TEA WITH... CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

Jack Roberts – Tenor

Jack trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he won the Joyce Budd Second Prize of the Kathleen Ferrier Bursary for young singers, to whom he is very grateful for having supported him through his degree. Jack then went on to graduate with a 1st Class degree in Classical Voice before embarking upon a freelance career and then further studies at the Dutch National Opera Academy. Jack debuted at Opera Holland Park singing Lensky in their production of Eugene Onegin, for which he was described by Opera Magazine as “the epitome of an emerging talent”. He subsequently sang Mr Upfold in Albert Herring and Tamino in Die Zauberflöte for Clonter Opera, toured Ireland as Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Ulster Touring Opera, continued to work with Opera Holland Park and Charles Court Opera, and sang the Tenor Solo in Stravinsky’s Les Noces with English National Ballet. In addition to his solo work, Jack has performed with Royal Opera, Garsington Opera, Grange Park Opera, Longborough Festival Opera and The London Symphony Orchestra.

Robin Humphreys – Accompanist

Robin Humphreys is a graduate of the University of Birmingham and a holder of the prestigious Diploma in Professional Performance from the Royal Northern College of Music, where he studied piano accompaniment with David Lloyd. Appearing in concert for over 40 years, he enjoys a successful career as an accompanist and répétiteur (praised as “world-class” by Louise Flind for “Opera Today”), the breadth of his repertoire being reflected in television and radio broadcasts ranging from BBC Radio 3 to Emmerdale! A Principal Lecturer at the RNCM, Robin is a senior music coach within the School of Vocal Studies and Opera, for whom he was also chief répétiteur on the majority of college opera productions from the late 1990s until 2013. He has appeared with the Manchester Camerata in the world première of “A Feast of Fables” by Paul Reade, has been Musical Director for Feelgood Theatre Productions and, from 1990-2000, Opera & Concert Productions (Worldwide) Ltd with whom he toured throughout the Gulf, the Indian sub-continent and the Far East. Robin has a particularly close association with Clonter Opera Theatre in Cheshire, where he regularly works as Assistant Musical Director and Accompanist. For 35 years he was an accompanist member of the British & International Federation of Festivals.