Love Bade Me Welcome

Malcolm Guite

Ayodeji Malcolm Guite, born 12 November 1957, is an English poet, singer-songwriter, Anglican priest, and academic. Born in Nigeria to British expatriate parents, Guite earned degrees from Cambridge and Durham universities. His research interests include the intersection of religion and the arts, and the examination of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis and Owen Barfield, and British poets such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge. He was a Bye-Fellow and chaplain of Girton College, Cambridge, and associate chaplain of St Edward King and Martyr, Cambridge. On several occasions, he has taught as visiting faculty at several colleges and universities in England and North America.

Roger Wagner

Born in 1957, Roger Wagner read English at Oxford University before studying at the Royal Academy School of Art. He has been represented in London since 1985 by Anthony Mould Ltd exhibiting there many times. Other one man shows include retrospectives at the Ashmolean Museum in 1994 and 2010. He has produced several books of illustrated poems and translations: Fire Sonnets (1984), In a Strange Land (1988), A Silent Voice (1997), Out of the Whirlwind (1997). The Book of Praises – a translation of the psalms Book One (1994), Book Two (2008), Book Three (2013). His major work Menorah was acquired by the Ashmolean Museum in 2010 and hangs in St Giles Church Oxford.

Barnaby Smith

Grammy-nominated, Barnaby Smith is Artistic Director of the internationally renowned vocal ensemble VOCES8, LIVE From London digital festivals, and the UK and US arms of The VOCES8 Foundation including its Digital Academy and Milton Abbey Festival. He is in demand as a conductor, presenter, film-maker, choir trainer, countertenor and arranger.

Amongst a busy touring, education, filming and conducting schedule with VOCES8 and ensembles around the world, recent projects have included Barnaby’s debut with Nederlandse ReisOpera in Handel Messiah, two solo-recordings Handel & Bach, of which – Gramophone notes that there is “no denying the refined beauty and sheer skill of Smith’s performance” as well as producing and presenting the 10th LIVE From London Festival.

Simon Kiln

An award-winning Classical Producer and Editor, Simon Kiln worked for 25 years at the renowned Abbey Road Studios in London before establishing SimonKilnMusic Ltd in 2017.

Recent production credits include many DVD Productions for the Royal Opera House including La Traviata with Ermonela Jaho and Charles Castronovo, Andrea Chenier with Jonas Kaufmann, Eva Maria Westbroek, Antonio Pappano and The Flying Dutchman with Andris Nelsons and Bryn Terfel. Other highlights are CDs of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto and series of Beethoven Sonatas with Violinist James Ehnes and an SACD in surround sound of Howells with the Choir of Kings College Cambridge, Stephen Cleobury, Britten Sinfonia and Guy Johnston – described as reference quality in the Gramophone magazine. His recording with James Ehnes of James Newton Howard’s Violin Concerto won a Grammy Award in 2019 and the CD of Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations with Stephen Kovacevich continues to one of the preferred versions by critics.

Ben Parry

Parry studied Music and History of Art at Cambridge University, and was a member of King’s College Choir. In the mid-1980s he joined the international vocal group, The Swingle Singers as a singer, arranger and music director, toured globally and performed with some of the world’s greatest musicians including Stephane Grappelli, Pierre Boulez and Dizzy Gillespie. Moving to Edinburgh in 1995, he co-founded the Dunedin Consort, which has gone on to establish itself as Scotland’s premiere Baroque ensemble. He also took up posts as Director of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra Chorus, Director of Choral Music at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and conductor of Haddo House Opera.

London Voices

Founded in 1973 by Terry Edwards, former Director of the Royal Opera House Chorus, London Voices is now managed and directed by Ben Parry, conductor, composer and formerly Artistic Director of the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain.

The choir has performed throughout Europe, Asia and the USA and can range from a small vocal consort through to a choir of more than 100 singers. The choir has tackled a vast array of repertoire ranging from Renaissance polyphony (Tallis at Luzern Festival) to contemporary music (Frank Zappa at Southbank Centre, London) as well as featuring on recordings as diverse as opera, oratorio, Coldplay, German Heavy Metal and Ozzy Osbourne.