Events
VoxBox - Brilliance, freedom and vitality
Brilliance, freedom and vitality - Britten’s passion for the songs of Purcell and Dowland
“One of my chief aims is to try to restore to the musical setting of the English Language a brilliance, freedom and vitality that have been curiously rare since the death of Purcell”.
Britten’s words are a starting point for this exploration of the music of two of his musical heroes - Dowland and Purcell - through a variety of musical perspectives.
Members of the RBC Vocal Department join forces with students from across the Conservatoire in a concert of songs exploring their masterful setting of the English language and the essence of song accompaniment.
Gian Carlo Menotti's 'The Old Maid and The Thief
Menotti’s witty gem The Old Maid and the Thief - the first opera written for radio in 1939, and a work rarely performed on stage - comes to life under the baton of Thomas Hawkey-Soar, with singers and orchestral musicians from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. The first in a series of performances.
Miss Todd Eli Street
Laetitia Phoebe Curcher
Bob William Swinnerton
Miss Pinkerton Millie Royale
Conductor Thomas Hawkey-Soar
Piano Alex Wyatt
Musicians from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
Offenbach - Orphée aux enfers
Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld arrives in a fresh new staging that brings out the operetta’s wit, charm and irreverent humour, led by conductor Paul Wingfield and director Rebecca Meltzer, with the Musicians of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.
Cast
Aristée / Pluton — Tom Hawkey Soar
Eurydice — Hannah Devereux
Orphée — Ethan Jacobs
Jupiter — Gianpiero Greatorex
John Styx — Samuel Weakley
L’Opinion Publique — Mari McGillivray
Vénus — Abigail Baylis
Additional castings to follow.
Creative Team
Director — Rebecca Meltzer
Conductor — Paul Wingfield
Orchestra — Musicians of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
Tickets to be announced.
Offenbach - Orphée aux enfers
Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld arrives in a fresh new staging that brings out the operetta’s wit, charm and irreverent humour, led by conductor Paul Wingfield and director Rebecca Meltzer, with the Musicians of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.
Cast
Aristée / Pluton — Tom Hawkey Soar
Eurydice — Hannah Devereux
Orphée — Ethan Jacobs
Jupiter — Gianpiero Greatorex
John Styx — Samuel Weakley
L’Opinion Publique — Mari McGillivray
Vénus — Abigail Baylis
Additional castings to follow.
Creative Team
Director — Rebecca Meltzer
Conductor — Paul Wingfield
Orchestra — Musicians of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
Tickets to be announced.
Offenbach - Orphée aux enfers
Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld arrives in a fresh new staging that brings out the operetta’s wit, charm and irreverent humour, led by conductor Paul Wingfield and director Rebecca Meltzer, with the Musicians of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.
Cast
Aristée / Pluton — Tom Hawkey Soar
Eurydice — Hannah Devereux
Orphée — Ethan Jacobs
Jupiter — Gianpiero Greatorex
John Styx — Samuel Weakley
L’Opinion Publique — Mari McGillivray
Vénus — Abigail Baylis
Additional castings to follow.
Creative Team
Director — Rebecca Meltzer
Conductor — Paul Wingfield
Orchestra — Musicians of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
Tickets to be announced.
Offenbach - Orphée aux enfers
Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld arrives in a fresh new staging that brings out the operetta’s wit, charm and irreverent humour, led by conductor Paul Wingfield and director Rebecca Meltzer, with the Musicians of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.
Cast
Aristée / Pluton — Tom Hawkey Soar
Eurydice — Hannah Devereux
Orphée — Ethan Jacobs
Jupiter — Gianpiero Greatorex
John Styx — Samuel Weakley
L’Opinion Publique — Mari McGillivray
Vénus — Abigail Baylis
Additional castings to follow.
Creative Team
Director — Rebecca Meltzer
Conductor — Paul Wingfield
Orchestra — Musicians of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
Tickets to be announced.
The Garden of Love
Love and nature are in full bloom in this programme of evocative imagery and shimmering harmony.
