The biennial Grand Baroque series was somewhat interrupted due to circumstances we all hope are now well behind us...  We return with a flourish in 2022, bringing perhaps the most grand of all baroque works to life in Exeter Cathedral, Mass in B minor by JS Bach.    Bach was feeling his years when he completed the full mass sequence, but he was also making a statement about the immensely inventive and complex musical legacy he was leaving, much of it unrecognised in his lifetime.

The work will be recreated in the expert hands  of BEMP's principal director JanJoost van Elburg with a hand picked choir of singers from all over the UK and western Europe.  The orchestra will be led by Oliver Webber with members of the Monteverdi String Band and other invited players from this country's wealth of expert period instrumentalists.   JanJoost is a consummate and widely acknowledged interpreter of Bach's work.

Meet the soloists:

Amy Haworth (soprano)

Amy Haworth studied music at Trinity College Cambridge where, as a choral scholar under the direction of Richard Marlow, she toured Europe, America and South Africa, also appearing on recordings and  numerous broadcasts. She is a highly acclaimed choral and consort singer working with most of the country’s leading vocal ensembles. She tours and records regularly with The Tallis Scholars under Peter Phillips, and also works with Contrapunctus, Magnificat and Synergy Vocals. In regular demand as a soloist, recent performances have included Mozart’s Mass in C minor, Bach’s St Matthew and St John Passions, Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostri, Brahms’ Requiem, and Monteverdi’s Vespers. She has performed at many of the world’s leading concert halls, working with such distinguished conductors as Bernard Haitink, Diego Masson, Thierry Fischer, David Robinson, Stefan Asbury and the late Sir Richard Hickox amongst others. Amy has performed in all of BEMP's Grand Baroque series to date.

Guy James ( counter-tenor)

Guy is a founding member of The Gesualdo Six. He has a particular passion for the music, language and history of Italy, and enjoys performing regularly with the Italian Ensemble Odhecaton.  He performs with a wide range of  choirs and ensembles including Amici Voices, Magnificat, and The Gabrieli Consort, deputises regularly with many London choirs including those of Westminster Cathedral, the Temple Church, and Westminster Abbey and can be heard on 40 commercial CDs of choral music. Recent solo appearances have included Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the Warsaw Philharmonic, the ‘Mass in B minor’ with Solomon’s Knot, works by Purcell and Blow in Turin, and a recital of Gloucestershire songs for Remembrance. We look forward to welcoming Guy in Exeter.

Mark Dobell (tenor)

Mark was a choral scholar at Clare College, Cambridge, where he read Classics. He later studied singing as a postgraduate at the Royal Academy of Music, and was awarded the Clifton Prize for the best final recital.  He has worked as a soloist all over the world with renowned conductors including Harry Christophers, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Sir Roger Norrington and Sir James MacMillan. His extensive concert and oratorio repertoire includes many of the major works of Handel, Bach and Mozart, and other works  by Monteverdi, Haydn, Mendelssohn, Britten, Pärt, Jonathan Dove and Karl Jenkins. When not performing as a soloist, Mark enjoys a busy schedule with many leading British choirs and consorts, such as The Cardinall’s Musick, I Fagiolini, Gallicantus and Alamire. He is proud to be a long-standing member of The Sixteen and The Orlando Consort. He has also been a member of the choir of Westminster Abbey since 2006.  Mark, too,  has appeared in all of the Grand Baroque series to date.

Jimmy Holliday (bass)

Jimmy started singing aged 7 as a chorister at Lichfield Cathedral, later he studied singing at the RCM’s International Opera School where he graduated with distinction.  He followed the RCM with a year’s study at The National Opera Studio, and performed various operatic roles including Bottom in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Sarastro in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte at the RCM. Since lHi operatice interests have continued since leaving the RCM.   As an Oratorio performer highlights include J.S. Bach St Matthew Passion with The Dunedin Consort, Monteverdi 1610 Vespers with Emmanuelle Haïm, Brahms’ Requiem with David Hill and the BSO, and Bach Easter Oratorio at The Wigmore Hall with Florilegium. Jimmy is in extremely high demand as a consort singer and is a member of The BBC Singers. He also regularly works with Tenebrae, EXAUDI, Ensemble Plus Ultra, Collegium Vocale Ghent, The Sixteen, The Gabrieli Consort and The Tallis Scholars. This is Jimmy's first engagement with BEMP.