Barnaby Martin is an award-winning composer of contemporary classical music based in England. His compositions have been performed widely in the UK and internationally by groups including the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra of Opera North, the Berkeley Ensemble, the Ligeti Quartet, the choir of St Paul’s Cathedral, Wells Cathedral Choir and Illuminare choir. In 2018, his work for large orchestra, Quanta, was selected as the winner of the Toru Takemitsu Composition award. The piece, which was one of four to be selected by Unsuk Chin out of 143 entries from 40 countries, was performed by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra in the final of the competition in May 2018. Barnaby is the only composer from the UK to have received first prize in the history of the competition. Barnaby’s work has achieved acclaim and recognition in several other competitions and prizes including the DARE New Composer’s Forum Competition (Stillness), the Berkeley Ensemble’s New Cobbett Prize (Lazarus) as well as the New Music for St Paul’s Cathedral Competition (Videntes Stellam). Barnaby also received his first nomination for a BASCA British Composer Award in 2017 for his contemporary cantata, The Temptations of Christ.

Barnaby enjoys frequent collaborations with musicians and has been commissioned to write music for a variety of different ensembles and instrumentalists. He has written pieces for the Psappha Ensemble’s Benedict Holand as part of the group’s Composing for Violin scheme (Leda Atomica) as well as new pieces for oboist James Turnbull (Christ of Saint John of the Cross), the clarinettist John Slack (Hypercubus), the pianist Joseph Houston (Submerging) and organist Simon Johnson (O Herre Gott, dein göttlich Wort). The piece for Simon Johnson was commissioned by Choir & Organ Magazine and contributed to William Whitehead’s ongoing Orgelbüchlein Project. Barnaby has worked extensively with singers as well as instrumentalists and enjoys regular work with choirs in the UK. Most recently, he was commissioned by Illuminare choir to write a new 45-minute cantata for two choirs, soloists and percussion (The Temptations of Christ) which was premiered by the group in March 2017, directed by RPS award-winning conductor Christopher Stark.

Barnaby has studied composition with Kenneth Hesketh and from October 2018, he will begin working towards a PhD in composition at the University of Birmingham under the supervision of Michael Zev Gordon.

Thomas Elwin - Tenor: British born tenor, graduate of the Royal Academy of Music and former Oper Stuttgart young artist. 

Sveinn Dúa Hjörleifsson/Sven Hjörleifsson
Tenor and poet.

Welsh soprano Carly Owen is currently a young artist at the National Opera Studio 2017/18, and recently graduated with distinction from the Masters of performance course at the Royal College of Music. 
She is also a graduate of the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, London. Carly studies under the tuleage of Yvonne Kenny. 

Carly has performed as a guest soloist at the Royal Opera House with The Royal Ballet in their first revival of the ballet Woolf Works.
She has performed the role of Violante (Sandrina) in La finta giardiniera with the Royal College of Music International Opera School directed by Harry Fehr. For RCM opera scenes she has performed the roles of Governess Turn of the Screw directed by John Copley, the title role in Massenet’s Cendrillon and she also created the roles of Martha and Sonja in mini contemporary operas created by RCM composers, based on the theme of Crime and Punishment in association with Tête à Tête directed by Bill Bankes-Jones and conducted by Lionel Friend.

Carly is a Georg Solti Accademia di Bel Canto alumna and has performed in masterclasses with Dame Gwyneth Jones, Angela Gheorghiu, Richard Bonynge, Carmen Giannattasio and Della Jones. Carly was the winner of the 2015 London Welsh Young Singer of the Year Competition, as well as the recipient of the Audience Prize and the Soprano solo over 25 at the National Eisteddfod in Meifod. Carly was a semi-finalist in the 2017 Kathleen Ferrier Awards Competition.

Carly has performed as a soloist with the London Welsh Male Voice Choir at Gloucester Cathedral and as a soprano soloist in Mendelssohn's Elijah with the London Welsh Chorale in Sloane Square conducted by Edward-Rhys Harry. She has also made many TV and radio appreances in Wales, including a performance on S4C's Noson Lawen.

Upcoming engagements include her role debut as Musetta in La Bohème with Diva Opera, touring the UK and France.

Carly is very grateful for the generous support of The Carne Trust and John Clemence Chartiable Trust, Soirèe d'Or, Ryan Davies Memorial Trust and Henry Wood Accommodation Trust.

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