James Beddoe

I am an aspiring young tenor who lives in London, where I currently study on the Artist Masters in Performance as a Leverhulme Arts Scholar at Guildhall School of Music and Drama on the Artists Masters in Performance. My studies are also supported by the Chizel Education Trust and the Francis Bernard Caunt Education Trust. My current teachers are Adrian Thompson and Susan Waters. I was a Lay Clerk with the Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge from 2016-17, and I have also been the Choir’s Marketing and Communications Officer from 2016-18. Operatic roles whilst in Cambridge have included the ‘Male Chorus’ in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia, Tamino in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Tobias in Jonathan Dove’s Tobias and the Angel, and on a lighter note I performed as Box in Sullivan’s Cox and Box in Ely Cathedral. I have also performed Britten’s Les Illuminations with String Orchestra in St John’s College Chapel and the solos in Mozart’s Requiem in St Martin-in-the-Fields. Whilst fulfilling my Choir duties, I have performed in a variety of other ensembles, including the Monteverdi Choir and Tenebrae. As Marketing and Communcations Officer, I have managed the choir’s award-winning ‘St John’s Cambridge’ record label with Signum Records, introduced regular video features on the choir’s activities, and directed the filming of the first video live-streamed Evensong at St John’s. Whilst in Cambridge, I very much enjoyed working with Russel Smythe as my singing teacher. From 2015-2016 lived in Oxford, where I enjoyed performing with a range of ensembles including The Oxford Bach Soloists, Schola Cantorum, the Blenheim Singers and The Carice Singers. Whilst taking up a Lay Clerkship with the choir of The Queen’s College, I also sang regularly with the choirs of Christ Church, Magdalen and New College. Some highlights included performing my first solo Messiah in the Sheldonian Theatre at Christmas and singing the role of Ferrando in Mozart’s Cosi fan Tutte; at the end of my time there he performed a recital that included Finzi's 'A Young Man's Exhortation' as well as works by Ivor Gurney and Ian Venables. In Oxford, I had lessons with Bronwen Mills; I have previously worked with Joshua Ellicott and Ashley Stafford. I began my pursuit of music whilst a chorister at Southwell Minster in Nottinghamshire - I has since sung with the choirs of Worcester and York cathedrals - and I completed my degree in History at the University of York. Musical high points there include singing under the directorship of Robert Hollingworth with The 24 and in an elective in Renaissance ensemble performance, and performing lead roles in Weber’s Der Freischütz and Offenbach’s Orpheé aux Enfers. I was a member of Genesis Sixteen (2014-15) and in the same year I took part in a Renaissance Masterworks Project with The Tallis Scholars in New York.