Choral Weekend

Blossom Martin is a nineteen-year-old mezzo soprano from South East England and a member of the Rodolfus Choir. Blossom is currently in her second year at the Royal Academy of Music, where she is pursuing a vocal studies degree, studying under Catherine Wyn-Rogers. She is also a member of Genesis Sixteen 2025-26. She performed Stravinsky’s Requiem Canticles as a member of the National Youth Choir of Great Britain at the BBC Proms this summer.

As a Christopher Wood Choral Foundation scholar, Blossom sings Evensong each week at St Mary-le-Strand; she will be performing Mozart’s Requiem this November alongside her fellow choral scholars.

Aside from choral work, Blossom is passionate about a wide range of song, and especially enjoys singing English song and lieder.

Arthur Shaw is a young bass-baritone who has performed across Britain and France and who studies at the Royal Academy of Music with Professor Mark Wildman.

As an operatic singer, Arthur sang in the chorus of Opéra de Baugé for 4 years, from The Merry Widow to Don Carlo. He was also an understudy for various roles by Verdi and Ravel. At school, he sang the role of Sam from Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti, and before that, Arthur was part of the Glyndebourne Youth Academy in 2023. Recently, Arthur won the Elizabeth Hampshire Prize for Young Singers and the English Song Prize (competing against postgraduate students) at the David Clover Festival of Singing.

Arthur is a part of The Rodolfus Choir, with whom he has recorded The Three Kings as a soloist, recently cantored on a BBC Radio 3 recording and has sung in places such as Christ Church Cathedral Oxford and Westminster Abbey. Live on BBC Radio 3 with the Rugby School choir, Arthur has sung the solo in Leighton’s Give me the Wings of Faith and the solo in Elgar’s Great is the Lord. He also recently sang the Elgar with a full orchestra. At school, he directed a small a cappella ensemble made notable by his viral arrangement of a popular song. As well as that, he has appeared as a guest soloist with the Rutland Choral Society, the Peregrine Orchestra and the Bilton Silver Band.

Will Dawes is Director of Chapel Music of Somerville College, Oxford, Director of Music at the church of St Mary Magdalen, Oxford, Conductor of Ensemble 45, and Director of Frideswide Voices (Oxford’s first liturgical choir for 7-14 year-old girls).

Will’s work with his various choirs has seen performances of works ranging from the St John Passion (Bach), Stabat Mater (Scarlatti) and The Seasons (Haydn) to The Company of Heaven (Britten), A Child of Our Time (Tippett), and Seven Last Words from the Cross (MacMillan), the latter being hailed as “A quite remarkable musical experience which had emotional intensity and depth of feeling”.  As chorus master to Ludus Baroque, he prepared the choir for their biannual performances of the great works by Händel and Bach, as well as for their recordings on the Delphian label.  His work with Ensemble 45 has included national premieres of works by Pärt, Penderecki, Rautavaara and Whitacre alongside music by Brahms, Carver, Britten and Gabriel Jackson. A recent highlight was directing the Eric Whitacre Singers in a recording of Fly to Paradise – the track for Virtual Choir 4, which reached no. 1 in the iTunes classical chart in the UK, US and Canada.