Tony Yike Yang

Hailed by CBC Music as one of Canada’s finest young musicians, pianist Tony Yike Yang first rose to international acclaim at the age of 16 after becoming the youngest-ever laureate in the history of the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, winning the 5th prize in 2015. Additionally, Yang has also won prizes at the Van Cliburn, Gina Bachauer, Hilton Head, Cooper, and the Bosendorfer & Yamaha USASU International Piano Competitions.

As a soloist, Yang has performed internationally in venues such as Koerner Hall in Toronto, Severance Hall in Cleveland, Warsaw National Philharmonic, Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, Millennium Amphitheatre in Dubai, Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, the Athenaeum in Bucharest, Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, Seoul Arts Center, the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Osaka Symphony Hall, Sala Chopin in Mexico City, Sala Sudasiri Sohba in Bangkok, Esplanade Singapore, the Opera House in Guangzhou, and many others.

Concerto highlights include appearances with the Cleveland Orchestra, Warsaw Philharmonic, Orchestre Métropolitain, Fort Worth Symphony, Ontario Philharmonic, Toronto Sinfonietta, Edmonton Symphony, Saskatoon Symphony, Changsha Symphony, and the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra.

His debut album of works by Chopin was released on the Fryderyk Chopin Institute label in 2016.

Born in Chongqing and raised in Toronto, Yang is a recent graduate of Harvard University where he pursued a Bachelor of Arts in Economics. His present and past musical advisors have included renowned musical figures such as Gabriela Montero, Eliso Virsaladze, Stephen Hough, Martha Argerich, Dang Thai Son, Mari Kodama, and James Anagnoson.

Wynne Evans

Wynne Evans is regularly singing to millions for the TV advertising campaign that has made him a household name as the spoof opera star Gio Compario. His debut album ‘A Song in My Heart’ went to the Number 1 in the classical charts.

He is a regular presenter on BBC Radio Wales and Classic FM, and recently starred in his very own TV series on BBC One, ‘Wynne At the Deep End’.

Wynne has been an opera singer for over 25 years, working at The Royal Opera House, Paris Opera and the Metropolitan Opera in New York throughout his career.

He sang the role of PIANGI in the 25-year anniversary performance of The Phantom of the Opera, which was broadcast live from the Royal Albert Hall to cinemas worldwide, and has been released on DVD.

Wynne Evans’ operatic appearances have taken him to major opera houses in the UK and abroad. He regularly performs at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden where most recent and future engagements include VAKULA The Tsarina’s Slippers, MAYOR Anna Nicole and SCARAMUCCIO Ariadne auf Naxos. As a principal tenor with Welsh National Opera his many roles included DUCA Rigoletto, RODOLFO La Bohème, ALFREDO La Traviata, and TAMINO The Magic Flute. He has appeared throughout the UK, with companies such as Opera North, English National Opera, Scottish Opera, Classical Opera Company, Chelsea Opera Group, Opera Northern Ireland, Glyndebourne Festival, and Almeida Opera. Future operatic appearances will take him back to Welsh National Opera, as well as to Opéra de Lyon, and Grange Park Opera.

Born in South West Wales, Wynne studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the National Opera Studio in London.

Beverley Worboys

Soprano

Born in England, soprano Beverley Worboys studied at the prestigious Guildhall School of Music and Drama where she graduated with a Bachelor of Music with Honours. After singing the leading role of Christine in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera in London’s West End and in Basel, Beverley Worboys has appeared in numerous other musical roles: Mabel in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance in Zürich and on a UK tour, also in England in the lead role Rose in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Aspects of Love, Johanna in Sweeney Todd for Derby Playhouse or Jessie in Kurt Weill’s Mahagonny Songspiel at the Tonhalle Zürich.

Beverley Worboys’ operatic engagements include roles such as Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro and Zerlina in Don Giovanni for English Chamber Opera, Despina in Così fan Tutte at St. John’s Smith Square in London, Venus in Orpheus in the Underworld, Gianetta in Gondoliers for Howard Griffith and Acis and Galatea at Winterthur conducted by Maurice Steger.

Her international concert activities as a soloist have taken her to the Globen Stadium in Stockholm or the Glasgow Symphony Hall with the musical show Best of West End, to the KKL in Lucerne or the Tonhalle in Zurich. She also sang the finale at the world-famous Basel Tattoo. She has also released two solo CDs of classical Celtic songs and has made numerous appearances on radio and TV, including a performance on Friday Night is Music Night (BBC Radio 2) with the BBC Concert Orchestra.

David Lawrence

Choral Director

David Lawrence is one of the UK’s most versatile conductors, working with orchestras, symphony choruses and national youth choirs. He was recently nominated for a Gramophone Award for his conducting, and HE holds the Guinness World Record for conducting the UK’s largest choir.

David’s work has taken him to Singapore, Colombia, Canada, the United States, India, the United Arab Emirates, throughout Europe, and Australia. His positive and engaging manner makes him a popular guest conductor, and he is an experienced and respected trainer of choral conductors. As a guest chorusmaster of the Netherlands Radio Choir he has worked with many conductors such as Kenneth Montgomery, Frans Brüggen, and John Adams, and in 2002 working closely with Stockhausen he also conducted this exceptional choir in the German premiére of Scene II from his opera Sontag aus Licht.

David has conducted the London Philharmonic Choir, Hallé Choir, London Symphony Chorus, the CBSO Chorus for whom he is an Associate Conductor, and the national youth choirs of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. He has directed large scale education projects with the Orchestra of Welsh National Opera, the English Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and of course the CBSO. David is the conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra’s Community Choir and Senior Youth Choir, and as Principal Conductor of Young Voices, he directs massed choirs in an annual series of concerts.