Concert on 23 March 2013

Stephen Davies Conductor

Stephen Davies, a former chorister of St Paul’s Cathedral, London, and Music Scholar of Queen’s College, Oxford, was awarded a scholarship by the Austrian Institute to study with the great organist and composer Anton Heiller at the Academy of Music in Vienna. He has since been active both in the field of music education – particularly at St Olave’s School, Orpington, where he was Director of Music for seventeen years – and as an organ recitalist. In this capacity he has given concerts in major venues throughout Europe, in New York and in New Zealand. In 2017 he gave concerts in Estonia, Germany, and Norway, and last year he performed in King’s College and Trinity College, Cambridge. He founded the Sine Nomine Singers in 1994 and conducted this chamber choir for almost 20 years, giving concerts in local venues as well as in Estonia, France and Germany. He was Director of Music here at St George’s from 2002 to 2016.

From the programme of 15 October 2022.

Jonny Davies Bass

After being Queen’s Chorister and then Head Chorister at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, Jonny Davies won a music scholarship to Trinity School, Croydon. During his teenage years he studied violin with John Francis, piano with Nigel Clayton at Croydon Schools piano centre and organ with Simon Williams. He also acted as assistant organist at St Mary’s church, Addington. He then went to Brasenose College, Oxford where he received an Organ Exhibition, and sang with Schola Cantorum and the Oxford Chamber Choir. Since leaving Oxford, Jonny has sung as a lay clerk in Guildford Cathedral, with the Holst Singers conducted by Stephen Layton, and with professional church choirs all over London. He is now Director of Music at St Olave’s Church, Hart Street and St Katharine Cree in the City of London, where he leads two choirs. He has studied singing with Sarah Dunstan and Ashley Stafford and now studies with Robert Rice.

Ruth Holton Soprano

Ruth Holton studied at Clare College, Cambridge, where she was a choral exhibitioner. She has many recordings to her name including a project to record all of Bach’s sacred cantatas with the Holland Boys Choir. Her discography includes Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Carissimi’s Jephtha, Handels’ Messiah and Haydn’s Nelson Mass. Ruth has had a long association with the choir of St Thomas’ Leipzig, Bach’s own church, with whom she has performed and recorded the St John Passion and B Minor Mass. She returns to Leipzig in 2014 to give a recital of songs by C.P.E. Bach with Malcolm Bilson.

From the programme of 23 March 2013.

William Petter Tenor

William Petter began his singing life as a chorister at New College, Oxford, under the direction of Edward Higginbottom. Whilst studying for a degree in Neuroscience at University College, London, he started singing as a tenor. He completed his postgraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music, for which he gained the highest award, distinction with DipRAM. He is based in London and divides his time between singing, conducting and singing teaching. As a singer, he enjoys a busy oratorio career, working for groups including Oxford Bach Choir, Oxford Harmonic Society, Hull Bach Choir, Queens Park Singers, Chigwellian Singers and Benson Choral Society. He also gives recitals and has performed Die Schöne Müllerin in Oxford, Petts Wood and Burgh House, Hampstead, and an English song recital in Oxford, for which he was given an award by the John Ireland trust. Opera roles performed have included Soldier in Der Kaiser von Atlantis for Dioneo, Lurcanio in Ariodante for Scarlet Opera, Herald in Dvořák’s Vanda, McPibroch in Offenbach’s Whittington, and Die Anführer in Schubert’s Alfonso und Estrella for UC Opera, First Sailor in Dido and Aeneas and Oberon in The Fairy Queen for Opera Underground. He also enjoys consort work, and has recently sung with The Sixteen, Tenebrae and the Choir of the Enlightenment, and sings regularly with Philharmonia voices, Britten Sinfonia Voices, London Voices, Westminster Abbey Choir, and other London church choirs. He is the musical director at St Magnus the Martyr in the City of London, and of Concordia Voices, a chamber choir based in Hampton Hill. He teaches singing at Orchard House School and the Church of St Michael and all Angels, Chiswick, and has an increasing number of private students.

Harriet Webb Mezzo-soprano

Harriet Webb was educated at Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Girls and went to Manchester University to read music. She studied violin with Ronald Birks of the Lindsay Quartet and singing with Diane Matthews at the Royal Northern College of Music. She now has lessons with Sarah Dunstan. She taught music for 16 years and was Director of Music at Newstead Wood School for Girls in Bromley, Kent. Harriet is an extremely experienced singer and has sung with several of the country’s top chamber choirs, including Polyphony, the BBC Singers and the King’s Consort, as well as her own 5-voice group, Amici. She has made numerous recordings, mainly with the Hyperion label, including appearances as a soloist on several discs. Harriet has sung at all the major London concert halls including several appearances as soloist at venues such as St John’s, Smith Square. Her repertoire ranges from Baroque to the present day and recent solo engagements have included performances of Karl Jenkins’s Stabat Mater, Dvořák’s Stabat Mater, Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s Mass in B Minor, Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius, and Verdi’s Requiem. Harriet lives in Kent with her husband, two children and their Corgi. In her spare time she enjoys cycling in the Kent countryside with a local cycling club.

Jonathan Murphy Leader