Ruby Hughes is a former BBC New Generation Artist and was winner of both First Prize and the Audience Prize at the 2009 London Handel Singing Competition. She holds a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award and was Shortlisted for a 2014 Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award.

She has become known for her interpretations of the music of the baroque and 20th and 21st Century, performed at every turn with a unique sensitivity and artistry. On the opera stage she has sung productions for Theater an der Wein (Roggiero in Rossini’s Tancredi, and Fortuna in L’Incoronazione di Poppea), Aix-en-Provence Festival (EuridiceL’Orfeo), Opéra de Toulon (Rose Maurrant Street Scene) and Potsdamer Winteroper (title role, Theodora) and in the UK has performed major roles with English National Opera, Garsington Opera and for Scottish Opera.

Mezzo soprano Kathryn Rudge, born in Liverpool in 1986. Named as The Times ‘Rising Star of Classical Music and ‘One of Britain’s brightest young mezzos’ (What’s On Stage). Kathryn was a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist (2015-17), English National Opera (ENO) Harewood Artist, YCAT Artist and she is an Associate Member of the Royal Northern College of Music where she studied voice with Susan Roper (2004-11) and Junior RNCM (2002-04).

Kathryn is the recipient of awards including; Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe Award, BBC Education Bursary, Susan Chilcott Scholarship, The Joaninah Trust Award, Kathleen Ferrier Society Bursary; Joyce Budd Award, Worshipful Company of Musicians Silver Medal and the Joyce and Michael Kennedy Award for the Singing of Richard Strauss, and was nominated for a Royal Philharmonic Society Award. Kathryn made her operatic debut as Cherubino in Fiona Shaw’s new production of Mozart’s ‘Le Nozze di Figaro’ (ENO 2012) and has since performed in principal opera roles including; Rosina in Jonathan Miller’s production of Rossini’s ‘The Barber of Seville’ (ENO), Cherubino ‘Le Nozze di Figaro’ Glyndebourne on Tour, Dorabella in Mozart’s ‘Cosi Fan Tutte’ Garsington Opera, Zerlina Mozart’s ‘Don Giovanni’, Hermia in Britten’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream,’ Sesto Handel’s ‘Guilio Cesare,’ Annio in Mozart’s ‘La Clemenza di Tito’ for Opera North. Kathryn performed the title role in Bizet’s ‘Carmen’ with the British Paraorchestra conducted by Charles Hazlewood at Glastonbury and at RNCM she performed the role of Erika in Barber’s ‘Vanessa’. Helena (Offenbach/La Belle Helene), Olga (Tchaikovsky/Eugene Onegin) at Haddo House. Kathryn has performed and recorded with Opera Rara; Leoncavallo – ‘Zaza’, Bellini ‘Adeslon e Salvini,’ (BBC SO) and Donizetti’s ‘Il Paria’ conducted by Sir Mark Elder (2021).

Roderick Williams is one of the UK’s most sought-after baritones and is constantly in demand on the concert platform and in recital, encompassing repertoire from the baroque to world premieres.

Opera engagements have included major roles at leading opera houses worldwide including the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, English National Opera, Dutch National Opera, Dallas Opera, the Bregenz Festival and Oper Köln. He has been involved in many world premieres such as Alexander Knaifel’s Alice in Wonderland, several operas by Michel van der Aa, the title role in Robert Saxton’s The Wandering Jew, and the UK premiere of Sally Beamish’s Judas Passion with the Orchestra of the Age of the Enlightenment.

The World Choir for Peace has a core consisting of 36 professional singers from 24 different nations. The Come & Sing projects expand the choir with around 2,000 music enthusiasts from all over the world, coming together to sing for peace and the preservation of our planet. Supporting this idea are well-known international artists and composers who have written pieces especially for the choir, which touch our innermost emotions. They encourage us to use the resources of this earth carefully, to protect human rights, to promote international understanding and tolerance for each other and to create a culture of peace and awareness in which the worship of our nature can again find a peace within our world.

