmina Burana (Orff), Child of Our Time (Tippet), The Brahms, Fauré and Duruflé Requiems, A Sea Symphony and Dona Nobis Pacem (Vaughan Williams), Elijah (Mendelssohn), St John Passion and St Matthew Passion (J.S.Bach), and Handel’s Messiah. He has also sung Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Berlioz’ Les Nuits d’été and Poulenc’s Le Bal Masqué.
Trevor sang in a Gala concert in Kuala Lumpur for the President of Malaysia and also in Bangkok for the Thai Royal Family. He has toured the world on the P&O cruise liners Oriana and Aurora, singing in an extensive series of operas and concerts. He created the role of George Bateson in the Community Opera, The Promised Land for the Canterbury Festival, and sang Hughes, a role especially written for him, in the world première of Sorbet! Sorbet! at WEM07 Festival in Provence. He has continued to create new roles for the Canterbury Festival, including Agnes Leadbetter, in Kentish Tales and three characters in Castle Rackrent.
More recently Trevor sang the roles of Danilo in The Merry Widow, Ko Ko (The Mikado) for the Bedford Park Festival and at The Gatehouse, London, and gave a series of recitals of Roger Quilter songs which he has also recorded with pianist Peter Crockford.
Mail Trevor • 07910 857227 • www.trevoralexander-baritone.co.uk
Peter Crockford – piano
Peter Studied at the Birmingham School of Music and The Royal Northern College of Music. On graduating he worked as vocal coach and repetiteur for several opera companies including Glyndebourne Festival and Touring Operas, Wexford Festival, Opera 80 and Welsh National Opera.
He has conducted Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte for the Commonwealth Institute, and Britten’s Church Parables, in both Paris and London, followed by the European tour of Bernstein’s West Side Story. He joined the staff at the Stadt Theater, Freiburg in Germany, where he conducted L’elisir d’amore (Donizetti), Anna Bolena (Donizetti), Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Mozart) and the stage rehearsals for Billy Budd (Britten), Die Fledermaus (Strauss) and Carmen (Bizet).
On returning to the UK Peter worked for the Black Swan Theatre Company, conducting Dido and Aeneas (Purcell) and Opera Exclusive’s Carmen (Bizet). He became the Musical Director of Blackheath Opera and Chorus, conducting Madama Butterfly (Puccini), Die Zauberflöte and La Clemenza di Tito (Mozart), Cavalleria Rusticana (Mascagni), Il Campanello (Donizetti), Trial by Jury (Gilbert and Sullivan), Amahl and the Night Visitors (Menotti), and Merrie England (German).
Peter conducted a series of orchestral concerts in Barbados with the Wren Orchestra for the Holders Season, as well as Tosca (Puccini) and The Mikado (Gilbert and Sullivan). He has travelled to the Middle and Far East, giving performances of Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini), Don Pasquale (Donizetti), La Traviata (Verdi), Tosca and Madama Butterfly (Puccini), and many lighter concerts including a Broadway gala with the radio and youth orchestras of Kuala Lumpur, for the President of Malaysia, and an opera gala for the crown princess of Thailand in Bangkok.
For Crystal Clear Opera, European Chamber Opera and London City Opera he has conducted Tosca, La Boheme and Madama Butterfly (Puccini), La Traviata (Verdi), Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini), and Massenet’s neglected masterpiece Herodiade for Dorset Opera. He has also conducted Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart), Roberto Devereux (Donizetti), Trouble in Tahiti (Berstein) and The Telephone (Menotti).
Peter worked for the National Youth Music Theatre as a Musical Director for Noyes Fludde (Britten), conducted Sirens, the world premiere of Joanna Ive’s oratorio for young performers at the Canterbury Festival, and Our Town Story with the Trinity Junior College Orchestra in a project at the Millennium Dome.
For Morley College Choir, Peter conducted Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle and Elijah (Mendelssohn), and the world premiere of Philip Munger’s controversial work, The Skies are Weeping, with the London Percussion Ensemble at the Hackney Empire for Coro Cervantes. He has performed many times with the Blackheath String Orchestra and conducted two Proms in the Park at Crystal Palace with the National Symphony Orchestra. He has also conducted works such as The Planets (Holst), Enigma Variations and 1st Symphony (Elgar), 1st and 4th Symphonies (Mahler), The Firebird (Stravinsky), Duruflé’s Requiem, Mozart’s Requiem, Serenade to Music (Vaughan Williams), Stabat Mater (Pergolesi) and Cantata 155 (Bach) with the LGSO.
On the lighter side, Peter has conducted Salad Days (Julian Slade), No No Nanette (Youmans), Tomfoolery (Tom Lehrer) and Carousel (Rogers and Hammerstein), and The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Rupert Holmes) for the 2009 Canterbury Festival.
His television credits include the choral music for the BBC drama production The Passion, and Channel 4’s The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous, as well as a celebrity recital with soprano Rosalind Plowright for Japanese television.