Luci Briginshaw
Guest Artists
- Soprano -
Luci Briginshaw is an operatic soprano of renown, having won two prizes at the inaugural Opera: By Voice Alone competition in 2019. In the last couple of years, she has had starring roles with English Touring Opera, sung live on BBC Radio 3 and covered The Queen of the Night at Glyndebourne Opera as well as many other roles with smaller opera companies. Luci released her debut commercial recording Songs of Peter Warlock (with Eleanor Meynell on piano) in 2021.
Alex Aldren
- Tenor -
Alex studied medicine at the University of Birmingham and worked as a doctor
at the Royal London Hospital before training at the Royal Academy of Music
Opera School until 2019. Since then Alex has performed and understudied lead roles for Garsington Opera,
Hampstead Garden Opera, Opera de Baugé and The Royal Opera House, Covent
Garden. During the Covid pandemic, Alex returned to work as a doctor, but still sang
occasionally for his colleagues – one such occasion was caught on camera & went
viral. Since then Alex, dubbed ‘doctor opera’, has used his many TV appearances
to raise awareness about the importance of the arts, raising money for mental
health, homelessness and NHS staff support in the meantime.
As well as building an opera career, Alex hopes to break genre boundaries and to
spread the message that the transformational power of the arts is for everyone.
Michael Lafferty
- Baritone -
British Baritone, Michael Lafferty, is a dynamic artist, praised for the “melting warmth” of his voice, and “demonstrable affection and involvement” of his performances. He currently studies on the Opera School at Guildhall School of Music and Drama under the tutelage of David Pollard,
Last year he was a finalist in the Kathleen Ferrier Awards 2021 at Wigmore Hall and he has won numerous other awards including Patricia Routledge National English Song Competition and the Guildhall English Song Prize.
Michael’s Operatic stage debut was in 2018 as Tarquinius for Trinity Laban’s The Rape of Lucretia. Since then, Michael has performed the roles of Dr.Falke (Die Fledermaus), Pausanias (Une Éducation Manquée) and Masetto (Don Giovanni), as well as scenes from Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Figaro), Albert Herring (Sid) and Die Zauberflöte (Papageno). Michael is currently preparing the roles of Prince Andrei (Prokofiev, War and Peace), Fritz (Korngold, Die Tote Stadt) and revisiting Figaro (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) for Guildhall Opera School scenes.
Recent performances include Schumann’s ‘Requiem für Mignon’ as a soloist under the baton of Sir John Eliot Gardiner for Salzburger Festpiele 2021, Mozart Requiem for Battersea Choral Society and guest soloist for Prenzlau Opera Gala, Berlin, conducted by John Axelrod. Other engagements include Guglielmo (cover) for Nevill Holt Opera's production of Mozart's Cosi fan Tutte for the 2019 Season.
Siobhain O'Higgins
- Pianist -
Siobhain is based in London, working mainly as a recitalist and a vocal coach. In recent years her performances have taken place in locations such as the Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House, St James's, Piccadilly, Southbank Centre, the Austrian Cultural Institute, the House of Lords and the Tower of London, as well as various live BBC Radio broadcasts. Siobhain made her television debut in Channel 5’s The Singing Estate, where about forty inhabitants of Oxford’s Blackbird Leys housing estate were trained as a choir, culminating in a performance at the Royal Albert Hall. Teaching is something she values greatly - for many years she taught an Opera course for Birkbeck College, London, and has directed various operas, her favourite being Suor Angelica for Zezere Arts Festival, Portugal. She has won many awards including the Guildhall School of Music’s Accompanist Prize and The Meghan Foster Prize.
