Who’s who?
DIRECTOR OF MUSIC – SEB GILLOT
Seb Gillot is a conductor and keyboard player specialising in early repertories. A multiple prize-winner at FRCO and Silver Medallist of the Worshipful Company of Musicians, he is in high demand as a continuo player and accompanist for a number of ensembles including The Hanover Band, Eboracum Baroque and the Hampstead Collective. He is a founder member of Endelienta Baroque, a period-instrument ensemble performing a wide variety of baroque music and delivering educational projects up and down the country. He was Music Director for HGO’s production of Venus & Adonis/Dido & Aeneas (2022) and returns in April 2024 to conduct the company’s production of Purcell’s The Fairy Queen. When not in front of a keyboard or a choir, he spends his time outdoors walking or running, learning Welsh, and making rudimentary (often unsuccessful!) attempts at green woodworking, though not all at the same time.
VALERIE BOYES SOPRANO CHORAL SCHOLAR – COSIMA RODRIGUEZ-BROADBENT
Cosima has been a singer since the day she was born – she could sing long before she could talk. Cosima’s liturgical singing began in 2007 when she joined the London Oratory Junior Choir. Here, Cosima sang for services thrice a week with annual performances at the Royal Opera House. Whilst singing with the Junior Choir, Cosima had the opportunity to perform in the 2010 Proms season under the direction of Sir Eliot Gardiner. This same year, Cosima recorded on the soundtrack for the penultimate Harry Potter movie.
Upon studying Music at the University of York, Cosima sang under the direction of Peter Seymour and Robert Hollingworth. Whilst studying for her PGCE at Downing College, Cambridge, Cosima was a choral scholar, singing regular solos as part of the choir.
Cosima is now a secondary music teacher in Woking, as well as a Soprano with the BBC Symphony Chorus. Cosima has sung services in St Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, St George’s Windsor, Hampton Court Chapel Royal, Durham Cathedral, St Peter’s Basilica, St Mark’s Basilica, and York Minster.
SOPRANO CHORAL SCHOLAR – HOLLY FRY
Holly began singing in 2012 when she joined the Hywel Girls’ Choir and Hywel Boy Singers and in 2016 was selected as an inaugural member of their all-girls chamber choir, Angelicus Celtis with whom she sang in venues across the UK including The Royal Hospital (Chelsea), Manchester Cathedral, London Palladium, St. David’s Hall (Cardiff), House of Lords and Birmingham Hippodrome.
Holly’s church music journey began in 2014 when she joined a local church choir. In 2023, she became a member of The Royal School of Church Music Millennium Youth Choir, with whom she has attended residencies at Lichfield, Newcastle and Durham Cathedrals.
Holly is currently an undergraduate student at Royal Holloway, University of London where she sings with The Founder’s Choir and The Raven Opera Company. During her first year she was given a range of singing opportunities, including singing solos in evensongs at The Chapel Royal, Southwark Cathedral and St George’s Chapel (Windsor Castle), playing a Little Cupid in ‘Venus and Adonis’ and going on tour to Berlin.
COUNTERTENOR CHORAL SCHOLAR – TOBY WRIGHT
I am a countertenor, organist, pianist and harpsichordist and I’ve played nearly 800 organs in venues across the UK. During sixth form, I was a music scholar at St. Edward’s School, Oxford where I achieved three Grade 8’s for singing, organ and piano and an A* in A-Level Music. I am currently studying Music at Royal Holloway, University of London where I recently achieved a first class mark in my first year undergraduate music performance exam. In addition to being a musician, I’m a runner and swimmer and I have run over 400 parkruns.
TENOR CHORAL SCHOLAR – DAISY RUSHTON
NICK CARPENTER BASS CHORAL SCHOLAR – JAMIE LAYFIELD
SENIOR ORGAN SCHOLAR – PATRYK KORCZAK
Patryk (b. 2000) is a recent Mathematics Masters graduate from Durham University. He began to play the organ when he was 14 and has since grown especially fond of the music of Herbert Howells and Kenneth Leighton.
While he was at Durham, he was the senior organ scholar at University and Hatfield Colleges for a year. He later held the prestigious position of organ scholar at Durham Cathedral in his third year, while directing the chapel choirs of Hild-Bede and Hatfield Colleges across his final two years. He brought the chapel choirs to sing in many cathedrals, most notably in both Westminster Abbey and St Paul’s Cathedral.
Patryk is a keen chess player and puzzle enthusiast, and occasionally does some orchestration in his spare time. He also sings with Joel Starkie’s Caelestis whenever possible. As an experienced organist, Patryk has played the organ at Durham Cathedral, Beverley Minster, York Minster, St Mary’s Edinburgh, Dunblane Cathedral, and Southwark Cathedral, and he is eager to build his repertoire and reputation at St Mary’s Magdalene, Richmond.
JUNIOR ORGAN SCHOLAR – ELLIOT RANDALL
Elliot started playing the organ in 2019 and has performed throughout South Cambridgeshire and London. Elliot is now an undergraduate student at the Royal College of Music, studying with David Graham and Charlie Andrews. He began learning the organ through the Micheal Swindlehurst Organ Scholarship in St. Marys, Saffron Walden with Oliver King. After holding the scholarship for two years Elliot was awarded a place at the Royal College of Music Junior Department, where he studied for two years with Martyn Noble, during which time he had the opportunity to perform on the College’s new Flentrop Orgelbouw Organ, along with the chance to play at the Chapel Royal at St. James’ palace. Aside from the organ, Elliot also studied Clarinet at the Junior Department with Jessie Grimes.
