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The English tenor, James Beddoe, History at the University of York (2011-2014). He recently completed his studies on the Artist Masters programme at Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London (2018-2020), where he was a Leverhulme Scholar and was supported by the Chizel Education Trust. Highlights include taking part in a cross-arts performance of Schubert’s Schwanengesang with Iain Burnside, and being chosen by Graham Johnson to perform in a recital as part of the Song Guild. He also attended master-classes with Jane Glover (2016), Nicholas Mulroy (2017), Dame Emma Kirkby (2018), and Marcus Farnsworth (2019).
Recent operatic performances include Madwoman in Benjamin Britten's Curlew River (St Mellitus Church Hall, London, 2018), Tobias in Dove Tobias and the Angel (St Barnabas Cathedral, Nottingham, 2018) Male Chorus in B. Britten's The Rape of Lucretia (St John’s College, Cambridge
, 2017) and Box in Sullivan's Cox and Box (Ely Cathedral, Cambridgeshire, 2017), as well as Tamino in W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte (Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge, 2017), Ferrando in W.A. Mozart's Così fan tutte (Jaqueline du Pré Hall, Oxford, 2016) and Count Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia in opera scenes. Recent oratorio solo performances include Haydn's Creation (Southfields, London, 2019), Rossini's Messe Solennelle (Herefordshire, 2019), J.S. Bach's St John Passion (BWV 245) (St Barnabas Cathedral, Nottingham, 2020), and George Frideric Handel's Messiah with the Britten Sinfonia (London and Leicestershire, 2019).
In 2020, projects that are currently postponed include taking part in the Nevill Holt Opera Young Artist programme, as well as singing the titular part in a performance of G.F. Handel's Joshua. James Beddoe was also due to perform a concert of Arnold Schoenberg with the BBC Singers at the Proms, but this was sadly cancelled. He continues to prepare a new recital programme of music both from and inspired by the East Midlands, including works by Eric Coates, Ernest Moeran and Benjamin Britten, as well as settings of Lord Byron.
James Beddoe began singing as a chorister at Southwell Minster in Nottinghamshire, and he continues to perform in choirs that include the Monteverdi Choir (Director: John Eliot Gardiner), Tenebrae (Director: Nigel Short), BBC Singers and Britten Sinfonia Voices. He has taken part in the The Sixteen's Genesis programme, and was a Lay Clerk at St John’s College, Cambridge, where he ran the choir’s Marketing and Communications for two years (2016-2018).
In the latter role, James Beddoe managed the award-winning ‘St John’s Cambridge’ label in collaboration with Signum Records and directed the filming of the first live-streamed Evensong by the choir. He has been fortunate to have been offered the opportunity to reprise this post over the lockdown, and during this period he has produced 83 ‘Virtual Chapel’ services, an eight-part video series for prospective Choral Scholars, and a ‘Virtual College Concert’, for which he filmed many of the college’s musicians including alumnus Iestyn Davies with Joseph Middleton. He currently lives in London, England. |
