Catherine Hopper studied Music at the University of Leeds and the Franz Liszt Hochschüle in Weimar, Germany, graduating with First Class Honours. She graduated from the Royal Academy Opera with a DipRAM and the Vice-Principal's Prize and now studies at the National Opera Studio with Elizabeth Ritchie.
Roles have included Popova in Walton The Bear for Mahogany Opera, Lucretia in Britten's Rape of Lucretia, Ramiro in Mozart's La Finta Giardiniera, Mezzo-Actress in Judith Weir's Night at the Chinese Opera, Zita in Gianni Schicci and Marta in Iolantha, conducted by Steuart Bedford (all for RAO), Second Lady in Die Zauberflöte at Clonter Opera, Mme Larina in Eugene Onegin and Mrs Herring in Albert Herring for British Youth Opera, both directed by Will Kerley and conducted by Peter Robinson.
Concerts includes Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire as part of the South Bank Max Festival and subsequent cover at ROH, Elgar's Sea Pictures at St John's Smith Square with the YMSO and Elgar's Dream of Gerontius at RAH with Scratch Concerts and Brian Kay. Oratorio includes Bach's St Matthew Passion with Jeremy Jackman, Durufflé's Requiem, Vivaldi's Gloria with Ronald Corp and Emma Kirkby, Mozart's Requiem at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Haydn's Nelson Mass with Jonathan Wilcox and Bliss's Pastoral. She has taken part in Masterclasses with Ann Murray, Malcolm Martineau, Roger Vignoles, Thomas Hampson, Dennis O'Neill, Udo Rhineman, Paul Kiesgen, Julian Pike and Felicity Palmer. She was a member of the Royal Academy of Music's 2005-2007 Song Circle, with whom she gave several concerts and recorded a CD (Songs of Seduction).
Recitals include Wigmore Hall with Joseph Middleton as the Maisie Lewis award winner, Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the National Portrait Gallery with Simon Lepper for ROSL, the Oxford Lieder Festival with John Reid, Pembroke College, Cambridge with Joseph Middleton and an evening at Wigmore Hall performing the music of Ronald Corp. Future engagements include a BBC Prom with Sir Andrew Davies and the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for Raymond Gubbay.
She is a recipient of an Allcard Award administered by The Worshipful Company of Musicians, a Miriam Licette Award and Sybil Tutton award from the MBF, and is a Britten-Pears Young Artist. She is grateful to The Dorset Foundation for their sponsorship.
Recently described in The Times as "the cream of the new generation", Joseph Middleton graduated with an MPhil from the University of Birmingham before studying piano on an EMI Scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music with Michael Dussek and Malcolm Martineau. He was subsequently appointed the Hodgson Junior Fellow and on leaving the Academy he took up the post of College Musician at Pembroke College Cambridge and in 2008 a Junior Fellowship to the vocal faculty at the Royal College of Music. His major competition successes include the Accompaniment Prizes of the Wigmore Hall International Song Competition, Kathleen Ferrier Awards and Royal Over-Seas League Competition. He has also won the Yamaha Birmingham Accompanist of the Year and Geoffrey Parsons Memorial Awards.
Joseph regularly appears with the finest singers of his generation at prominent UK festivals including the Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, Edinburgh (for the ROSL series), Three Choirs and Oxford Lieder. Abroad, performances have taken him to Italy, Austria, Denmark, Belgium, Spain, Germany and France. He makes his North American debut with a series of concerts and broadcasts at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago during the summer of 2009 when he joins the staff of the Steans Institute and plays for the masterclasses of Christoph Eschenbach, Matthias Goerne and Dmitri Hvorostovsky. His debut recital recording, a disc of Spanish song partnering mezzo Clara Mouriz (produced by John Fraser), will be released on the new Sonimage label in late 2009. Joseph has made live broadcasts for BBC Radio 3 and gives frequent recitals at such venues as Wigmore Hall, Royal Opera House, Royal Festival Hall, Purcell Room, St John's, Smith Square, the Millennium Centre in Cardiff, Birmingham's Symphony Hall and The Sage Gateshead. He has been invited to programme a recital for Wigmore Hall's Master Series in 2010/11 with artists including Lucy Crowe.
Joseph's recent performances with singers have included partnering Sir Thomas Allen, Katherine Broderick, Sally Burgess, Allan Clayton, Ronan Collett, Katarina Karnéus, Andrew Kennedy, Anna Leese, Clara Mouriz, Ann Murray DBE, Robert Murray, Joan Rodgers, Amanda Roocroft and Stephen Varcoe. In 2008 he was chosen to be the inaugural Pianist Scholar for 'Samling'. As a keen chamber musician, Joseph has performed with Ruth Palmer, Alexander Baillie and Nicholas Daniel and will work with Emma Johnson later this year.
Joseph is extremely grateful for the financial assistance he received from the Wingate, Tillett Trust, MBF, Sir James Caird, AHRC and RAM Foundation Scholarships.