Baritone Henry Neil won the  64th ROSL Annual Music Competition Section Final for Singers on Tuesday 9 February and was awarded the £5,000 prize and sought after place at the Grand Final on 1 June 2016. Henry was considered the standout performer on the night by the adjudicators, and the audience at the Princess Alexandra Hall certainly agreed.  

Henry’s 20 minute programme included:

Épouse quelque brave fille                                     Jules Massenet (1842-1912)
Tom der Reimer                                                             Carl Loewe (1796-1869)
Papageno Suicide Aria                        Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) 
In the lovely village of Nevesinje                                            Judith Weir (1954-) 
Mr Belloc’s fancy                                                       Peter Warlock (1894-1930)


The competition was tough with six section finalists competing for the place in the Grand Final held at Cadogan Hall and the opportunity to win the Gold Medal prize of £10,000. Competitors Caroline Modiba soprano, Thomas Humphreys baritone, Celine Forrest soprano, Henry Neill baritone and mezzo-sopranos Claire Barnett-Jones and Emma Stannard, were selected from 44 hopefuls during three days of auditions. The adjudicators Gavin Henderson, past prizewinner Gillian Keith, Valerie Masterson, Anthony Roden and Joseph Middleton were impressed by the overall quality and range from the competitors.

Soprano and past ROSL prizewinner Gillian Keith said” it was an honour to be an adjudicator; I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. At each stage of the auditions we were looking for excellence in performance, interpretation and programme, we weren’t let down with this evenings’ performances.”

28 year Henry Neill currently studies on the Royal Academy of Music Opera course, before which he held a choral scholarship at St John’s College, Cambridge. Henry is currently generously supported by the Carr-Gregory Scholarship and has won a number of prestigious awards including: the Sir Thomas Armstrong Prize for English Song, first prize at the Dean and Chadlington festival, the Sacred Aria Prize at the Mozart Singing competition and a Sybill Tutton Opera Award. Henry regularly performs with choirs and in operatic roles.

Gavin Henderson Chairman of the Adjudicators was delighted to also award Mezzo-soprano Emma Stannard with the Audrey Strange Memorial Prize for Most Promising Young Singer, a £1000 prize. Emma studied at the Royal Northern College of Music and is now studying Opera at the Royal Academy of Music, and regularly performs with the Glyndebourne Festival Opera Chorus.

ROSL Annual Music Competition Section Finals take place each Tuesday 7-9pm at Over-Seas House, Park Place, St James’s Street, London, SW1A 1LR:

·       2 February: Wind and Percussion – winner Philip Attard saxophone
·       9 February: Singers – winner Henry Neill baritone
·       16 February: Strings
·       23 February: Keyboard
·       1 March: Ensemble A (Strings & Keyboard)
·       8 March: Ensemble B (Wind and Mixed)
·       15 March: Over-Seas Award
·       1 June: Grand Final held at Cadogan Hall, London.

Tickets: £15. To book tickets email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 020 7408 0214 ext 219

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IMAGES
A selection of high res images are available on request.

CONTACT
For more information contact Gemma Matthews, Director of Marketing on T 020 7016 6904 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. visit www.rosl.org.uk

NOTES FOR THE EDITOR

Founded in 1910, the Royal Over-Seas League (ROSL) is a non-profit private members' club dedicated to championing international friendship and understanding. ROSL helps artists and musicians across the Commonwealth connect, collaborate and create. Our humanitarian work benefits communities and changes lives.

ROSL ARTS supports talented young artists and musicians from the UK and Commonwealth, providing performance and exhibition opportunities which bring their work to the attention of the professional arts community, media and general public.

The Royal Over-Seas League Annual Music Competition, established in 1952, has built up a reputation for nurturing the careers of young musicians of quality.

To mark ROSLs centenary in 2010 an appeal was launched to secure the future endowment of the ROSL Annual Music Competition Awards and Commonwealth Music Scholarships, currently worth £125,000 per annum. The funds are held in the ROSL Golden Jubilee Trust (registered charity 306095). To make a donation contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Royal Over-Seas League
Over-Seas House
Park Place
London SW1A 1LR


020 7408 0214

Royal Over-Seas League
Over-Seas House
100 Princes Street
Edinburgh EH2 3AB

0131 225 1501