The CONVENTional Project

04/03/2026

… and our players and conductor!
Conductor - Olivia Shotton, Chamber Organ - Tammas Slater, Theorbo - Daniel Murphy, Viola da gamba - Nathan Giorgetti.

Tickets still available - copy and paste the link below or follow the link in our bio!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-conventional-project-tickets-1983482186614?aff=ebdsoporgprofile

04/03/2026

Introducing our singers!
Ailsa Campbell, Daisy Livesey, Anna Semple, Charlotte Sleet, Dominic Wallis, Carlos Rodriguez Otero, Henry Saywell and Jimmy Holliday. Still tickets available for tomorrow - copy and paste the link below or follow the link in our bio!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-conventional-project-tickets-1983482186614?aff=ebdsoporgprofile

02/03/2026

Get your tickets for Cozzolani’s Easter Mass this Thursday at St Michael and All Angels, Bedford Park, London. Ticket link in bio/copy and paste the link below!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-conventional-project-tickets-1983482186614?aff=ebdsoporgprofile

25/02/2026

Cozzolani’s Paschal Mass and motets from the Italian convents.

Join us on March 5th at 7:30pm at St Michael and All Angels Church in Chiswick for ferocious Baroque rhythms and soaring polyphony, with period instruments and our octet of singers. Conducted by Olivia Shotton.

Scan the QR code for tickets or follow the link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-conventional-project-tickets-1983482186614?aff=ebdsoporgprofile

07/12/2023

Some highlights from our performance at Wimbledon International Music Festival on Nov 24th. We had such a fantastic time, thank you so much to the Festival, to St John's Church, and to all those that supported this performance. Thank you also to the 120-strong(!) audience that came to watch, we were so delighted to get to share Cozzolani's epic Vespers of 1650 with you!

Photography by Steve Shotton.

23/11/2023

Meet the team - we’re delighted to be joined by period instrumentalists, Emanuele, Max and Camilla!

Emanuele Addis is an eclectic guitarist and lutenist. He has been selected by IGF and Making Music UK for a tour of solo recitals in England. Addis stood out in numerous international competitions. To name but a few, he won the 3rd prize at the Brussels International Guitar Competition, 2nd prize at Plovdiv International Guitar Competition in Bulgaria and 2nd Prize at London International Guitar Competition. Additionally, Addis participated in several solo recitals in Italy, Germany, Serbia, Bulgaria and England, in fact, he performed at the Palazzina Liberty in Milan, at the Senato della Repubblica Italianain Rome, Italian Institute of Culture in Munich, Germany, Theâtredu Vaudeville in Brussels, Treća beogradska in Belgrade and at the Kings Place in London. He recently graduated in classical guitar at the Royal Academy of Music and now he is specializing in early music under the guidance of Elizabeth Kenny.

Max Barley was a chorister at King’s College, Cambridge and Organ Scholar at St John’s College, Oxford, where he read Modern Languages. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists and gained a Distinction for his MA in Choral Conducting at the Royal Academy of Music. Max is Director of Music at Holy Trinity Church, Sloane Square, where he directs the professional octet, the amateur evensong choir, and a community choir, Songs and Soup, for which he won the award of “Community Hero” at the Chelsea Awards in October 2023. He is also Principal Conductor of the Guildford Chamber Choir, and Music Director of Eltham Choral Society and Vocality Surbiton.

Camilla Morse-Glover is a freelance Baroque Cellist, Viola da Gamba player and teacher. She graduated from The Royal Academy of Music with an MA, Prof.Dip & Dip.RAM, having been fully supported during her studies by the Jenny Ward-Clark, Enlightenment and San Martino Scholarships.
As a recipient of the Ann and Peter Law award for The Orchestra of The Age of Enlightenment Experience Scheme, Camilla has taken part in a variety of OAE concerts and education projects. She is also a Britten-Pears Young Artist. Camilla has a particular interest in performing with singers and has been privileged to accompany, most notably, the late James Bowman, Mark Padmore and Emma Kirkby. She is passionate about early opera and has enjoyed projects directed by Rob Howarth, Laurence Cummings and Eamonn Dougan. Camilla's professional engagements include performances with many of the UK's leading Period Instrument Ensembles such as, The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Music for Awhile & Eboracum Baroque.

23/11/2023

Meet the team! Introducing the bass section:

Tom Lowen started singing at the age of eight as a Canterbury Cathedral chorister. After dropping several octaves, he went on to become a bass in the choir of New College Oxford, graduating with a first-class degree in Music. He currently enjoys a varied career as a soloist and ensemble singer, performing regularly with artists such as the BBC Singers, Tenebrae, and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Forthcoming engagements include a festive flotilla of Messiahs and Christmas Oratorios (Oratorii?) and a Christmas jazz extravaganza (feat. big band!) with Standard Deviation.

A recent Masters graduate from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Henry Saywell is a current Monteverdi Choir Apprentice, has just finished two years as an Ex Cathedra student scholar, and is a Genesis Sixteen alumnus. He sings regularly with a number of professional ensembles including The Carice Singers, Recordare and Sestina. Opera roles this summer have been Colline, La Boheme, and Huntsman/Chorus, Venus and Adonis for Ryedale Festival Opera as well as Chorus, Les Troyens with the Monteverdi Choir. Meanwhile solo concert engagements have included Handel’s Messiah and Haydn’s Nelson Mass. Hailing from Wimbledon, Henry credits his seven excellent years in the Tiffin Boys Choir with putting him on the path to a singing career.