Selections from Claude Le Jeune’s innovative 16th-century Le printemps set spring as the season of love, while the transient beauty of nature and youth is explored in Eric Whitacre’s Three Flower Songs. Love and longing is the timeless subject for Palestrina - a giant of the Italian Renaissance - and for Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur, who brings impressionistic colour and intimacy to his choral masterpiece.
We are thrilled that our 2025-26 cohort of talented Scholars will perform this concert as part of the new Live at the Centre series and that they will give the world premiere of a new commission from Bobbie-Jane Gardner.
Programme includes:
Daniel-Lesur Le Cantique des cantiques
Gardner Title TBC (world premiere)
Le Jeune Le printemps
Palestrina Surge, propera, amica mea
Whitacre Three Flower Songs
EX CATHEDRA Scholars Ensemble
Jeffrey Skidmore conductor
The Garden of Love
Love and nature are in full bloom in this programme of evocative imagery and shimmering harmony.
Selections from Claude Le Jeune’s innovative 16th-century Le printemps set spring as the season of love, while the transient beauty of nature and youth is explored in Eric Whitacre’s Three Flower Songs. Love and longing is the timeless subject for Palestrina - a giant of the Italian Renaissance - and for Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur, who brings impressionistic colour and intimacy to his choral masterpiece.
We are thrilled that our 2025-26 cohort of talented Scholars will perform this concert as part of the new Live at the Centre series and that they will give the world premiere of a new commission from Bobbie-Jane Gardner.
Programme includes:
Daniel-Lesur Le Cantique des cantiques
Gardner Title TBC (world premiere)
Le Jeune Le printemps
Palestrina Surge, propera, amica mea
Whitacre Three Flower Songs
EX CATHEDRA Scholars Ensemble
Jeffrey Skidmore conductor
Gian Carlo Menotti's 'The Old Maid and The Thief
Gian Carlo Menotti’s sparkling one-act radio opera The Old Maid and The Thief, forms the centrepiece of an evening of American music curated by musicians of Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. Written as the first Opera specifically for radio in 1939, this witty tale of small-town intrigue, gossip and deception is paired with Barber’s radiant Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Gershwin’s Three Preludes for Piano and more to complete an evening of trans-atlantic mid-century elegance and charm.
Full Programme
Knoxville: Summer of 1915 Samuel Barber
Elissa Street - Soprano
8 Poems of Emily Dickinson Aaron Copland
III. The World Feels Dusty
VII. Going to Heaven
VIII. The Chariot
Three Preludes for Piano George Gershwin
Alex Wyatt - Piano
- Interval -
The Old Maid and the Thief Gian Carlo Menotti
Miss Todd - Elissa Street
Bob - William Swinnerton
Laetitia - Phoebe Curcher
Miss Pinkerton - Millie Royle
Musicians from Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
Conductor - Tom Hawkey-Soar
Piano - Alex Wyatt
Ticket details to follow.
Handel in Italy
Tom joins The Ludlow Choral Society as Soloist in a performance showcasing music composed by Handel while living in Italy
RBC Autumn Opera Scenes
Lysanne van Overbeek director
Mark Austin conductor
Tom performs as Fenton in Verdi’s Falstaff and Fortunio in Andre Messager’s Opera Fortunio.
Join us for a varied evening which will tour a wide range of operas from jewels of the baroque through to the daringly contemporary.
Whether you’re new to opera or a seasoned spectator, there’s something here for everyone.
A Goodnight - Music of Remembrance and Hope
Eamonn Dougan guest conducts Ex Cathedra in a programme of contemplation and comfort.
Duruflé Requiem - Britten, Burton & Vaughan Williams
Music of awe and wonder with Ex Cathedra; including Durufle’s Requiem and Vaughan-Williams ‘A vision of Aeroplanes'.
Nicky Spence OBE Public Masterclass
Tom will be taking part in a Public Masterclass led by Nicky Spence as part of the Inaugural Grasmere Song Festival led by Audrey Hyland.
Sir Thomas Allen Public Masterclass
Tom will be taking part in a Public Masterclass led by Baritone, Sir Thomas Allen as part of the Inaugural Grasmere Song Festival led by Audrey Hyland.
