Matthew Coleridge

Composer and conductor Matthew Coleridge (b.1980) is an exciting voice in the British choral music scene. His first choral composition - the Corpus Christi Carol - was recorded by a cappella group The Queen's Six, appearing on the cover CD of BBC Music Magazine's Christmas edition in 2015.

His highly melodic and very approachable compositional style often blends elements of plainsong and medieval music with shimmering modern harmonies - weaving simple melodic lines into rich tapestries of sound.

Requiem (composed 2014-15) was hailed by the late Sir Neville Marriner as "a valuable addition to the 21st century choral repertoire". Is is regularly performed by choirs across the UK, and overseas.

Matthew's 'Requiem in a Day' choral workshops are very popular amongst choral singers, giving them the opportunity to sing this wonderful piece in some of the UK's most prestigious church buildings.

Richard Gowers - organ

Richard grew up in Cambridge in a family of academics, and was a chorister in the Choir of King’s College, where he sang the famous ‘Once in Royal David’s City’ solo at the 2007 Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. He spent a year studying organ and piano at the Mendelssohn Conservatoire in Leipzig before returning to King’s as organ scholar in 2014-2017 and graduating with a starred first in Music. With King’s College Choir he performed at major venues and festivals around the world, including Aldeburgh Festival, BBC Proms 2016, Concertgebouw, MDR Musiksommer, Rheingau, Vancouver and tours of the USA and China. In 2018 he released a critically-acclaimed debut CD of Messiaen’s La Nativité du Seigneur, which was a Gramophone ‘Editor’s Choice’.

Richard is based in London, where he combines performing with teaching positions at Cambridge University, Tiffin and Westminster Schools and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. He is the Director of Music at St Saviour’s Church, Pimlico, where he conducts several choirs, curates a concert series and runs the music outreach programme Sing After School. During the Covid-19 pandemic he has made numerous recordings for the 6000-strong Self-Isolation Choir. In May 2020 he started an online harmony course aimed at levelling up disadvantaged music students from diverse backgrounds, which has since been adopted annually by Cambridge University. He is a passionate advocate of musicians’ rights in the current political climate, and has a weakness for dry humour and artisan crisps.

Gabriella Swallow - cello

Gabriella Swallow has emerged as one of the most versatile and exciting cellists of her generation. She studied at The Royal College of Music with Jerome Pernoo. She was awarded the coveted Tagore Gold Medal and performed Hugh Wood’s Cello Concerto in her final year after winning the concerto competition.As a soloist Gabriella went on to make her South Bank debut withthe London Sinfonietta in the world premiere of 'About Water' by Mark-Anthony Turnage. In the same year she performed Paul Max Edlin's Cello Concerto with the South Bank Sinfonia, which firmly launched her place as a leading performer of contemporary music. This has led her to commission and work with many of the major living Composers of today.

In 2013 she made her Wigmore Hall debut with the soprano Ruby Hughes and in the same season performed at the La Jolla SummerFest in San Diego, the Aldeburgh Festival with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and the Cambridge Jazz Festival as a member of the celebrated British Jazz pianist Gwilym Simcock's Quintet. She toured the U.K. with Nigel Kennedy and his new Four Season band. In 2019 she continued her collaboration with Kennedy playing concerts of Gershwin and in Poland they performed his Hendrix Project with legendary guitarist Mike Stern.

Gabriella is very involved with the classical club night scene and has acted as string curator of Music Orbit's string night 'Strung Out' and performs frequently at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club 'Classical Kicks' night curated by violinist Lizzie Ball and at Gabriel Prokofiev's Nonclassical club nights. In February 2014 she launched her first classical club night under her own name 'Gabriella Swallow and her Urban Family' at The Forge in Camden. This concert featured artists such as Guy Johnston, Ian Shaw, Martynas Levikis and The Ronnie Scott's All Stars. Gabriella was invited to play with her band at the Wilderness Festival. On July 12th 2016 she hosted an Urban Family concert in aid of the Calais Jungle again at the Forge in Camden with performers including Judith Owen, Ruth McGinley and actor Victoria Hamilton.

Verity Bramson - soprano

Verity Bramson is a freelance soprano and singing teacher in demand in London and the South East. With a special interest in singing voice rehabilitation, her teaching has a strong technical basis and aims to dispel many of the common myths surrounding vocal technique. Her natural empathy and ability to draw upon her pupils’ personal interests aims to to instil a lifelong love of singing beyond the teaching room.

Born in Malvern, Worcestershire, she read Music at Cambridge University alongside a choral scholarship with the Choir of Sidney Sussex College, and completed her post graduate vocal studies with Distinction at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance, under the tutelage of Sophie Grimmer and Patricia Rozario OBE. Her postgraduate studies were generously supported by the William Gibbs Educational Trust as a scholar at St. John’s Hyde Park. She continues her own vocal studies privately with Dr Jenevora Williams and is currently completing an MA in Voice Pedagogy with the University of Wales Trinity St. David and Voiceworkshop.

Verity has performed at venues including the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, St John’s Smith Square, St James Piccadilly, the Minack Theatre in Cornwall, Birmingham Symphony Hall and Thursford Christmas Spectacular. Operatic roles include Gretel/ Dew Fairy ‘Hansel and Gretel' and Novice ‘Suor Angelica’, Dido/ Second Woman 'Dido and Aeneas' and Amore/ Damigella ‘L'Incoronazione di Poppea’, Miss Wordsworth ‘Albert Herring’, Zerlina ‘Don Giovanni’, and Andrea 'Jerry Springer the Opera'. Concert repertoire includes Mozart ‘Mass in C Minor’ and ‘Coronation Mass’, Chilcott ‘Requiem’ Mozart, Handel 'Saul' and ‘Messiah’, Bach ‘St Matthew Passion’, and Britten’s ‘Les Illuminations’.