Monteverdi Choir names seven singers for 2026/27 Apprentices Programme
Seven emerging professional singers will combine paid performance experience with specialist coaching as members of the Monteverdi Choir’s 2026/27 apprenticeship cohort.
Sopranos Lydia Baldwin and Alice Beverley, mezzo-sopranos Toluwani Idowu and Rachael Simone, tenor Marcus Burton, baritone Henry Brearley and bass-baritone Dominic Felts will join the programme for the coming season.
Established in 2007, the scheme is designed to help emerging professional singers make the transition from higher education into sustained freelance careers. Apprentices are embedded within the Monteverdi Choir, combining specialist training with paid professional performance experience.
During the 2026/27 season, the new cohort will perform in projects including Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle at Alexandra Palace with Jakob Lehmann, Handel’s Theodora with Christophe Rousset and the ensemble’s Venetian Christmas programme with Francesco Corti.
The singers will also take part in a dedicated residency at Ripon College Cuddesdon with Jonathan Sells, Dame Sarah Connolly and Mark Padmore. Repertoire will include Bach recitative, English song and Italian madrigals.
Further training will include an Italian song masterclass with Lehmann and language coach Alessandro Fisher, a Handel aria masterclass with Connolly and a madrigal masterclass with lutenist Elizabeth Kenny.
More than 100 singers have taken part in the Monteverdi Apprentices Programme since its launch, with a number of alumni continuing to perform regularly with the organisation’s ensembles.
Rosa Solinas, General Director of the Monteverdi Choir & Orchestras, said: ‘We are delighted to welcome Lydia, Alice, Toluwani, Rachael, Marcus, Henry and Dominic as the new Monteverdi Apprentices.
‘Each brings a distinctive musical personality, shaped by a rich range of training and experience, and this programme will give them the chance to develop their choral singing through the professional experience of rehearsing and performing within our ensembles.’