The choir’s goal is to bring about a culture of peace through singing together, both as individuals and as part of our choral community. We have only one planet and our common aspiration should be to honour it and treat all of its creatures with care. This will help to secure a future that is not shaped by heat and drought, by storms and flood, by violence, terror and wars.

The World Orchestra for Peace was founded by Sir Georg Solti and Charles Kaye in 1995, for a special concert in Geneva to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations. Invited to direct the concert and to choose whichever orchestra he pleased, Solti’s proposal was to bring together the finest individual players from major orchestras all over the world to make a unique demonstration for peace. Since his death in 1997, the orchestra has been reassembled and directed by Charles Kaye, who invited Valery Gergiev to conduct it for the opening concert of Baden-Baden’s new Festspielhaus in 1998 and for 22 concerts between then and 2019. These included BBC Proms appearances in 2000 marking the 60th anniversary of the commencement of the London Blitz; in 2005 as part of the orchestra’s first world tour on the 60th anniversary of the cessation of hostilities of the Second World War; in 2010 for its 15th anniversary and the 90th of the Salzburg Festival and in 2014, marking the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War. Further concerts have been given in Abu Dhabi, Beijing, Berlin, Brussels, Budapest, Chicago, Jerusalem, Krakow, Moscow, New York, Rotterdam, St. Petersburg and Stockholm. Sir Donald Runnicles made his first appearances with the Orchestra for its two concert performances of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony at the BBC Proms and Würth in 2018, both designated UNESCO Concerts for Peace.

Composer Sir Karl Jenkins invited and conducted the orchestra for the first time in November 2018, for a performance of his Armed Man – A Mass for Peace in Berlin, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the WW1 Armistice – and given in partnership with the newly formed World Choir for Peace. Together they commissioned Sir Karl’s One World, which will receive its World Première at the Brucknerhaus, Linz in November 2023.

The orchestra became the first to be designated UNESCO Artist for Peace in 2010, since when its over 700 players from 125 orchestras in 70 countries have continued their work as UNESCO Goodwill Ambassadors. The World Orchestra for Peace has released 6 DVD, 3 Blu-ray and 6 CD recordings of its live performances and tours, two documentary films Solti’s Vision in 2010 and From War to Peace in 2014 and has worked in co-production partnerships with UNITEL, the BBC and Bernhard Fleischer Moving Images for many of its TV and AV productions.

The 60 passionate singers that make up the Linz Hard-Chor have one thing in common – singing in a choir means everything to them. The Upper Austrian vocal ensemble are proud of their regular performances, wide ranging and colourful choral literature and lots of joy in experimenting – a new approach to choral singing.

“Choral singing is an old art form that we at the Hard-Chor want to transpose musically and scenically into the present. This not only requires musical ability, but also a little courage to experiment.” – Director Alexander Koller.

The Hard-Chor was founded in 2007. Since then, the choir has evolved and earned its place in the choral cultural scene. Choral singing should touch people, entertain them and also challenge them a little. The choir’s repertoire includes choral works from various musical eras and composers, often including contemporary music and world premieres.

The Stay At Home Choir is a global singing community using digital technology to bring music lovers together. Our members take part online to create recordings and meet world-class composers, conductors and artists from the comfort of their own homes.

Stay At Home Choir members have access to a huge variety of exclusive opportunities, from album and video recordings to digital access to live events. Learning sessions are fun and inclusive, supporting members to improve their singing skills, confidence, and choral knowledge whatever their previous experience.

To date the Stay At Home Choir has involved more than 29,000 singers around the world in inspiring online singing projects with artists such as Marin Alsop, Sir Karl Jenkins, Gareth Malone, John Rutter, Sir James MacMillan, Jessica Curry, Morten Lauridsen, Sarah Quartel, Christopher Tin, Elaine Hagenberg, The King’s Singers, I Fagiolini, VOCES8, The Swingles, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Boosey & Hawkes, Hal Leonard, OUP, Faber and The Berlin Philharmonic Hall.

The Stay At Home Choir is led by Tori Longdon and Jamie Wright, and was the recipient of the first Royal Philharmonic Society Inspiration Award.