21/11/2023

Meet the team!
Introducing our tenor section:

Tenor, James Micklethwaite, graduated from the Royal College of Music with Distinction, and was a member of The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge. More recent highlights include: tenor soloist in The Really Big Chorus’ Messiah from Scratch in the Royal Albert Hall; covering Gastone in The Dead City for English National Opera; Slender in Sir John in Love for British Youth Opera at Opera Holland Park and covering Remendado in Carmen at Waterperry Opera Festival. Upcoming concert engagements include Bach’s St John Passion and Mozart’s Requiem. James regularly performs with many of the country’s leading vocal ensembles.

Timothy Peters is a tenor, conductor and composer based in London. In September this year he became a member of the Chapels Royal choir at HM The Tower of London. Earlier this year he joined Horsham Chamber Choir as their Musical Director. He is also the Musical Director of Surrey’s LGBTQIA+ Choir, ‘Surrey Rainbow Choir’. Beyond classical music, Timothy is a DJ - playing mostly in the summer months - and enjoys performing as a member of Life Aquatic Band who are based in Sheffield.

20/11/2023

Meet the team! Introducing the alto section:

Izzi Blain is a freelance musician based in London. She grew up in St Albans, and was a chorister at St Albans Cathedral. After 3 years as a choral scholar at Merton College, Oxford, she was selected for the Genesis Sixteen young artists programme. She works with groups including the BBC Singers, London Voices, The English Concert, Corvus Consort, Echo and SANSARA, and sings frequently in many of London’s leading church choirs. Izzi recently performed in Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti for Grimeborn Festival. She has a Master’s in Social Anthropology from SOAS and has worked in the charity sector promoting arts education in deprived primary schools.

Helena Cooke is a mezzo soprano from Cheshire, studying singing with Veronica Veysey Campbell. She graduated from University of York with a first class degree in music, and now works as a freelance singer in London. Helena performs regularly with many of the UK’s finest choirs, including the choir of the Chapel Royal, Tower of London, BBC Singers, English Concert and Recordare, and is a member of Levedy Ensemble, an all-female voice and harp quintet. Recent solo performances include Britten’s Abraham and Isaac with Mark Padmore at St Endellion Summer Festival, St John Passion with Sussex Chorus, and the role of The Sorceress in Dido and Aeneas with Hampstead Garden Opera.

We are thrilled that Helena will be singing one of the solo movements in our concert, Cozzolani’s beautiful and reverent ‘Ave Maria’.

19/11/2023

Meet the team!

Ailsa Campbell, Soprano, from Northumberland, began her singing career in Hexham Abbey Girls’ choir aged 9. During her undergraduate degree, she was appointed as the first female Choral Scholar at Bristol Cathedral. She went on to complete a masters in Solo Voice Ensemble Singing with Robert Hollingworth (I Fagiolini) at the University of York, graduating with distinction. She was a member of the NYCGB Fellowship Programme 2018/19 and a VOCES8 Scholar 2022/23. Ailsa now sings regularly with The Choir of the Chapels Royal, Tower of London, Siglo de Oro, St Martin’s Voices, The Corvus Consort and London Voices.

Daisy Livesey is in her third year as an undergraduate soprano at the Royal Academy of Music. During her studies, she has worked with John Butt, Iain Ledingham, Eamonn Dougan, and Philippe Herreweghe in the Bach series concerts. In November 2022, Daisy was a soprano soloist in Purcell’s The Fairy Queen directed by Laurence Cummings. Engagements outside the Academy include a St John Passion with Arcangelo directed by Topi Lehtipuu in a collaboration with the Finnish Baroque Orchestra, and Bach’s B Minor Mass with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment directed by Václav Luks.

In addition to singing in the ensemble, Daisy will be performing one of the solo movements in our programme - we can’t wait!

18/11/2023

Meet the team!

Olivia Shotton is the Conductor and founder of The CONVENTional Project. The project began as part of her role as a Fellow at the Royal Academy of Music, where she organised and conducted a concert series of music from the Italian convents of the Renaissance and Baroque. Olivia passionately believes in giving this music the platform it deserves, and is absolutely delighted to be performing at Wimbledon International Music Festival next week.

She previously studied Choral Conducting under Patrick Russill at the Academy, receiving a distinction and DipRam award for outstanding performance in her final recital, in addition to the Sir Thomas Armstrong Choral Leadership Prize.

Olivia is the current Conductor of the University of London Chamber Choir, the University of Greenwich Choir, London Youth Choir West, and Assistant Conductor of Ealing Symphony Orchestra. Olivia has worked with Streetwise Opera, and has led workshops on behalf of The Sixteen and VOCES8 Foundation. Her previous conducting engagements include Assistant Chorus Master for Mahler Symphony No. 3 at the Academy (2022), Genesis Sixteen Conducting Scholar (2022-23), Fellow of The National Youth Choirs of Great Britain (2022), Assistant Musical Director with the British Youth Opera production of Hansel and Gretel (2021), and semi-finalist in the DIMA International Choral Conducting Competition (2021).

Alongside her conducting, Olivia sings with several professional London church and chamber choirs, and has performed backing vocals live for The Rolling Stones.

Tickets are now available for The Cozzolani Vespers of 1650 (Lunchtime Concert) at St John's Church, Wimbledon on Friday 24th November 2023. Click the link for further information and to secure your tickets now!