The Singers
Ben Breakwell (Tenor 1) lives in London where he combines his role as manager of Cappella Artois with work as a freelance musician. His musical tastes are eclectic and he has worked with a number of conductors including John-Elliot Gardiner, Ivor Bolton, Nicholas Kraemer, and the world renowned pianist and conductor Andras Schiff, as well as recently giving acclaimed performances at Piccadilly's Hard Rock Café.
As a soloist he has made regular appearances at the London Bach Festival, the Munich Opera Festival and he appears as a soloist on a number of recordings including the award winning Cambridge Singers recording of Richard Rodney-Bennet's choral music, Sea Change, conducted by John Rutter. Outside of his work with Cappella Artois, Ben enjoys eating tagines, reading and performing the songs of Nicholas Collon.
Chris Bucknall (Tenor 2) has come to the group since their arrival in London. In addition to his work with Cappella Artois, he is active both as a choral director and harpsichordist. He works with a number of Britains finest young musicians and recently conducted a performance of Handel's Messiah with Concerto Carissimi.
In 2005 he co-founded the Illuminati Choir whose inaugural concert garnered critical acclaim. Earlier this year he was awarded a scholarship to study the harpsichord at the Royal Academy of Music, London. Chris is also actively involved in music education and is head of Cappella Artois' outreach and education programme.
Richard Bannan (Baritone 1) is a freelance musician living in London. He sings regularly with choirs such as the Monteverdi Choir, Polyphony, English Voices and the Cambridge Singers and is a member of the Choir of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea. He began singing professionally at an early age as a treble in St Paul 's Cathedral Choir. Since then he has sung with a number of world-class conductors and orchestras.
Aside from his choral commitments Richard has sung extensively as a soloist in repertoire such as Handel's Messiah, the Mozart, Faure and Durufle Requiems and the Bach Passions. He currently whiles away his days writing for Rhinegold publishing and arranging for Cappella Artois . He directs the Choirs at the Yehudi Menuhin School and works every year as a member of staff on the Eton Choral Courses. Richard is also a keen guitarist and songwriter, harbouring the unique ambition of headlining Glastonbury and Glyndebourne in the same season.
On leaving Clare College, Cambridge, Andrew Davies (Baritone 2) sang in the choir of St John's College Cambridge under David Hill and is now continuing his postgraduate vocal training at the Royal Academy of Music. He is increasingly in demand as a soloist and spends most of his time fine-tuning the delicate balance between operatic divo and close harmony superstar.
Away from the practise room, Andrew spends his time enjoying London 's arts scene or at home with Petra the tortoise.
Jonathan Midgley (Bass 1) is in the very final stages of a PhD in Historical Linguistics at Clare College, Cambridge, specialising in Russian phonology. A founder member of Nicholas Bergström Allen's Cambridgeshire Boys Choir, Jonathan continued his vocal training under Julian Smith at Winchester College, and sang in Clare College Choir from 1996 to 2004, studying with David Lowe. He is a member of the Illuminati Choir, and has recently performed with the Sagittarian Consort and the Dmitri Chorus. A former hornplayer in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, he now plays in the experimental electronica/fusion collective Recurring.
Jonathan is deeply fascinated by the interface between language and music: in his twin capacities as linguist and musician, the self-styled voice-instrumentalist is keen to explore the kaleidoscopic sonic palette which the human vocal organs offer. He is also renowned as a mimic, satirist, social commentator, dilettante, infomaniac, periphrast and nocturnal. Jonathan hopes to continue working as a musician, linguist and thinker.
Nicholas Collon (Bass 2) is the Musical Director of the group. Nick met the co-founders of Cappella Artois whilst he was Organ Scholar at Clare College, Cambridge, where he read Music. He divides his time in the group between singing as low and as high as he possibly can. Aside from these vocal oddities, Nick currently pursues a busy career as a freelance conductor, working regularly with choirs and orchestras in London. In 2004 he co-founded Aurora Orchestra, with which he will conduct Ligeti's Chamber Concerto in an Aldeburgh Residency this April. He is also a regular conductor with the Haydn, Hertfordshire, Kensington and Tallis Chamber Orchestras, and the Salomon Orchestra. Future choral engagements include a conducting masterclass with the BBC Singers, with whom he has previously conducted pieces by Schutz, Saint-Saens, Britten and Parry, which will be filmed for their promotional DVD.
Nick enjoys cooking tagines, reading, and making up songs; above all he most likes playing the viola in an evening of chamber music. His proudest moment came from the following quote; 'The organist is the excellent Nicholas Collon,' a falsely attributed quote from the USA's Public Radio East.