Christian Forshaw

Christian Forshaw studied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama with John Harle. His debut CD Sanctuary achieved no.1 positions in the classical music charts both in the UK and internationally, with tracks receiving over 200 plays on national radio.

In 2007 he was offered a multi album deal with Sony BMG which he turned down in order to maintain artistic freedom and set up his own label, Integra Records.

In July 2009 Christian was commissioned to write and perform a piece at the unveiling of the Hyde Park memorial to the London bombing victims of July 7th, 2005. The ceremony was attended by HRH The Prince of Wales and the British Prime Minister and was broadcast internationally.

Christian has toured worldwide at venues including Carnegie Hall and The Lincoln Centre in New York, the Royal Albert Hall and London’s Southbank and Barbican Centres with conductors including Vladamir Ashkenazy and Riccardo Muti, and with orchestras including the Philharmonia, London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, London Sinfonietta and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. He has also appeared with smaller groups including Icebreaker, the Michael Nyman Band and the Graham Fitkin Ensemble. Christian is Professor of Saxophone at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London

Grace Davidson

The English soprano Grace Davidson was born in London and pursued undergraduate and postgraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music, winning the Early Music and English Song competitions, as well as being a finalist in the London Handel Competition. Grace has sung with all the leading British vocal ensembles and is now becoming recognised as a popular soloist with a particular affinity to the Baroque and Renaissance periods.

She has performed the Pie Jesu from Fauré’s Requiem on the popular BBC TV ‘Sacred Music’ series with The Sixteen and Harry Christophers, and recorded Handel’s Dixit Dominus as well as Monteverdi’s Selva morale e spirituale on The Sixteen’s label (Coro). Other recordings include Bach’s Matthew Passion for Ex Cathedra (Orchid), Allegri’s Miserere for both The Sixteen (Universal) and for Tenebrae (Signum Records), singing the high soprano part.

She appears regularly with the saxophonist Christian Forshaw and features on his albums Renouncement and Midwinter. Grace is also the soprano soloist on Eric Whitacre’s bestselling Light and Gold album (Decca). Grace also records for many movie soundtracks, often working with prominent composers and labels.

This season sees a busy schedule of concerts and recordings worldwide including recitals in Hanover Germany with the lutenist David Miller, Dowland and Monteverdi programmes in the Spitalfields Festival, Handel’s Messiah for Harry Christophers in Versailles Paris, Fauré’s Requiem in The City Of London Festival, Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and St Matthew Passion with Ex Cathedra throughout the UK. She also takes part in performances of Joby Talbot’s new score Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland for The Royal Ballet and makes her debut at The Royal Albert hall performing in Mahler Symphony 8. Grace will be recording a solo album on the Coro label next year to include Neun Deutsche Arien by Handel and the recently discovered Handel Gloria. In 2012 she will perform Bach’s St Matthew Passion for Phillipe Herreweghe and Collegium Vocale, in Europe and the Unites States.

Alexander Mason

Alexander Mason was appointed Organist and Master of the Choristers of St Davids Cathedral and Artistic Director of the St Davids Cathedral Festival in 2007. He also conducts the Dyfed Choir and Festival Chorus.

Alex was born in Cheltenham in 1974 and was a Chorister and from the age of fifteen Organ Scholar at Gloucester Cathedral. He was Organ Scholar at Worcester College, Oxford before studying at The Royal Conservatory, The Hague and The Royal College of Music. He became an FRCO aged eighteen winning the Turpin, Durrant and Dixon prizes and later received awards from the Countess of Munster, Ian Fleming and Eric Thompson trusts.

He moved to London in 1995 and was subsequently Organ Scholar at St Bride’s, Fleet Street, Assistant Organist at HM Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace and Director of Music at All Saint’s, Fulham. He was also Organist of King’s College School, Wimbledon for six years, a music assistant for ENO’s The Knack and acting Sub-Organist and Guildford and Southwark Cathedrals. He was appointed Assistant Organist at Lichfield Cathedral in 2002 and was also founder-Director of Lichfield Cathedral School Girls’ Choir.

Since his arrival in St Davids he has directed the Cathedral Choir in broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 & 4 and S4C, two CDs for Regent Records and a successful tour of Bulgaria. He has directed the choir in first performances of works by David Bednall, David Briggs, Mark Blatchly and Alexander L’Estrange. He has overseen the establishment of choral scholarships and a programme of musical outreach to local schools.