‘Opera Royale’ a Double Bill - Pegasus Opera
Tom will be joining Pegasus for the first time, returning to the role of The Lover (Cover) in Smyth’s Fete Galante, with performances at the Britten Theatre, Royal College of Music.
‘Opera Royale’ a Double Bill - Pegasus Opera
Tom will be joining Pegasus for the first time, returning to the role of The Lover (Cover) in Smyth’s Fete Galante, with performances at the Britten Theatre, Royal College of Music.
‘Opera Royale’ a Double Bill - Pegasus Opera
Tom will be joining Pegasus for the first time, returning to the role of The Lover (Cover) in Smyth’s Fete Galante, with performances at the Britten Theatre, Royal College of Music.
Brecon Singers and BCF Chorus present Elijah
Tom performs in the Opening Performance of the 2025 Brecon Choral Festival as Tenor Soloist in Mendelssohn’s ‘Elijah’
International Baroque Conference
Tom performs alongside the Ex Cathedra Scholars Ensemble as part of The International Conference of Baroque Music
Britten: Peter Grimes
Tom joins British Youth Opera for their performances of Benjamin Britten’s ‘Peter Grimes’.
Cambridge Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus
Harry Sever conductor
Will Kerley director
Britten: Peter Grimes
Tom joins British Youth Opera for their performances of Benjamin Britten’s ‘Peter Grimes’.
Cambridge Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus
Harry Sever conductor
Will Kerley director
Rachmaninov Vespers by Candlelight
Tom joins the Armomico Consort for the final leg of their Rachmaninov Vespers Tour.
Rachmaninov Vespers by Candlelight
Tom joins the Armomico Consort for the final leg of their Rachmaninov Vespers Tour.
Songs from the Stage
Tom joins the Malvern Festival Chorus in the beautiful surroundings of Malvern Priory for a concert of works for the opera stage.
Kazuki Yamada conducts the RBC Symphony Orchestra
Tom joins forces as a soloist with the RBC Symphony Orchestra and Kazuki Yamada in their Season Finale Performance including Vaughan Williams ‘Serenade to Music’
RBC Summer Opera Double Bill
Fete Galante Ethyl Smyth
Dido & Aeneas Henry Purcell (Assistant Conductor)
RBC Summer Opera Double Bill
Fete Galante Ethyl Smyth
Dido & Aeneas Henry Purcell (Assistant Conductor)
RBC Summer Opera Double Bill
Fete Galante Ethyl Smyth
Dido & Aeneas Henry Purcell (Assistant Conductor)
RBC Summer Opera Double Bill
Fete Galante Ethyl Smyth
Dido & Aeneas Henry Purcell (Assistant Conductor)
Fancy: A Britten Connection
BMus Final Recital
A Programme exploring the early part of Benjamin Britten’s compositional life
J.S Bach - St Matthew Passion
J.S Bach - St Matthew Passion
Ex Cathedra - Cond. Jeffery Skidmore
Poulenc: La voix humaine
Tom Performs works for Tenor and Piano by Francis Poulenc in this first half of this concert, featuring Poulenc’s single Soprano Opera ‘La voix humaine’
BRITTEN: Albert Herring
Tom makes his Role Debut as Albert in Benjamin Britten’s Albert Herring
BRITTEN: Albert Herring
Tom makes his Role Debut as Albert in Benjamin Britten’s Albert Herring
Chanson d’Amour - By Arrangement
Tom joins the other Ex Cathedra Scholars in this concert for Valentine’s Day
EX CATHEDRA Scholars Ensemble
Jeffrey Skidmore conductor
Rupert Jeffcoat, Aoife Fahey piano
Gabriella Liandu guest performer
Postscript - A musical exhibition for Holocaust Memorial Day
Postscript - A musical exhibition for Holocaust Memorial Day. Tom performs a staged version of Jake Heggie’s Song Cycle ‘For a Look or a Touch’.
VOXBOX: The Songs of Andre Caplet
Tom performs a number of songs in this evening celebration of the under-represented composer Andre Caplet.
G F Handel: Messiah
Handel’s Messiah with the choirs of St Philip’s Cathedral, Birmingham and soloists. Tenor Soloist - Tom Hawkey-Soar