Where are they now?
HGO Alumni
We value every artist who sings with us. Many recommend HGO to friends and colleagues as a company that supports, guides, and nurtures young singers. That means a great deal to us.
A good number have gone on to solo careers on some of the biggest stages in opera, and we’re proud to have given them an early start.
Here is a small selection of our recent alumni. Read where their careers have taken them. Then come and hear the next generation.
Search A Cast Member
Esme Bronwen-Smith
Esme scored great successes with HGO in the title role of Holst’s ‘Savitri’ in 2020 and as Cherubino in our 2021 ‘Figaro’. In 2022 she won First Prize in the prestigious Kathleen Ferrier Awards and has sung for Glyndebourne and English Touring Opera. She writes “ HGO wholeheartedly encourage young singers and gives them the opportunity to be involved in incredible productions with brilliant directors and conductors. Honestly I don’t think I could have achieved what I have without their continued support”.
Stephanie Wake Edwards
Stephanie appeared in Jonathan Dove’s “The Enchanted Pig” and wowed audiences with the remarkable colour of her voice. She has been part of the Jette Parker programme in 2020-21 and will continue at the Royal Opera in 21-22 as a young artist singing principal roles. In 2021 Stephanie was a finalist in the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition – watch her here!
Kali Hardwick
Kali was our sensational Partenope in 2019. She then went on to the young artists programme at Basel Opera and is now a full member of the company. In 2022 she sang Pamina amongst other roles. Now based in Switzerland she sings at the Theater St. Gallen.
Monwabisi Lindi
Monwabisi stunned HGO audiences with his debut as Rodolfo in ‘La Boheme’ and was awarded a place as a 2021/22 Young Artist the National Opera Studio. He has since sung with Scottish Opera, Wexford, and English Touring Opera , and covered at Buxtobn and ENO. He is one of Scottish Opera’s 2023/4 ‘Emerging Artists’.
Joanna Harries
Joanna was one of our Savitris when HGO staged the opera in 2020 as the first opera production in London after the initial COVID lockdown. She was subsequently awarded a place as a 2021/22 Young Artist at the National Opera studio. In September 2022 she was a finalist in the Wigmore Hall/Bollinger International Song Competition. In the 2022/23 season and the 2023/4 season she is singing with Opera Holland Park and the Buxton Opera Festival, and has recently given a lunchtime recital at the Royal Opera House.
Hamish McLaren
Hamish’s beautiful counter tenor was first heard at HGO in our production of ‘Partenope’. With many concert and opera engagements in the UK and abroad, he has recently relased an album ‘Persian Love Songs’. on Orchid Classics, and in November 2022 repeated his role as Arsace in ‘Partenope’ at the Three Palaces Festival in Malta.
Jolyon Loy
Anglo-Irish baritone Jolyon Loy is emerging as one of the UK’s most versatile singer-actors. He featured in our production of Eugene Onegin. His breakthrough performance as Tarquinius in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia, directed by Oliver Mears at the Royal Opera House’s Linbury Theatre and broadcast on BBC Radio 3, earned universal critical acclaim for his “charismatic voice and presence” (The Guardian), “dynamic vocalism” (The Stage) and the “mellow seductiveness of his baritone” (Bachtrack).
Winner of an Extraordinary Prize at the 60th Tenor Viñas, 2nd Prize and the Bayreuth Scholarship at the Wigmore Hall Wagner Society Singing Competition, Jolyon has been nominated for a Gramophone Award.
Francis Gush
English-Dutch countertenor Francis Gush performed in our production of Partenope.
Francis has performed with companies such as The Deutsche Oper (Tolomeo– Giulio Cesare), Glyndebourne Festival Opera (Tolomeo– Giulio Cesare, cover, La Speranza- L’Orfeo) , English Touring Opera (Cesare– Giulio Cesare) and the Opéra de Lille (Athamas– Semele, cover) as well as performing the title role in Titus L’Empéreur at the Händel Festspiele in Halle and the London Handel Festival (Opera Settecento).
His work has been met with critical acclaim, with the Orchestra of the Age of the Enlightenment, singing a programme of Purcell and Blow, performances at the Wigmore Hall with Steven Isserlis, described as a ‘show-stealing turn’ (The Arts Desk).