He is a prize-winning improviser, taking First Prize and Variation prize in the Grand Prix d’Improvisation, Prix André Marchal, Biarritz, 2001 and was runner-up in the Tournemire Prize, St Alban’s, 1997. His debut solo CD of improvisations Beyond the Score earned a Critic’s Choice in Gramophone 2001 and he has improvised ‘live’ on BBC Radio 3 and Radio France. He has improvised to several silent movies and delivered a lecture-recital in Symphony Hall, Birmingham. He has given masterclasses at the RCM, Charles Wood Summer School and for the RCO and was an improvisation and organ tutor at Birmingham Conservatoire, Shrewsbury School and the London Oratory School. He is regular Organist and tutor for the Eton Choral Courses.

He has performed at festivals and cathedrals in the UK, Europe, Bermuda, Lebanon, New Zealand and the USA and worked with Ex Cathedra, Tenebrae and Voces8. His recordings include music for Howard Goodall’s Organ Works (Channel 4) and The Vicar of Dibley (BBC 1). He is an active composer and has had several commissions performed and broadcast.

Rob Farrer

Rob trained in orchestral percussion at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. Upon leaving college Rob joined the pop band The Divine Comedy with whom he played with for 10 years. In his varied career he has been fortunate enough to work with artists and organisations such as The White Stripes, Sir Paul McCartney, Tom Jones, Katie Melua, Robbie Williams, The BBC Symphony Orchestra, The Orchestra of The Royal Opera House and Joby Talbot. He has played on many film scores including The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Alien Autopsy, Sixty-Six and Son of Rambow. He has recorded music for many tv programmes such as The League of Gentlemen, Wild West and Dr Who. Rob has played on every major tv music show and also performed at all of the largest European rock festivals such as Glastonbury, Reading, V-Festival, Roskilde, Montreux Jazz Festival, Rock-am-Ring and Benicassim. Rob also performs on West End shows and was 1st Percussion on the Lord of the Rings musical as well as playing regularly on Dirty Dancing and Phantom of the Opera amongst others.

Outside of performing, Rob is the Percussion Co-ordinator at the GSMD Junior Department and also takes the percussionists with the BBC Family Orchestra. He conceived and organised the Junior Guildhall Tuned Percussion Competition sponsored by Mike Balter Mallets which is now a national annual event. Rob composed and conducted the opening percussion fanfare for the Primary Schools Prom 2009 at the Royal Albert Hall.

Background to the Sanctuary Project

Audiences have found a powerful connection with Forshaw’s compositions and performances, and reactions to the CDs Sanctuary, Renouncement and Midwinter have been profound from both the traditional classical establishment (BBC Radio 3 etc.) through to more commercial stations such as BBC Radio 2 and Classic FM. Forshaw’s initial musical influences were the Beatles, traditional choral music and a hefty dose of heavy rock. Although music was always a part of his life it wasn’t until he was 16 that he decided to pursue it more seriously. He managed to secure a place at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and moved to London in 1991. Although Christian had played in big bands, jazz small groups and pop bands he always had a very clear idea of how he wanted the instrument to sound in a classical context. The purity and lyricism he had experienced within choral music was something he sought from the saxophone and by studying the instrument classically he was able to explore this further.

Upon leaving the Guildhall in 1995 he began working with groups such as the London Sinfonietta, the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. He found this kind of work incredibly rewarding but was also aware of areas of his playing that he wasn’t getting to explore. He decided to revisit the ecclesiastical environment he had previously been familiar with and began writing and arranging material in that context. The material was based around traditional texts as well as simple hymn melodies. The intention was to magnify and amplify these miniatures and turn them into performance pieces. Having accumulated enough material he hired a choir, a chapel and an organist for a weekend and began the recording process. This was very much “thinking on your feet” recording, not really having much of an idea of how this would end up sounding and never having produced a recording before.

After months of re-arranging, rerecording and re-mixing Christian finally ended up with something he was happy with, and Sanctuary was released in August 2004. Within a few weeks of its release tracks were being played on national radio almost daily and the album reaching no.1 both in the Amazon Classical Chart and the New Zealand Classical Chart. This was unprecedented for an independent release and generated a lot of interest from major record labels. In 2006 Sony BMG offered Forshaw a four album exclusive deal. He initially thought this was an offer too good to be true, but having observed the priorities of a major label he made the difficult decision to walk away and set up his own label, Integra Records, in order to maintain his independence as an artist. His 2nd album Renouncement was released in April 2007, and subsequently Midwinter, an alternative take on Advent and Christmas, was released in December 2008.