“Ingeniously programmed and impeccably delivered, with that undefinable excitement that comes from a group of musicians working absolutely as one.” – Gramophone (2020)
The Gesualdo Six is a vocal consort comprised of some of the UK’s finest young consort singers, directed by Owain Park. Formed in March 2014 for a performance of Gesualdo’s Tenebrae Responsories for Maundy Thursday in the chapel of Trinity College, Cambridge, the group went on to give over 150 performances around the United Kingdom and abroad in its first five years. During this time, The Gesualdo Six further strengthened a passion for ensemble singing that for many of them stemmed from formative years as choristers in churches and cathedrals around the country.
The Gesualdo Six regularly performs at festivals around Europe, and has toured to Australia and Canada, with plans for tours to Mexico, Canada and the USA in 2021. The ensemble often incorporates educational work into its activities, holding workshops for choirs and composers and giving concerts alongside local performers. The Gesualdo Six has curated two Composition Competitions, with the 2019 edition attracting entries from over three hundred composers from around the world.
The ensemble released their debut recording ‘English Motets’ on Hyperion Records in early 2018 to critical acclaim, followed by a festive album of seasonal favourites in late 2019, ‘Christmas’. The group’s latest recording is an album of compline-themed music titled ‘Fading’, which was launched in March 2020. We are delighted to announce that in November 2020 ‘Fading’ won the Limelight Magazine award for Vocal Recording of the Year.
I felt something click when we came together to rehearse for the first time, and I don’t think we’ve looked back since then! The special feeling of hyper-engaged music-making, coupled with a good deal of enjoyment in each other’s company, has meant that this group has stuck together and embarked on an exciting journey.
I was born in Bristol, and started my musical training with piano lessons before becoming a chorister at St Mary Redcliffe Church. I then took up the organ and the trumpet, finding a love for improvisation in both. My organ playing took me to Wells Cathedral as Senior Organ Scholar and then to Trinity College Cambridge, where I studied music, learning orchestration with John Rutter before undertaking a Masters degree in composition.
My compositions are published by Novello, and I am privileged to have my music performed all around the world by ensembles including the Tallis Scholars and the Aurora Orchestra.
As a conductor, I work with ensembles including the BBC Singers, the Academy of Ancient Music, Cappella Cracoviensis, and Cambridge Chorale. I also enjoy teaching, and frequently give workshops and masterclasses for composers and singers alike.
I am a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists (FRCO), and was a Tenebrae Associate Artist for two seasons, and regularly work with ensembles including The Sixteen and Polyphony. www.owainpark.co.uk
Guy JamesCountertenor
Hello – I’m Guy, and I’m proud to be a founding member of The Gesualdo Six. Raised in Dursley in Gloucestershire, I am now based in London. Alongside my work with The Gesualdo Six I have developed a passion for the music, language and history of Italy, and thoroughly enjoy performing regularly with the Italian Ensemble Odhecaton.
I enjoy working with a range of other choirs and ensembles including Amici Voices and the RUPA ensemble and I deputise regularly with many London choirs including those of Westminster Cathedral, the Temple Church, and Westminster Abbey. I’m proud to have contributed to over 25 commercial CDs of choral music.
I have recently founded a new music project: Chapel Perilous, which debuted in 2019 with a programme of chamber works by John Tavener, Arvo Pärt, Hildegard von Bingen, and Giacinto Scelsi. Other recent solo appearances have included Bach’s ‘Mass in B minor’ with Solomon’s Knot, works by Purcell and Blow in Turin, and a recital of Gloucestershire songs for Remembrance.
When I’m not to be found reading or singing it’s likely that I will be practising or watching cricket, a pass-time I’ve enjoyed firmly establishing in the group’s culture in conjunction with group batting coach and baritone Michael Craddock.
Andrew Leslie CooperCountertenor
The 2019 season marks my first with The Gesualdo Six and I am delighted to be part of the group! I enjoy making my music as a freelance countertenor, conductor, and keyboardist. Before 2018, I was based in the United States, where I had lived since childhood. There, I was active with ensembles such as the Spoleto Festival Chorus, TENET, and the Philadelphia Symphonic Choir.
I’m very passionate about amateur music-making and music education. While living in the States, I led amateur choirs as music director at the United Methodist Church of Berea (Ohio) and later Grace Presbyterian Church, Jenkintown (Pennsylvania). I currently work with Cranbrook Choral as Assistant Conductor and often lead choral workshops. I also teach music peripatetically at two schools.
I sing in the Choir of Her Majesty’s Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace and regularly deputise for other church choirs. I’ve been fortunate to work with the Academy of Ancient Music, the Academy of Sacred Drama (NYC), and Cleveland’s Bach Ensemble (Ohio). Other recent and upcoming ensemble engagements include Gallicantus, Ex Cathedra, and the Voces8 Foundation Choir.
As a keyboardist, I’m often engaged as a choral accompanist, collaborative pianist, and church organist. In the past, I’ve worked as a Music Director and pianist for professional theatrical venues such as Vermont’s Weston Playhouse.
I earned my Master of Music in Choral Conducting from Westminster Choir College (New Jersey) and my Bachelor of Music in Music Theory from Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music (Ohio). www.andrewlesliecooper.com
Joseph WicksTenor
I have been singing with The Gesualdo Six ever since the first concert back in March 2014. At that time, I was Organ Scholar st St John’s College, Cambridge, where I was later to become Assistant Organist. I played the organ there for the world famous college choir for four years, enjoying tours, broadcasts and recordings alongside the daily pattern of services.
