John Herford
John Herford, baritone, is studying with Mark Wildman and Iain Ledingham at the Royal Academy of Music. He was previously a Lay Clerk in the choir of St. John’s College, Cambridge, having been a member of Gonville and Caius College choir for three years while studying music. During this time he also appeared in various opera productions, recently as Nero and Quintus in Three Portraits of Nero and as Directeur in Poulenc’s Les Mamelles de Tiresias. Recent operatic performances have included the rôle of ‘Der Mann’ in the UK premiere of Hindemith’s Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen (for Ardente Opera), Count Gil in Wolf-Ferrari’s Susanna’s Secret (Little Opera Company), and Morales in Bizet’s Carmen in Oxford (Oxford International Links). He enjoys singing a wide range of repertoire, with a particular interest in contemporary and 20th-century music. Solo performances have included Mahler’s Rückertlieder, Händel’s Israel in Egypt and Messiah, Bach’s Passions, Tippett’s The Child Of Our Time, Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs, Brahms’ German Requiem and Mendelssohn’s Elijah. As a choral singer he has performed with Philharmonia Voices, the Choir of the Age of Enlightenment, Polyphony and stile antico, with whom he recorded the celebrated disc “Heavenly Harmonies”. He is a Gentleman of the Choir of the Chapel Royal at St. James’s Palace. In recitals he has sung Schumann, Wolf, Strauss, Brahms, Mahler, Ravel, Purcell, Britten and Webern, in addition to premières of new songs by himself and contemporaries. He recently performed a programme of Fauré songs at a recital at Kings Place, London. He is generously supported by the John Lewis Partnership, the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Josephine Baker Trust.
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