Scholars

Margaret Lingas was born in Cyprus, raised in Oxfordshire, and completed her BMus and Linguistics minor at the University of Victoria, Canada. Margaret was a choral scholar at Christ Church Cathedral (Victoria), a member of the Pacific Opera Victoria chorus, and a soloist with numerous groups. In the UK, Margaret has performed Schola Pietatis Antonio Vivaldi, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Oxford Contemporary Opera, and Schola Cantorum. She directs Rad Camerata, is the conducting scholar for Oxford Youth Choirs, and recently graduated from the Genesis Sixteen.

Countertenor Yu Sen Chu was born in Taiwan and started his undergraduate at Taipei National University of Arts. He studied operatic singing with Yen-Chiang Che, Grace Lin, Chi-Long Teng and Hsin-Ying Chen. He is studying MMus with Yvonne Sandison at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. In 2010, Chu became an overnight sensation after he sang the Queen of the Night aria on a television show. He reached the Finalists of Taiwan Centennial Singer Competition and won the TNUA Concerto Competition, Rotary Club of Taipei Southsea Scholarship Award and Dr Wu Gui Xiang Scholarship Award.

Tenor Jacob Ewen’s training began as a boy chorister at Westminster Abbey under James O’Donnell. In 2016 he graduated from Oxford University where he was organ scholar at Keble College. After a year as Director of the chapel choir at Lincoln College Oxford, he went to the University of York where he studied under Robert Hollingworth and Alex Ashworth, completing an MA in Ensemble Singing with distinction in 2018. Since finishing the National Youth Choir of Great Britain’s Fellowship programme and the Voces8 Scholarship scheme, Jacob is building his freelance career, singing regularly with Apollo5, Oxford Camerata and London Voices.

Thomas Lowen, bass, started singing at the age of eight as a Canterbury Cathedral chorister. After dropping several octaves, he went on to become a bass choral scholar in the choirs of New College and York Minster. Having graduated from Oxford with a first-class degree in Music and completed a master’s degree in Solo Voice Ensemble Singing at the University of York, Tom took up a Lay Clerkship at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. He has recently moved to London to pursue a varied freelance singing career alongside a position in the choir of the London Oratory.

Student Scholars (supported by the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire)

Imogen Russell, soprano, is currently studying for her MMus in Vocal Performance at the Conservatoire. Her singing teacher is Amanda Roocroft; her previous teachers include Sheila Barnes and Ann De Renais. Imogen sang with The Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge under the direction Stephen Layton for four years. Other groups Imogen has performed with include Illuminare, Armonico Consort, and Polyphony, with whom she has recently toured Norway, singing solos in music by Arvo Pärt. She has an extensive discography with Trinity College Choir. Imogen has sung as a soloist for the Holst Singers, and The Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge under Andrew Nethsingha.

Samantha Lewis, mezzo soprano, was born in Shropshire and began her singing career as a chorister at St Oswald’s Parish Church, Oswestry, where she went on to become Head Chorister and then, Assistant Choir Trainer. Samantha gained her LTCL Singing Diploma with Distinction in 2018, and is in her second year on the MMus Vocal Performance course at the Conservatoire, where she studies with Yvonne Sandison and Paul Wingfield. She has recently appeared as Hänsel in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, Second Lady in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Fanny Price in Jonathon Dove’s Mansfield Park and as the winner of The English Song Prize, 2019. 

Tim Burton, tenor, gained a passion for singing and choral music when he started his musical education as a chorister at Gloucester Cathedral. He has sung at both Truro and Gloucester Cathedrals as a choral scholar, and as a Lay Clerk at Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum. Tim is currently a Lay Clerk at Birmingham St Philip’s Cathedral and has just started his BMus in Vocal and Operatic Studies at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, studying with Chris Turner. His solo performances include Mozart Requiem, Handel Messiah, Rossini Petite Misse Solennelle and Bach St Luke Passion.

Andrey Kushchinsky is a Ukrainian Bass-baritone in his 3rd year at the Conservatoire, studying with Christopher Turner. Andrey is training as a jazz and operatic singer, and is preparing for a career in film-making and various cross-disciplinary arts. Current highlights include playing Papageno in the Conservatoire’s The Magic Flute production, as soloist at the Lincoln Jazz Festival, and representing the conservatoire at the junior Kathleen Ferrier prize.