Biography

Born and raised in Northern Ireland, Ben was an undergraduate at St Andrews University, where he held the Cedric Thorpe Davie Vocal Scholarship for five years and was senior choral scholar at Holy Trinity Church.

While still an undergraduate, Ben performed as a concert soloist with numerous groups across Fife and Central Scotland, in works including Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s St John Passion, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, Haydn’s Nelson Mass and Requiems by Duruflé, Fauré and Mozart. He was also very involved with St Andrews’ Opera and sang the roles of Aeneas in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Sir Henry Milhouse in Roger Scruton’s The Minister and Tarquinius in Britten’s Rape of Lucretia. He also worked extensively with the Gilbert & Sullivan Society both as a soloist and musical director.

Ben was considered to be one of the most outstanding singers who had studied at St Andrews in over 25 years and his bass solo in Handel’s Messiah was described as “perfection”. Ben moves to London to continue his vocal studies.

How the Award Helped

The Dewar Arts Awards will help him pursue a Master of Vocal Performance at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

At the end of his first year, Ben successfully auditioned for the Guildhall Opera Course and was moved onto the Advanced Certificate in Opera course. His award was extended for a second and final year to enable him to complete a MMus in Vocal Performance.

Biography

Dundee born Ross grew up in Arbroath in Angus. He began his musical training with the National Youth Choir of Scotland, featuring as a soloist on their CD of Scots songs. He studied singing at RSAMD, graduating with a BMus, went on to study opera at the Royal Academy of Music and later at the Royal College of Music’s International Opera School.

During these years of training, Ross has been watched with interest by Scottish Opera. He possesses a real bass voice which is rare in the UK and which observers believe is capable of reaching a high level of performance.

In his first year at the Royal Academy, Ross performed in three of the Academy’s productions, including the role of Collatinus in The Rape of Lucretia, where his performance was judged to be ‘outstanding’. In his second year, he sang Barolo in Le Nozze di Figaro, under Sir Colin Davies. During his time at the Royal College of Music, Ross performed with distinction, singing roles as diverse and demanding as Sarastro, Quince and Krusina.

Ross has been offered a place at the prestigious National Opera Studio, London, the studio from which many a stellar career in opera has been launched. The trustees have also watched Ross’s progress with great interest and have been delighted to be able to help with his postgraduate training, both at the RAM and later at the RCM’s Opera School.

How the Award Helped

The Dewar Arts Award will help towards the costs of studying at the National Opera Studio in London.

Since the Award

During his year at the National Opera Studio, Ross successfully auditioned for the role of Leporello in Mozart’s Don Giovanni with Opera della Luna where he performed it as part of the 2011 Iford Arts Festival.

Later in the year, he successfully auditioned for the Emerging Artist scheme at the Scottish Opera. Ross says of his final year at NOS that “I felt like I had never worked so hard but equally I had never been so motivated to do so.”