THE PERFORMERS

Julian Perkins - musical director Hailed as ‘a leader in the new generation of keyboard virtuosi’ by Cambridge Early Music, Julian Perkins performs as a soloist, conductor, and chamber musician. He directs numerous concerts with his chamber group, Sounds Baroque, and has conducted New Chamber Opera, New Kent Opera, and Southbank Sinfonia, amongst others. As a soloist and continuo player, Julian collaborates with leading period instrument ensembles including the Academy of Ancient Music, Classical Opera Company, English Concert, Gabrieli Consort, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and The Sixteen, and modern orchestras such as the Britten Sinfonia, Northern Sinfonia, and Scottish Chamber Orchestra. He has also assisted and played in operas for many organizations including the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and sung in the Monteverdi Choir. In demand as a recitalist, Julian’s acclaimed discography includes world-première solo recordings of Stephen Dodgson and James Nares. He will soon be releasing a disc with Sounds Baroque and the countertenor Andrew Radley, of Italian chamber cantatas for Avie Records. After reading music at King's College, Cambridge, Julian studied primarily at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, Royal Academy of Music, and with Trevor Pinnock CBE. Awards have included the prestigious Ian Fleming Award, Countess of Munster Trust Awards, Leverhulme Trust Award, Finzi Scholarship, and Wingate Scholarship. Julian also directs courses, gives lecture demonstrations, and teaches at the Royal Academy of Music – where he was recently elected an Associate in recognition of his standing in the music profession.  Photo: Ben Fisher, courtesy of Handel House Museum Katherine Manley - soprano Katherine Manley gained a BMus hons at the RSAMD and graduated with distinction from the Benjamin Britten International Opera School at the Royal College of Music. She continues to study with Lillian Watson.  A Samling Foundation Scholar, Katherine has also been supported by a Wingate Scholarship, a Leicestershire County Council Award and the Ian Fleming MBF Award. Her operatic roles include Seleuce (Tolomeo, London Handel Players), Pastori (Orfeo, English National Opera), Elmira (Sosarme), Belinda (Dido and Aeneas) Musica and Euridice (Orfeo), Aldimira (Erismena) and Historicus (Jephte) with English Touring Opera, and Cuzzoni in the Handel and Hendrix project Time Flows (Streetwise Opera). She has studied the roles of Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Fox (The Cunning Little Vixen) and Helena, (Midsummer Night’s Dream).  Solo concert highlights include work with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the London Mozart Players, the Brandenburg Sinfonia, and the Philharmonia Orchestra.  Katherine Manley has sung at Wigmore Hall, St John’s, Smith Square, and the Royal Albert Hall, broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and recently worked at l’Academie d’Aix-en-Provence. Her forthcoming engagements include Handel’s Messiah, and recitals in Estonia. Huw Daniel - violin Huw Daniel was a pupil at Ysgol Gyfun Ystalyfera, South Wales. He became organ scholar at Robinson College, Cambridge, graduating with a first-class honours degree in Music. He then studied for two years at the Royal Academy of Music with Simon Standage. Huw was a member of the European Union Baroque Orchestra in 2004, and is a member of the Arcangelo Quartet. He also plays with the King’s Consort, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the English Concert, the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Les Arts Florissants, the London Handel Orchestra, the Sixteen, and the Irish Baroque Orchestra, and leads the Remix Baroque Orchestra, Porto, Portugal. Graham Walker - cello Graham Walker received his early musical education as a chorister at St John’s College, Cambridge, and was subsequently awarded a top music scholarship to Harrow School. In 1995, within the space of six weeks, he performed Elgar’s Cello and Schumann’s Piano Concerti, and gained a choral scholarship which allowed him to return to St John’s in 1996, to study mathematics. In that year he won the UNICEF Young Conductors’ platform, and conducted widely whilst at Cambridge. In 2000 he took up a scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied with Lionel Handy and Jennifer Ward-Clarke, and in 2002 he was awarded a grant by the KPMG/Martin Musical Scholarship Fund to continue his studies. In 2003 he was Emmanuelle Haïm’s continuo cellist in Charpentier’s Acteon in the Aldeburgh Festival. As well as his work for Classico Latino, Graham is cellist of the Farrington Ensemble, The British Camerata and Janiculum, and is principal cellist of Iford Opera. He has recorded variously as a cellist, singer and conductor for EMI, Chandos, Nimbus, Quillisma and Naxos. Graham is a regular deputy for the ROH and the BBC NOW, and has played for the ENO and RSNO. In 2005 he undertook his debut recital tour of the USA and will be returning in 2008.