Soprano

Anna Cooper is a Swansea-born freelance soprano based in London. She studied Music at the University of Cambridge, where she was a Choral Scholar, Musical Director of an a cappella group, and President of her College’s Music Society. Since graduating, she has held scholarships at St John’s Notting Hill, St James’s Piccadilly, and Hampstead Chamber Choir. She also pursues solo opportunities, with recent highlights including John Rutter’s Requiem, Bach’s Magnificat, and Vivaldi’s Gloria. A passionate advocate for equal opportunities in the arts, alongside singing, Anna works in music outreach, as well as teaching piano and singing.

 

Emma Caroe recently graduated from Clare College, Cambridge with a first-class degree in Human, Social, and Political Sciences. She began singing as a chorister at Sheffield Cathedral, and subsequently became a founding member of Steel City Choristers. A choral scholar in Clare Choir throughout her time at university, in 2022 Emma also joined the Cambridge Early Music Consort, with which she continues to enjoy exploring vocal repertoire of the late medieval and renaissance eras. Particular highlights of her musical journey so far have included appearing in productions of Handel’s Dido and Aeneas and Francesca Caccini’s La liberazione di Ruggiero, and recording a CD of previously unrecorded Palestrina. Emma has studied with Vivien Pike and Nicola Jane-Kemp.

 

Lilly Vadaneaux is a singer, pianist and composer who recently graduated from Clare College, Cambridge. She was a Choral Scholar in Clare College Choir and sang with the Cambridge Early Music Consort and University Chamber Choir. In 2023, Lilly founded the Bruegel Consort, a vocal ensemble focused on Renaissance polyphony, which has been selected for the Stile Antico Ensemble Development Scheme 2024-26. From 2011 to 2021 Lilly attended the Guildhall School of Music Junior Department, where she studied piano with Stephen Coombs and composition with Paul Whitmarsh. At Cambridge, she held Instrumental Awards as a pianist in two chamber ensembles, and studied piano with Andrew West on the CAMRAM scheme. Lilly’s compositions have been widely recognised, including winning the National Centre for Early Music Young Composers Award. She has received mentoring from Roxanna Panufnik and has been commissioned to write new works for the West Wicklow Festival (2019), Opera Cameratina Festival (2022) and Electric Voice Theatre (2023).

 

Maddy Morris is a freelance soprano based in Brixton. She studied music at Girton College, Cambridge, where she held the Jill Vlasto Choral Scholarship and the Sophia Turle Academic Music Scholarship. She recently completed an M-Phil in musicology at the University of Oxford, while singing with Keble College Chapel Choir as a Graduate Choral Assistant under Paul Brough. Her academic research focused on optimising sleep through the sonic environment, and musical interpretations of mantric ritual. Maddy now holds a choral scholarship at St John the Baptist in Holland Park and sings regularly with Ensemble Pro Victoria. In addition, she works part time for the music education charity Music Masters. Maddy learns with Alison Wells.

 

Alto

Lily Robson is a Mezzo-Soprano who studied music at King’s College London, graduating in 2022. Here, she sang with the university’s chapel choir under Dr Joseph Fort (featuring as a soloist on their 2023 recording of Kerensa Briggs’ music), and also was a singing scholar at St. James’s Piccadilly. She has spent the last two years in York, studying for her master’s degree in Musicology, and as a choral scholar at York Minster. Lily is excited to begin the next chapter of her freelance solo and choral music career in London, and is really looking forward to the opportunities the choral scholarship presents at the musically vibrant St. Martin-in-the-Fields. Alongside working here, she will be in the Genesis Sixteen cohort and the VOCES8 scholarship programme for the 2024-25 year.

 

Sheena Jibowu is a Nigerian alto who has just finished reading music at King’s College London, receiving piano lessons from Francesca Orlando at the Royal Academy of Music, whilst also being a choral scholar with the Choir of King’s College London and studying voice under Robert Rice. Sheena has always been passionate about choral music and conducting in general: during her undergraduate studies, Sheena took up choral conducting and is now the musical director of the chapel of St Thomas Guy, King’s College London. She has also taken part in the Glover-Edward’s conducting course at the Royal Academy of Music with Sian Edwards, as well as the CIAC conducting course with Irina Walters. She is now pursuing a postgraduate degree in the Political Economy of Emerging Markets at King’s College London and is eager to commence as a choral scholar with St Martin in the Fields.

 

 

 

 

Tenor

Benjamin Thompson began his singing career as a chorister at Birmingham Cathedral, before leaving for Durham University where he read Music. Whilst at University, he sang as a Choral Scholar with the St. John’s and University Chapel Choirs for a year, before joining Newcastle Cathedral Choir for the remainder of his studies. Benjamin returned to Birmingham Cathedral in 2021 before moving to Canterbury Cathedral in September 2023, where he now sings as a Tenor Lay Clerk. He also enjoys a freelance career, with recent performances including Bach’s St John Passion, Dvořák’s Stabat Mater and Finzi’s Dies Natalis. Alongside his choral scholarship, Benjamin is also a member of the current Genesis Sixteen cohort.

 

Monty Charles is a tenor recently graduated from the University of Birmingham with a First in Music and Spanish and the Arnold Goldsbrough Prize for the highest Performance mark in his year. He is excited to start as a Lay Clerk at New College, Oxford in October as well as being part of the Voces8 Scholars and Genesis Sixteen cohort for 2024/25. Whilst in his final year of University, Monty was a Student Scholar with Ex Cathedra and has previously worked with the National Youth Chamber Choir, Orfeó Català in Barcelona, the CBSO Chorus, and St. Chad’s Cathedral Choir.

Bass

Duncan Tarboton is a recent graduate of the University of St Andrews, where he was a Choral Scholar at St Salvator’s Chapel, alongside studies in Latin and Greek. In his final year he directed close harmony group The Other Guys, and achieved 1st place at the Scottish A Capella Competition 2023. Since graduating, he has enjoyed singing with the Holst Singers, under the direction of Stephen Layton, and pursuing freelance choral and solo opportunities in London. This year he is excited to take up a choral scholarship at Holy Trinity Sloane Square, as well as at St Martin’s-in-the-Fields, in tandem with his role as a Digital Marketing Executive at ACS International Schools.

 

Iris Oliver recently graduated from the University of Oxford, reading English and French at Keble College, where she held a choral scholarship and studied under Luise Horrocks. In her time at Oxford, she sang with the Schola Cantorum and worked in French choral music on her year abroad in Lyon. Her recent operatic experience includes productions of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Handel’s Acis and Galatea. Iris is hugely excited to sing with St Martin-in-the-fields this year, as she begins her portfolio career as a professional musician. Alongside her choral scholarship, Iris is a member of Genesis Sixteen and Vox Next Gen.