Alumni News
Several former members of Leeds Baroque have gone on to professional careers in music. We are proud to have had the opportunity to work with them during their student days. Below are some of our distinguished alumni.
Morgana Warren - Jones (mezzo soprano)
Life after Leeds Baroque
After graduating from the University of Leeds in 2017 I moved back home to Bangor, Gwynedd and was very fortunate to find a job with Welsh National Opera’s Youth and Community hub in Llandudno. I was trained as a vocal animateur, leading singing workshops in schools across North Wales, while also managing the hub’s outreach projects. One highlight was producing the WNO finale concert of the 2019 North Wales International Music Festival in St Asaph Cathedral, in which our Community Chorus and Youth Opera sang alongside mainstage soloists and the NEW Sinfonia in a performance of Orff’s Carmina Burana.
This increased my interest in outreach work significantly, leading me to become a music leader for Only Boys Aloud groups in disadvantaged regions of North Wales. Meanwhile, I always had a primary goal of gaining a place on a Masters course at a conservatoire, and was regularly travelling to Manchester for singing lessons with my brilliant teacher, Sandra Dugdale, seeking out as many performance opportunities as I could. In 2019, I was selected by Mary King for the Glyndebourne Academy and I also auditioned successfully for a place on British Youth Opera’s Serena Fenwick training programme. Soon after I accepted a place on the Masters in Performance at the RNCM, commencing in September 2020. Over the past few months I have felt so very grateful to have an exciting, new focus. Last term I performed in the Hens’ Chorus in the college’s fully staged production of Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen, and this term I have auditioned successfully for the RNCM Songsters and the Opera North Chorus mentoring scheme.
I was a member of Leeds Baroque between 2014 and 2017 and have fond memories of being handed all sorts of (often extremely challenging!) music by composers that I had never come across before. Highlights include my first performance with the ensemble (Purcell excerpts) in Saltaire (the day after Leeds Uni Summer Ball – ouch!!!), singing some very quick notes in the Portrait of Heinrich Biber concert at Howard Assembly Room, and a collaboration concert of Mendelssohn and Mozart with the University School of Music during my final year. Singing with Leeds Baroque continually pushed me out of my comfort zone and I realise now how lucky I was to be introduced to so much wonderful music very early in my studies, as well as having the chance to sing regularly with an eminent Baroque orchestra. I am a huge fan of Baroque music, especially Handel, and am currently working with my current teacher Sue Roper on the role of Giulio Cesare - yes I’m now a mezzo-soprano!
After graduating from the University of Leeds in 2017 I moved back home to Bangor, Gwynedd and was very fortunate to find a job with Welsh National Opera’s Youth and Community hub in Llandudno. I was trained as a vocal animateur, leading singing workshops in schools across North Wales, while also managing the hub’s outreach projects. One highlight was producing the WNO finale concert of the 2019 North Wales International Music Festival in St Asaph Cathedral, in which our Community Chorus and Youth Opera sang alongside mainstage soloists and the NEW Sinfonia in a performance of Orff’s Carmina Burana.
This increased my interest in outreach work significantly, leading me to become a music leader for Only Boys Aloud groups in disadvantaged regions of North Wales. Meanwhile, I always had a primary goal of gaining a place on a Masters course at a conservatoire, and was regularly travelling to Manchester for singing lessons with my brilliant teacher, Sandra Dugdale, seeking out as many performance opportunities as I could. In 2019, I was selected by Mary King for the Glyndebourne Academy and I also auditioned successfully for a place on British Youth Opera’s Serena Fenwick training programme. Soon after I accepted a place on the Masters in Performance at the RNCM, commencing in September 2020. Over the past few months I have felt so very grateful to have an exciting, new focus. Last term I performed in the Hens’ Chorus in the college’s fully staged production of Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen, and this term I have auditioned successfully for the RNCM Songsters and the Opera North Chorus mentoring scheme.
