Laura Claycomb - Soprano
Soprano Laura Claycomb enchants in adventurous repertoire, ranging from baroque music and belcanto masterpieces to contemporary creations. Her delicacy, refinement and theatricality in high-flying repertoire has defined her career as the leading American lyric coloratura. Ms. Claycomb appears in leading roles in such well-renowned opera houses as La Scala, Houston Grand Opera, Paris Bastille, Paris Garnier, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Munich Opera, Salzburg Festival, Paris Chatelet, Théâtre de la Monnaie, Berlin Staatsoper, San Francisco Opera and Los Angeles Opera as well as being sought after by top orchestras like the London Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Boston Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Le Concert d'Astrée, Les Arts Florissants, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Ensemble Modern, and Bavarian Radio Orchestra.

Barry Banks - Tenor
Barry Banks’ outstanding facility in roles by Bellini, Donizetti and Rossini has brought him to the attention of the world’s leading opera houses. With The Metropolitan Opera he has partnered Renée Fleming in Rossini’s bel canto tour-de-force Armida, Natalie Dessay in La fille du regiment and La sonnambula, Olga Borodina in L’italiana in Algeri and Anna Netrebko in Don Pasquale and L’elisir d’amore. During his long association with English National Opera he has appeared most notably as Tamino in The Magic Flute; Tom Rakewell in The Rake’s Progress and with his highly-praised portrayal of Edgardo, sung with “fiery elegance and wonderful ease” (The Times, February 2008), in David Alden’s acclaimed production of Lucia di Lammermoor. Current season highlights include Ernesto in Don Pasquale at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden together with Don Pasquale, Armida and Capriccio at The Metropolitan Opera. Further ahead Barry Banks will make his role debut in the title role in Mozart’s Mitridate at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich.

Christopher Maltman - Bariton
Christopher Maltman ist einer der führenden Baritone unserer Zeit. Als »Don Giovanni« wurde er im Sommer von Presse und Publikum gleichermaßen bei den Salzburger Festspielen gefeiert. Gleiches gilt für seine Auftritte am Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London sowie an der MET in New York. Darüber hinaus ist er gern gesehener Gast beim Glyndebourne Festival in Edinburgh, an der Bayerischen Staatsoper München, der Deutschen Staatsoper in Berlin, der Oper Frankfurt sowie an den Opernhäusern von San Diego, Seattle und San Francisco. Auf der Konzertbühne trat er mit den bedeutendsten Orchestern weltweit unter Dirigenten wie James Conlon, Christoph von Dohnányi, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Daniel Harding, Kurt Masur, Sir Roger Norrington und Sir Simon Rattle auf. Seine Engagements als Liedsänger führten ihn bisher nach Amsterdam, Köln, Mailand, New York, San Francisco, Salzburg und Wien. Anlässlich des ZDF-Silvesterkonzerts musiziert er nun erstmals mit der Sächsischen Staatskapelle Dresden.

London Symphony Chorus
The year 1966 was a major watershed in the history of the London Symphony Orchestra. The oldest of London's full-sized orchestras, founded in 1904, it had never possessed a permanent venue of its own and had long been in uncertain financial and artistic shape. In that year, the Corporation of the City of London committed to building the new Barbican Arts Centre and chose the London Symphony Orchestra (which had seen a vast improvement in standards in a short time) as its permanent residential orchestra. Also in 1966, the London Symphony Chorus was formed as a complement to the LSO. (Prior to then, recordings and concerts featuring a group designated 'London Symphony Chorus' usually had an ad hoc chorus, or a chorus provided by such organizations as the Ambrosian Singers, a core group of hundreds of available professional singers.)

The London Symphony Chorus comprises over 200 amateur singers from all walks of life. Although it works closely with the London Symphony, it is not organizationally a part of the orchestra (which is a self-governing co-op of its members). The chorus is, instead, a separate self-governing group, whose members choose nine elected representatives to administer it.

In addition to appearing regularly in concerts with the LSO, the chorus is free to appear with other orchestras. The heart of its repertoire is the wide range of twentieth century choral music, including Mahler's three choral symphonies, Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius, Britten's War Requiem, Janácek's Glagolitic Mass, and Walton's Belshazzar's Feast. It has made over 90 recordings, including Richard Hickox's recording of War Requiem (winner of the Grand Prix du Disque), Bernstein's Candide, and Britten's Peter Grimes (the latter two both Grammy Award winners).

It has a commissioning program, which has resulted in the writing of such works as Tavener's The Myrrh Bearer and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies' The Three Kings, a Christmas cantata. It appears in major festivals, and frequently undertakes tours to all parts of the world.

the tiffin boys’ Choir
Since its foundation in 1957, the tiffin boys’ Choir has been one of the few state school choirs to have been continually at the forefront of the choral music scene in britain. it has given the premiere performances of works by, among others, John gardner, Christopher brown, elizabeth Poston and antony Pitts, recorded widely for the major recording companies and undertaken frequent concerts and tours in england and abroad. the choir has worked with all the london orchestras and performs regularly with the royal Opera. recent engagements have included critically acclaimed performances of Carmen (antonio Pappano) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (richard Hickox), Boris Godunov with the bolshoi Opera, performances of britten’s War Requiem with vladimir ashkenazy, Kurt masur, richard Hickox and antonio Pappano, a series of a capella concerts at the spoleto Festival and throughout romania, and mahler’s Third Symphony with the lsO and valery gergiev and the lPO and gennadi rozhdestvensky.

the choir has made recordings of most of the orchestral repertoire that includes boys’ choir. notable releases have included mahler’s Eighth Symphony with Klaus tennstedt, which was nominated for a grammy award, Il Trittico (Puccini), Werther (massenet) and Tosca (Puccini) for emi and antonio Pappano, Billy Budd (britten) with the lsO and richard Hickox, mahler’s Third Symphony with the Philharmonia and benjamin Zander, and britten’s War Requiem with the lPO and Kurt masur.

Current releases include Mahler 3 (lsO/gergiev) on lsO live, and Carmina Burana (lsO/Hickox) and Owen Wingrave (Cls/Hickox) on Chandos, as well as the soundtrack on the computer game Fable II. tiffin is a state grammar school and specialist Performing arts College in Kingston-upon-thames, described by OFsted as “exceptional”. almost all the 1200 boys in the school play a musical instrument, and over 100 boys study music at gCse and a level. the school has been closely connected with the formation and development of the national youth music theatre. several members of the choir have gained choral scholarships to Oxford and Cambridge, singing in the choirs of King’s College, st John’s College and new College.