16/02/2024
While you know Rachel and Ben’s musical endeavours well enough (given their constant presence shifting chairs, welcoming and organising), let’s reacquaint you with tomorrow’s tenor, former Hull Minster choral scholar Simon Ashmead.
Simon Ashmead is an award-winning British tenor who has performed across the UK and internationally in France, Malta and the Netherlands.
Simon is currently studying at Trinity Laban Conservatoire with Dominic Natoli, where he is a recipient of the Kathleen Creed and Morag Noble Scholarships, and was awarded Best Male Vocalist at the 2019 International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival.
Simon’s performances range from soloist to choral to the opera stage, and he is a member and choral scholar of the acclaimed Old Royal Naval College Chapel Choir in Greenwich. His oratorio soloist work includes Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Bach’s and Saint Säens’ Christmas Oratorios, Händels Messiah, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle, Charpentier’s Messe de Minuit, and Evangelist in Bach’s St John’s Passion. He has also taken on operatic roles such as Siegfried in Götterdämmerung, Peter Quint in Britten’s Turn of the Screw, Victor Frankenstein in the UK Premier of Libby Larsen’s Frankenstein, Hoffman in Tales of Hoffman, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Bothwell in Mary, Queen of Scots, Bobil in The Snow Maiden, and Abdallo in Nabucco. His chorus roles include Macbeth, Götterdämmerung Longborough Festival Opera, Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges, Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana, Smetana’s Bartered Bride and Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera. Upcoming performances will include appearances in Longborough Festival Opera’s Ring Cycle, as well as Opéra de Baugé’s performances of Carmen, L’elisir d’amore, and Verdi’s Don Carlo.
As well as performing well-loved standard repertoire, Simon particularly enjoys exploring lesser-known composers and works, especially Twentieth and Twenty First Century English art song.