In 2017, I was appointed Assistant Director of Music at Truro Cathedral in Cornwall. During my time there, I accompanied the cathedral choir in a concert performance of Duruflé’s ‘Requiem’ live on BBC Radio 3 and recorded two CDs.
I carried on singing with G6 as much as possible, recording two CDs and touring widely during my Truro holidays. Having moved away from Cornwall in the summer of 2019, I am now able to fully commit to the group’s expanding diary while maintaining my career as an organist and choir trainer.
Aside from G6, I have sung for other groups including Alamire and Tenebrae, having graduated from The Sixteen’s training scheme Genesis Sixteen in 2013. I am now on the London circuit and continue to give organ recitals across the UK. I have my own choir called The Beaufort Singers who sing at the Boxgrove Choral Festival which I founded in 2018.
As far as hobbies are concerned, I share with my dad not just a passion for music, but also all things Formula One motor racing. www.joseph-wicks.co.uk
Josh CooterTenor
I have been singing with The Gesualdo Six since 2016 and love the variety that the group’s schedule brings. I started singing as a chorister at Chichester Cathedral, and later studied music at King’s College London. I now enjoy a busy ensemble career, enjoying singing for some of the UK’s most prestigious consorts such as The Sixteen and the Tallis Scholars.
I have also delved into the world of opera, with singing the title role in Rameau’s ‘Pygmalion’ at Brighton Early Music Festival a particular highlight. I also enjoy creating site-specific operas in venues like the V&A Museum (Tim Watts’s ’Kepler’s Trial’ with my G6 pals!) and at the Carinthia Hotel.
Never being one to say no to another portion of food, I am looking forward to our USA tour where hopefully I will also have time to curate my other two hobbies, climbing and trying to discover the newest bands to listen to.
Not just content with singing, I also teach the trombone and I would like to teach myself the harmonica in order to ultimately become the one man band I’ve always dreamed of…
Michael CraddockBaritone
In comparison to some of the other members of the group, some of whom practically came out of the womb singing, I came to music much later. I had fully intended to do something mathematical, but when I joined the choir at Trinity College Cambridge as an undergraduate, I totally fell in love with singing. I threw myself into everything musical I could find at university, and when I graduated I moved to London and started freelancing, working and touring with groups like Gabrieli and The Marian Consort.
It was around this time that we started The Gesualdo Six, and it has been a huge pleasure to watch it grow from a student project (with an average age of about 20) with no ambitions of doing anything beyond the next concert, to an outfit that does around sixty concerts a year, with tours and recordings and all that comes with it. I still count the members of this group as some of my closest friends, and it still feels like we are making music for the same reasons as six years ago, namely we had a piece we really wanted to sing, and a group of people we really wanted to sing it with.
In my non G6-related time I try and cast my musical net as wide as possible. I love singing opera, Bach, lieder and new music, and if you can’t find me singing I will be either watching the cricket or finding the next venue for G6 dining club, of which I am the enthusiastic (self-appointed) instigator. www.michael-craddock.com
Sam MitchellBass
My musical education began aged 11 as a chorister at Lincoln Cathedral. I was then awarded a music scholarship to Oundle School, and went on to read music at Manchester University. I spent some time as a choral scholar at Truro Cathedral, before joining the back row as a lay clerk in Manchester, Ely and Christchurch Cathedrals. I love playing the piano, and I’m proud to have gained a Distinction in my ABRSM Piano Performance Diploma.
My first performance with the group was, appropirately, music by Gesualdo in St John’s Smith Square in 2016. I also perform regularly with a variety of professional choirs both in the UK and abroad, including The Sixteen and the BBC singers. My stage roles have included Collatinus in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia, Seneca in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea, and Aeneas in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas.
I am currently completing my postgraduate studies at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance as the Kathleen Roberts scholar under the tutelage of Jon Christos.
In my spare time, I like to keep my piano skills to a reasonable standard, collect vinyls, and cook.
Alex graduated in 2015 having read Classics at New College, Oxford, where he was a choral scholar under the direction of Edward Higginbottom for three years. Many opportunities for solo performances came his way all over the world, most notably in Grace Cathedral, San Francisco where he sang the alto arias in Bach’s ‘St John Passion’. He works frequently with ensembles such as the Tallis Scholars and Vox Luminis. He is also a keen sportsman, and represented New College in both football and cricket, despite, in the case of the latter, often having to leave after the first innings to go and sing.
Hiroshi Amako was a Choral Scholar in Trinity College Choir, and is an avid singer of Bach, often appearing as the Evangelist in performances of Christmas Oratorio and the St John Passion. In his spare time, Hiroshi enjoys cooking and fiddling with computers – though both aren’t always successful.
Pat started singing as a chorister at Hereford Cathedral and was later a Choral Scholar in the Choir of King’s College. He enjoys editing and typesetting early music, with his editions used by performers including Carolyn Sampson, His Majesty’s Sackbutts and Cornetts and Ex Cathedra. To relax, Patrick enjoys performing magic tricks, drinking real ale, and attempting to ascend climbing walls – though not usually in that order. Pat is now a member of The King’s Singers.
Jonny started out as a chorister at Winchester Cathedral and was a founding member of The Gesualdo Six. He later read music at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was a choral scholar under Stephen Layton, and is now a member of VOCES8.
