SPRING CONCERT 2026
Dvořák's Stabat Mater
All Saints Church
14-16 Market place, KT1 1JP, Kingston
Saturday 28, March 2026 at 7:30pm
Pdf Flyer: HERE
Dvorak started working on this composition in 1876 and completed it the following year after the deaths of his two surviving children in close proximity to one another. It was first performed in Prague on 23 December 1880.
Traditionally, Stabat Mater compositions describe the suffering of a mother facing the death of her son on the Cross. Although Dvořák’s Stabat Mater composition does present a musical setting underlying the suffering and pain from loss, it also contains optimism and hope.
The concert promises to be a powerful, thrilling and moving performance.
The choir will be joined by an incredibly talented team of professional soloists (see below for more information):
* Soprano Lisa Swayne
* Mezzo Soprano Judy Louie Brown
* Tenor Paul Hopwood
*Bass Mark Nathan
Alongside to our soloists we will also be joined by English Sinfonietta.
Tickets: £20 (under 16s free): search Teddington Choral Society on www.eventbrite.co.uk.
**********
Lisa Swayne - Soprano
Lisa Swayne studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and is now studying with Graeme Danby. Operatic roles include Tatyana (Eugene Onegin) and Diana (Orpheus in the Underworld), both with Kentish Opera, and The May Queen (Merrie England) and Marie (Peter The Great), both with Opera South. Ensemble work includes Norma, The Cunning Little Vixen, Tosca and The Love For Three Oranges, all with Grange Park Opera; Carousel, Macbeth and The Flying Dutchman with Opera North; The Pirates of Penzance, Ines de Castro, Orfeo ed Euridice, Jenufa, Il Trovatore and Carmen with Scottish Opera. Oratorio Solo repertoire includes, Verdi’s Requiem, Bach’s Magnificat, Rutter’s Magnificat, Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony, Poulenc's Gloria, Elgar’s Music Makers, Handel’s Messiah, Mendlessohn’s Elijah, Faure’s Requiem, Bach’s St John Passion, Brahms’ Deutsches Requiem, Handel’s Samson and Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. She has also performed the female solos for Video Games Live with the RSNO and at the International Symposium for Performance Scientists in Auckland.
**********
Judy Louie Brown - Mezzo Soprano
Described by Opera Magazine as singing with “steadiness, purity, dignity and command”, Edinburgh born mezzo-soprano Judy Louie Brown read Music at Edinburgh University, and received her Masters from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.
She now performs regularly with period ensembles the English Concert, Arcangelo, Dunedin Consort, OAE and AAM, as well as larger opera companies, including English Touring Opera, Scottish Opera, Opera Rara, Buxton and Tête-à-Tête opera festivals.
Praised for the “dynamism and delicacy” of her singing, she is a regular collaborator with the Edvard Grieg Kor in Norway, and has performed in venues as diverse as Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, Wigmore Hall, Gewandhaus, Concertgebouw, Royal Albert Hall, St Paul’s Cathedral and an Orcadian brewery.
Judy sang the role of Carmen for Buxton International Festival in addition to performances of Verdi’s Ernani, then roles in The Rake’s Progress, Manon Lescaut, and The Snowmaiden for English Touring Opera. Solo oratorio engagements in 2025 included Messiah for Dunedin Consort in La Folle Journée Festival in Nantes, Beethoven Missa Solemnis with Crouch End Festival Chorus in Alexandra Palace, Southwell Music Festival for Bach’s B Minor Mass, Elgar’s Sea Pictures and Music Makers in Fakenham, Norfolk, and Messiah in the Usher Hall, Edinburgh. Looking ahead, she returns to join ETO for three operas in their Spring season, Manchester Baroque for their Good Friday St Matthew Passion, and the London Mozart Players and massed choral societies of Woking, Reigate and Redhill to sing the Angel in Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius.
**********
Paul Hopwood - Tenor
Paul Hopwood began his professional life as an English teacher, working first at a comprehensive school in South London and eventually finding himself at Eton College. In what he now characterises as an unguarded moment of bohemianism, he then left teaching to train at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. Entering the freelance world, he cut his operatic teeth at Glyndebourne, singing in the chorus, performing principal roles in studio productions, and covering main-stage roles.
Covering (understudying) has remained a distinctive feature of his career. His repertoire ranges from Berlioz’s Faust to Glass’s Satyagraha, and he recently reached the unusual milestone of covering more than 365 performances without ever having gone on. Fittingly, this was achieved on the opening night of the Royal Opera’s Jephtha, in which he covered the title role.
However, Paul is now firmly establishing himself as a principal artist in his own right. He made his Royal Opera House main-stage debut last year as Emperor Altoum inTurandot, and has also made recent debuts with Scottish Opera and at the Göttingen International Handel Festival. A keen concert soloist, recent highlights include Bach’s St Matthew Passion with the Academy of Ancient Music at the Barbican and Messiah on the Isle of Skye.
Alongside singing, he has developed a growing interest in directing, recently leading a group of London teenagers in a staged production of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, and he plans to produce his own translation of a short Offenbach operetta this year.
**********
Mark Nathan - Bass
Mark Nathan is a Surrey-born baritone, dog-lover and pizza aficionado. Recent performances include Schaunard LA BOHÉME and Maximillian CANDIDE for Welsh National Opera, Giuseppe THE GONDOLIERS and Mr Goldbury UTOPIA LTD for Scottish Opera, as well as Hunter RUSALKA for Garsington Opera, Wagner FAUST for Irish National Opera and Dancairo CARMEN for Waterperry Opera. This season he made his Opera North debut as Banana PASS THE SPOON as well as covering Ned Keene PETER GRIMES, and made his English Touring Opera debut in DO NOT TAKE MY STORY FOR A FAIRYTALE.
In 2019, Mark sang the role of Joseph de Rocher in the UK premiere of DEAD MAN WALKING, before covering the role at Welsh National Opera and Israeli Opera. Previous operatic roles include title-role DON GIOVANNI and Marcello LA BOHÈME with Opera Loki; Papageno DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE with Hampstead Garden Opera; Rabotnik THE FIERY ANGEL with Scottish Opera; Guglielmo (OperaFirst) COSI FAN TUTTE for Garsington Opera; Le Directeur LES MAMELLES DE TIRÉSIAS and Death SAVITRI at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland; Dr Falke DIE FLEDERMAUS, Wagner FAUST and Counsel TRIAL BY JURY all with Winterbourne Opera; Morales CARMEN with Riverside Opera; Title role SWEENEY TODD, Dr Pangloss CANDIDE with London Musical Theatre Orchestra; Sir Joseph Porter HMS PINAFORE at the Harwich Festival; Koko THE MIKADO with Co-Opera.
Mark studied at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s Opera School with Scott Johnson, having graduated from the Royal College of Music. Earlier he completed a Music degree at Birmingham University.
When not singing, he can mostly be found writing musical theatre lyrics and children’s poetry.
**********************************
SUMMER CONCERT 2026
Landmark Arts Centre, Ferry road, TW11 9NN Teddington
Saturday 11, July 2026 at 7:30pm
More details coming soon