My first contact with music was at the age of seven when I started singing treble in Armagh Cathedral Choir. I read music at Bristol University where I was the University Organ Scholar and later a Choral Scholar in the Cathedral Choir. I was mainly an organist at this time, but when the decision needed to be made about what to do next, I chose to sing.

Each member of Quintessential Voices has the English Choral tradition firmly at the centre of their work and I have been lucky enough to sing with the choirs of St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, Wells Cathedral and Tewkesbury Abbey. This has given me the opportunity to work with great people and live in fantastic places alongside the daily discipline of achieving the best musical result, whatever the weather. I currently divide my time between singing in the Choir of Westminster Cathedral and teaching singing and piano at St. George's School, Windsor Castle.

Alongside this, I have performed with other ensembles such as Tenebrae, The Gabrieli Consort and the New London Consort. Recently I was fortunate enough to sing at The Royal Opera House in Dido and Aneas and Acis and Galatea.

It is one of my jobs in the group to come up with the programmes. My colleagues are occasionally brutal in their opinions about each new programme and therefore many editions are sometimes required. They do a spectacular job of singing whatever I put in front of them and in keeping me calm on a concert day - a very necessary part of their job!

View Stephen's personal website here.