Sophie Elisabeth Hartop

Singing has always been a passion of mine and I have always been very confident in performing in front of other people. I enjoy singing most genres from Jazz to Baroque and my vast amount of practice has enabled me to perform each genre to good or excellent standard. I have been training my voice since I was seven years old and I am now 18. Last November I achieved a distinction in my grade 7 ABRSM exam. I have been attending the Canterbury Cathedral all girls choir from the age of 13 and have been a member for five years rehearsing for an average of five hours a week. This on top of personal practice time and singing lessons amount to seven hours a week. The choir has given me amazing opportunities such as performing on the BBC One show on Christmas Eve and This Morning a week before as well as appearing on the front cover of the BBC Music magazine and on BBC South East news all just in December 2017! These opportunities stemmed from the production of the 'Christmas With Canterbury Cathedral Girls' Choir' album produced under a DECCA Classics record label which gave us the chance to record the album in Angel studios, Islington, London. The album was number 1 on the UK Classical charts and even momentarily beat Ed Sheeran on the UK charts! I have also performed at the installation of the first black women bishop of the Church of England, Rose Hudson-Wilkin in 2019 and a couple months earlier that year I attended afternoon tea at Lambeth Palace with the Archbishop of Canterbury where we performed for him. Three years before in 2016 I sung in front of her Majesty the Queen for the unveiling of her statue which also aired live on BBC News. Recently (Summer 2019) I performed as a backing vocalist on the main stage at Greenwich Music Time and performed last Christmas at the East India club in London. Other achievements consist of hosting a Jazz Club night at the Simon Langton boys grammar school as well as performing works by Ella Fitzgerald, Julie London, Etta James, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings and Audrey Hepburn's 'Moon River'. Other concerts at school consist of me performing Bill Wither's 'Ain't No Sunshine', Guns and Roses's 'Sweet Child O mine'. I also performed at the Speilgeltent in the Canterbury Festival in 2019 singing Bach's 'Bist du bei mir', Royal Blood's 'Figure It Out' and Declan Mckenna's 'Brazil'. A more personal achievement and one that I am particularly proud of is singing Purcell's ‘Fairest Isle’ at my late Grandad's funeral in 2017. Overall I really do enjoy singing in any genre and always make sure to put my all into it, whether it be for a songs passion and intensity or for its smoothness and simplicity. If you have any requests or inquiries please don't hesitate to message me. Hope to perform to you soon! Sophie :)