I was a member of Leeds Baroque between 2014 and 2017 and have fond memories of being handed all sorts of (often extremely challenging!) music by composers that I had never come across before. Highlights include my first performance with the ensemble (Purcell excerpts) in Saltaire (the day after Leeds Uni Summer Ball – ouch!!!), singing some very quick notes in the Portrait of Heinrich Biber concert at Howard Assembly Room, and a collaboration concert of Mendelssohn and Mozart with the University School of Music during my final year. Singing with Leeds Baroque continually pushed me out of my comfort zone and I realise now how lucky I was to be introduced to so much wonderful music very early in my studies, as well as having the chance to sing regularly with an eminent Baroque orchestra. I am a huge fan of Baroque music, especially Handel, and am currently working with my current teacher Sue Roper on the role of Giulio Cesare - yes I’m now a mezzo-soprano!
Karen Gibbard (oboe)
Karen is a professional oboist, specialising in performance on historical oboes from the baroque, classical and romantic periods of music. This has included engagements with the Brighton Early Music Festival, Dunedin Consort & Players, Gabrieli Consort & Players, London Handel Festival, Ludus Baroque, New London Consort, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Oxford Baroque, Parley of Instruments and The Hanover Band.
She was a member of the European Union Baroque Orchestra (EUBO) in 2012, a participant on the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment Experience scheme (funded by Ann and Peter Law) in 2010, and she regularly performed on classical and romantic oboes with the Jeune Orchestre Atlantique 2008-2010.
Karen received a Masters in early music performance from the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland (2013). This included intensive principal study coaching on baroque and classical oboe with Katharina Arfken. Prior to this she studied with Katharina Spreckelsen and Gail Hennessy in London, after graduating with an MMus Distinction in Oboe Performance from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (2008), generously funded by the HR Taylor Charitable Trust and the Mercers' Company.
This wonderful journey into the world of historical oboes all began at the University of Leeds where Karen graduated with a first-class BMus (Hons) in 2007. She has not looked back since!
www.karengibbard.co.uk
She was a member of the European Union Baroque Orchestra (EUBO) in 2012, a participant on the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment Experience scheme (funded by Ann and Peter Law) in 2010, and she regularly performed on classical and romantic oboes with the Jeune Orchestre Atlantique 2008-2010.
Karen received a Masters in early music performance from the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland (2013). This included intensive principal study coaching on baroque and classical oboe with Katharina Arfken. Prior to this she studied with Katharina Spreckelsen and Gail Hennessy in London, after graduating with an MMus Distinction in Oboe Performance from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (2008), generously funded by the HR Taylor Charitable Trust and the Mercers' Company.
This wonderful journey into the world of historical oboes all began at the University of Leeds where Karen graduated with a first-class BMus (Hons) in 2007. She has not looked back since!
www.karengibbard.co.uk
Bethany Seymour (soprano)
Bethany graduated with first-class honours from the University of Leeds, where she read music. Her studies at Leeds included an Erasmus-exchange programme studying at the Musikhochschule in Köln with Barbara Schlick. She also performed with Leeds Baroque Choir.
Since then Bethany has sung with Hermann Max and the Rheinische Kantorei in festivals including Knechtsteden, Leipzig and Erfurt. In England she sings with Yorkshire Bach Choir and Yorkshire Baroque Soloists with whom she has performed as soloist at Festival Mitte Europa, Bachfest Leipzig, Köthener Herbst (with Leipzig Barockorchester), Merseburg Orgeltage, Aarhus, Düsseldorf, Ryedale, Warwick and York Early Music Festivals. She has also recorded J.S. Bach’s Johannes-Passion and Mass in B minor with Peter Seymour, Yorkshire Baroque Soloists and Yorkshire Bach Choir for Signum Classics.
