Women Writing Life: a celebration in words and music from Barbara Strozzi to Joni Mitchell via Tckaikovsky's Letter Scene from Eugene Onegin, Aaron Copland's 12 Poems of Emily Dickinson and Dominick Argento's A Diary of Virginia Woolf.
Madeleine Holmes is a lyric soprano working in opera, concert and song.
Since training with ENO she has played Tatyana Eugene Onegin, Mimì and Musetta La Bohème, GiorgettaIl Tabarro, Naiad Ariadne auf Naxos, Romilda Xerxes and Mrs Lovett Sweeney Todd, and created the characters of Eve in David Moore’s The Diaries of Adam and Eve and Strekoza in Brian Hosefros’ StrekozaiMuravej.
Recital work includes contemporary song at the New Dots Symposium ROH / Clore and LSO St Luke’s, the première of Julian Philips’ dramatic monologue Life Lessens at the Bloomsbury Festival and Wigmore Hall, and Britten’s Four Burns Songs at The Red House, Aldeburgh.
While studying French and Italian at Cambridge, Madeleine worked in a jazz duo and now celebrates her love of the American Songbook as a guest vocalist at the Ritz, as well as devising biopic-concerts with The London Dance Orchestra and hybrid classical-jazz programmes for INK and Dartington International Festivals.
Also a 450-hr trained yoga teacher, Madeleine integrates her work in mindful movement with her love of words, music and drama as vocal coach at The Actors’ Richmond Centre and as a visiting tutor to Morley College, Benslow Music Trust, Berkshire Choral International, Dartington International Summer School and Melofonetica.
Current projects include a recording with regular collaborator Gavin Roberts of lesser-known Italian 19th and 20th-century songs discovered with the generosity of a Finzi Trust Travel Scholarship, and the completion of her first book, a narrative memoir travelling the liminal spaces of music and the mind.
Described as a “magnificent presence and voice,” Thomas’s portfolio of musical activities has seen him involved as Baritone, Pianist, Educator and Choral Director.
His piano studies with Yekaterina Lebedeva at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and as a Britten Pears Young Artist led to performances as a collaborative pianist at venues and festivals in the UK and Europe.
After pursuing vocal studies in London, Thomas sang in UK and European choirs, in opera choruses including the Glyndebourne Festival and as soloist on radio and television broadcasts. He sings as oratorio soloist around the UK and in recital and concert with solo performances at Westminster’s Abbey and Central Hall. In opera principle roles have included Figaro (Marriage of Figaro), Father (Hansel and Gretel), Count Robinson (The Secret Marriage) and Claudius (Agrippina).
A passionate educator, Thomas has taught singing extensively in all education sectors, on the BA acting course at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and in collaboration with the British Voice Association. He studied voice intensively with celebrated soprano Nelly Miricioiu, receiving guidance from Sir John Tomlinson and also training in the Estill Method.
As Choral Director he has led performances at venues including Belfast Grand Opera House, Dublin City Hall, St Paul’s Cathedral and Southbank Centre, London. Thomas was a founder of the London Stroke Choir and creates bespoke arrangements in numerous vocal contexts.
Alongside his multifaceted musical career Thomas continues to explore new life possibilities, whilst enjoying many hours running, baking, volunteer gardening and philosophisin