Performers' Biographies

Rachel Thorn
Soprano

Rachel Thorn graduated in French from The Queen's College, Oxford and studied singing first with Julian Smith, subsequently with Neil Mackinnon (Glyndebourne, Welsh National Opera) and currently with Andrew Kennedy (Royal Opera House and winner of the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Rosenblatt Song Prize 2005). She has sung roles with Tayside Opera (Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci) and been a soloist in Handel's Messiah, Mozart's Requiem, Fauré's Requiem, Schubert's Mass in G, Haydn's Nelson Mass and Little Organ Mass, Purcell's Come Ye Sons of Art, Mendelssohn's Hear My Prayer, Britten's Missa Brevis and Rejoice in the Lamb. She has also recorded with The Queen's College Choir and has given public solo recitals of lieder and sacred music in England, Austria and France.

Owen Rees
Piano

Owen Rees began his academic and conducting career as Organ Scholar at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, studying with Peter le Huray and Iain Fenlon. Since 1997 he has been Fellow in Music and Organist at the Queen's College, Oxford, Lecturer at Somerville College, and Reader in the Faculty of Music. As a musicologist he specialises in the music of Portugal, Spain and Egland during the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. His published studies include work on musical sources and repertories from Coimbra, and on the music of, for example, Francisco Guerrero and William Byrd. His work as a scholar has consistently informed his work as a performer. He has conducted at festivals in the UK, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France, and the Netherlands. In addition to the Queen's College Chapel Choir, he directs A Capella Portuguesa and The Cambridge Taverner Choir. Choirs under his direction have released CD recordings on the Herald, Hyperion, and Unicorn Kanchana labels, to consistently high critical acclaim.

Richard Vendome studied organ, piano and composition at the Royal College of Music and at Queen's College, Oxford. Subsequent research into choral and keyboard manuscripts at Christ Church led him to develop computer software for the editing and printing of music in the 1970s. He held British Technology Group and Leverhulme Research Fellowships at Oxford and was awarded the British Computer Society's medal in 1990. He has also taught composition techniques and music history at Queen's and St. Hilda's Colleges, and also advises on the design and preservation of pipe organs throughout the UK and abroad. Having directed several choirs including at St. Giles' Church and Exeter College, Oxford, he founded the Oxford Girls' Choir in 1984 for which he is music director. He is also organist of St Mary & St Nicholas Parish Church, Littlemore, Oxford.

Timothy Morris was Organ Scholar at New College, Oxford, and is currently Succentor at Radley College, where he teaches organ and music. As well as contributing to the academic literature, he has recorded extensively with Edward Higginbottom and the Choir of New College, as well as given frequent solo recitals. In July 2007, he played the complete organ works of JS Bach in one day to raise funds for Leukemia research.

Neil Chippington
Organ & Piano

Neil Chippington was Organ Scholar at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, Head of Academic Music at Winchester College and is currently Headmaster of St Paul's Cathedral Choir School. He began his conducting career at Cambridge with the University Music Society and has since directed and performed regularly in the UK, Europe and the USA.