This year Bethany is participating in the BBC Performing Arts Music Fellowship Scheme, hosted by the National Centre for Early Music in her home city. This will give her the opportunity to develop her skills as a music leader with young people, through singing leadership training with Early Years children and choral conducting training. She is also working alongside the NCEM’s teaching and learning team, helping to lead singing projects for children and young people.
www.bethanyseymour.co.uk
Since then Bethany has sung with Hermann Max and the Rheinische Kantorei in festivals including Knechtsteden, Leipzig and Erfurt. In England she sings with Yorkshire Bach Choir and Yorkshire Baroque Soloists with whom she has performed as soloist at Festival Mitte Europa, Bachfest Leipzig, Köthener Herbst (with Leipzig Barockorchester), Merseburg Orgeltage, Aarhus, Düsseldorf, Ryedale, Warwick and York Early Music Festivals. She has also recorded J.S. Bach’s Johannes-Passion and Mass in B minor with Peter Seymour, Yorkshire Baroque Soloists and Yorkshire Bach Choir for Signum Classics.
This year Bethany is participating in the BBC Performing Arts Music Fellowship Scheme, hosted by the National Centre for Early Music in her home city. This will give her the opportunity to develop her skills as a music leader with young people, through singing leadership training with Early Years children and choral conducting training. She is also working alongside the NCEM’s teaching and learning team, helping to lead singing projects for children and young people.
www.bethanyseymour.co.uk
Philip Smith (baritone)
Philip is a graduate of the University of Leeds having studied Zoology and a Masters in Conservation and Biodiversity. After a stint as the National Otter Surveyor of England, Philip hung up his waders and walking stick to study singing. At this time he became involved with a number of period instrument performance groups in and around West Yorkshire including Leeds Baroque Orchestra, his first concert with LBO was as bass soloist for the Bach St Matthew Passion in 2005.
Following a year at the Birmingham Conservatoire where he won the Postgraduate Certificate Prize, Philip enrolled on the Postgraduate Diploma course at the RNCM, studying with Barbara Robotham. Philip completed his postgraduate diploma at the RNCM in 2008. He is the recipient of a number of awards and is a Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme alumnus.
He now regularly performs in concerts and recitals across the UK and mainland Europe. In 2009 he performed at the Uzerche International Festival (France), in Krakow (Poland) and the Making Music Malta 2009 Festival. His appearances in the UK in the last year include a recital at the Leeds Lieder+ Festival, participation in a recital of Britten Song Cycles with Malcolm Martineau at the Aldeburgh Festival, a concert that was also broadcast on BBC Radio 3, and a world premiere of Weinberg’s one act opera Lady Magnesia with Ensemble 10/10.
A recipient of a 2008/09 Independent Opera Postgraduate Voice Fellowship Philip is just as comfortable on the opera stage. Since graduating he has performed with Longborough Festival Opera (Morales in Carmen, Bizet), Opera by Definition (Leone in Tamerlano, Handel), Manchester Camerata (Aeneas in Dido& Aeneas, Purcell), Opera Minima (‘c’ in Rainforest, Martin Read and Philip Sealey) and understudied for Glyndebourne on Tour (Dancairo in Carmen).
Following a year at the Birmingham Conservatoire where he won the Postgraduate Certificate Prize, Philip enrolled on the Postgraduate Diploma course at the RNCM, studying with Barbara Robotham. Philip completed his postgraduate diploma at the RNCM in 2008. He is the recipient of a number of awards and is a Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme alumnus.
He now regularly performs in concerts and recitals across the UK and mainland Europe. In 2009 he performed at the Uzerche International Festival (France), in Krakow (Poland) and the Making Music Malta 2009 Festival. His appearances in the UK in the last year include a recital at the Leeds Lieder+ Festival, participation in a recital of Britten Song Cycles with Malcolm Martineau at the Aldeburgh Festival, a concert that was also broadcast on BBC Radio 3, and a world premiere of Weinberg’s one act opera Lady Magnesia with Ensemble 10/10.
A recipient of a 2008/09 Independent Opera Postgraduate Voice Fellowship Philip is just as comfortable on the opera stage. Since graduating he has performed with Longborough Festival Opera (Morales in Carmen, Bizet), Opera by Definition (Leone in Tamerlano, Handel), Manchester Camerata (Aeneas in Dido& Aeneas, Purcell), Opera Minima (‘c’ in Rainforest, Martin Read and Philip Sealey) and understudied for Glyndebourne on Tour (Dancairo in Carmen).