JOHN ELIOT GARDINER

Conductor / Artistic Director

John Eliot Gardiner is celebrated as one of the world’s most innovative and dynamic musicians. His work as Founder and Artistic Director of the Monteverdi Choir & Orchestras has marked him out as a key figure both in the early music revival and as a revelatory conductor of an exceptionally broad range of music.

Gardiner is a regular guest of the world’s leading symphony orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, conducting repertoire from the 16th to the 20th centuries.

Recent achievements with the Monteverdi ensembles include critically acclaimed performances of Berlioz’s L’enfance du Christ, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, cycles of Beethoven’s symphonies on both sides of the Atlantic, a GRAMMY-nominated live-streamed performance of Bach’s St John Passion from Oxford’s Sheldonian Theatre, new productions of Handel’s Semele and Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini and the RPS award-winning Monteverdi 450 project.

His wide-ranging repertoire is illustrated by his extensive catalogue of awardwinning recordings with the Monteverdi ensembles and other leading orchestras. He holds two GRAMMY awards and has received more Gramophone Awards than any other living artist.

An authority on the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, Gardiner’s book, Music in the Castle of Heaven: A Portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach, was published in October 2013 by Allen Lane, leading to the Prix des Muses award (SingerPolignac). Amongst his numerous awards and honours he is an Honorary Fellow of King’s College London, King’s College Cambridge, the Royal Academy of Music and the British Academy. He was awarded a knighthood for his services to music in the 1998 Queen’s Birthday Honours List and in 2022 he received the Italian honour of ‘Cavaliere di Gran Croce’ of the order of ‘Stella d’Italia’.

Hilary Cronin

soprano

Hilary trained at Trinity Laban Conservatoire and Royal Holloway University of London. Selected by BBC Music Magazine as a Rising Star of 2022, Hilary won both First Prize and the Audience Prize at the 2021 London Handel International Singing Competition.

Recent engagements include Poppea Agrippina with English Touring Opera, Télaïre Castor et Pollux with The Rameau Project, J.S. Bach St John Passion with VOCES8 and St Matthew Passion with the Bournemouth Symphony Chorus, Beethoven Choral Fantasia with the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, Messiah with the English Chamber Orchestra, Handel Silete venti for the London Handel Festival, Ode to Purcell on tour with Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Blow and Purcell with The English Concert at Wigmore Hall, a recording for La Nuova Musica as Second Woman Dido and Aeneas and Vaughan Williams Benedicite with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Upcoming engagements include Fauré Requiem at Teatro La Fenice, Handel Chandos Anthems with Arcangelo, Messiah with the London Handel Orchestra, the London Mozart Players, The Sixteen, Irish Baroque Orchestra, Liverpool Welsh Choral and Cambridge University Symphony Chorus, Mendelssohn A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Haydn Nelson Mass with The Really Big Chorus in Faro Cathedral, a recital at the Halle Handel Festival and Christmas with King’s College Choir at the Barbican.

BETHANY HORAK-HALLETT

mezzo soprano

British mezzo-soprano Bethany Horak-Hallett gained a Masters in Music Performance followed by a Masters in Vocal Studies at Trinity Laban Conservatoire. She is a Rising Star of the Enlightenment and a Samling Artist. Bethany was a finalist in the 2020 Cesti Competition and won Second Prize in the 2021 Handel Singing Competition.

Opera engagements have included Kitchen Boy Rusalka for Glyndebourne Festival Opera and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester conducted by Robin Ticciati, Woman Katya Kabanova for Glyndebourne; Cupid Venus and Adonis, Venere Il Ballo delle Ingrate and Enchanted Lady in Caccini La Liberazione di Ruggiero at the Brighton Early Music Festival; Cherubino Le Nozze di Figaro with the Merry Opera Company, Dorabella Cosi fan Tutte with London Young Sinfonia and Second Witch Dido & Aeneas at the Milton Abbey International Music Festival.

On the concert platform, Bethany has appeared with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment as Galatea in Handel Aci, Galatea e Polifemo directed by Steven Devine; Elijah with Masaaki Suzuki and a film of the St John Passion. She has performed and recorded Cupid in John Eccles Semele with the Academy of Ancient Music conducted by Julian Perkins; Dixit Dominus with The Monteverdi Choir conducted by John Eliot Gardiner at The Proms.

Sarah Denbee

mezzo soprano

Sarah gained a First in Music and Italian from the Universities of Bristol and Bologna, and a Masters with Distinction from Trinity Laban Conservatoire.

She was a member of the Glyndebourne Opera Chorus for a number of years, and previous highlights have been singing in the 1 to a part semi-chorus in the world premiere of Brett Dean’s Hamlet, as well as covering several roles at Glyndebourne.

She has worked at the Royal Opera House, Scottish Opera and The Grange Festival, and has sung with the Monteverdi Choir since 2012. She has been a step-out soloist with the English Baroque Soloists, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Academy of Ancient Music and London Symphony Orchestra. She is proud to be a previous recipient of the Elizabeth Eagle-Bott Award for visually impaired musicians from the RNIB.