The English tenor, Richard Rowntree, began singing at an early age for his father Dr. John Rowntree at Douai Abbey and went on to study voice, viola and piano at Trinity College of Music in London. He also held a choral scholarship at St Martin-in-the-Fields and a full time singing post at St James, Spanish Place, London. Following eight years as a Vicar Choral at Wells Cathedral (1999-2007), he joined the Choir of the London Oratory in 2007 and combines this with a busy freelance schedule both in London and throughout the South of England. He is greatly in demand as an oratorio soloist and increasingly as an Evangelist.
Richard Rowntree is greatly in demand as a soloist and consort singer. He performs regularly with some of the country’s leading choirs including the Monteverdi Choir (Director: John Eliot Gardiner), Gabrieli Consort (Director: Paul McCreesh), The King’s Consort (Director: Robert King), London Handel Festival Choir, Early Opera Company, Cambridge Singers (Director: John Rutter) and Philharmonia Voices. He was a member of the vocal ensemble Winkleigh Singers. He has for several years worked with pianist and composer David Bednall and their recitals, which specialise in English Song, have received critical acclaim. He is also a freelance singing teacher.
Future engagements include tours with the Gabrieli Consort, Monteverdi Choir and Le Concert d'Astrée (Director: Emmanuelle Haïm) to Poland, France, Spain, and Italy, as well as concerts throughout the UK. As a soloist Richard Rowntree will be performing extensively including George Frideric Handel’s Acis and Galatea, Mozart’s Requiem and G.F. Handel’s Messiah at St Martin in the Fields, Dietrich Buxtehude’s Jesu Membra Nostri and Carissimi’s Jephtha in The Cadogan Hall, London and St Mary's Warwick, and G.F. Handel’s Messiah in Armagh, Northern Ireland. |