Sally Johnson comes from the Lake District and has been surrounded by singing from an early age, her parents being folk musicians. Early ambition to be a violinist was overtaken by her love of singing and she entered the RNCM in 1996 to study with Caroline Crawshaw.

During her time at the RNCM Sally gained much experience in opera. She performed many operatic roles ranging from Minerva in Montiverdi’s The Return of Ulysses and Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni to larger roles like Tatiana in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and Liza in his Queen of Spades.

Sally has enjoyed singing with Glyndebourne Festival Chorus and covering the role of Musetta in La Bohème for Scottish Opera. Sally’s oratorio experience is also very diverse. Performances have included Haydn’s Nelson Mass and Creation, Bach’s St Matthew Passion and St. John Passion, Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana and Verdi’s Requiem. She has also performed Britten’s War Requiem at Snape Maltings in Alderburgh.

Sally gives regular recitals throughout the north of England and Wales using the experience in French, German and English song she gained while at college, the most memorable being her Bridgewater Hall debut in Manchester while eight months pregnant!

Her keen interest in contemporary music has led to opportunities to premiere new chamber works. These have included two song cycles by Chris Weeks performed with the Alauna ensemble in South Wales and the song cycle Broken Heart of Autumn by Christopher Beardsley with the Opera North Orchestra at the Spring Festival of New Music in York.

Opera galas are a regular source of experience and Sally enjoys introducing new people to old opera and operetta favourites up and down the country. Master classes with prestigious singers such as Phillip Langridge, Ryland Davies and Jane Eaglen have also been invaluable.

Sally’s experience has also included several big competitions while still at college and she won the prestigious Elizabeth Harwood Award, which is designed to aid a student leaving the RNCM in the first steps of their career. She also received an award from the Musician’s Benevolent Fund to support her studies and was a scholar of the Peter Moore’s Foundation who kindly supported her for three years and to whom she is most grateful.

She has most recently been giving recitals in the Northwest and in Wales and also works as a Vocal Coach spreading her love of singing and is recording her own CD this Spring.

Lindy Tennent-Brown was born in New Zealand where home was a remote farm in the western North Island. She studied at Victoria University of Wellington and at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, where she was awarded a Postgraduate Diploma in solo piano in 2000 followed by the prestigious Professional Performance Diploma (PPRNCM) in accompaniment in 2001. She won the 2000 NZ National Piano Competition and, in 2003, was invited to become an inaugural Wigmore Young Artist, making her debut at Wigmore Hall in March 2004 partnering Ann Murray, DBE.

In 2003 Lindy completed two years as Legal & General Junior Fellow in piano at the Royal College of Music in London. She is now established as one of the leading collaborative pianists of her generation and is in great demand as an accompanist, vocal coach and operatic répétiteur. She is also one half the prize-winning longfordbrownpianoduo with British pianist, James Longford (http://www.longfordbrown.com for more information). Lindy is a frequent guest at the Aldeburgh Festival and the Snape Proms, and has performed in Italy, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Argentina, and broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. As a répétiteur she has worked for English National Opera, Glyndebourne Productions, Opera Holland Park and English Touring Opera among others. Lindy lives in south-east London and enjoys cooking and gardening.