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The English baritone, writer and programmer, Reuben Rhys Thomas, was Chorister at St John’s College, Cambridge (head chorister 1987), under George Guest (1982-1987); and Academic scholar (major scholarship) at Winchester College, vocal studies with Charles Brett and Julian Smith (1987-1992). He obtained his BA degree (Cantab), first class in Mathematics with Computer Science, with the second-highest mark in the university (1995); and his PhD in virtual machines from Cambridge University (2001). He was a a student at St John’s College, Cambridge, vocal studies with David Lowe. Tours throughout the world, including visits to South Africa, Japan, the USA and Australia; more than twenty recordings. Choral and academic scholarships (1992–2001). He had Vocal studies with David Lowe (2001-2006); and Vocal studies with Stuart MacIntyre, of the Royal Northern College of Music (2007-2011). Since 2011, he is Lay Clerk at Westminster Cathedral, studying with Nicholas Powell.
Reuben Thomas pursues a varied freelance consort and solo career. He is a bass-baritone with a wealth of consort and choral experience at the highest level covering a wide range of forms, styles and periods. He continues to seek both to broaden my skills and deepen my understanding of the repertoire and deepen his understanding of its foundations, with a varied mix of consort, choral and solo work. Selection of recent work:
2007: Concert of J.S. Bach’s St John Passion (BWV 245) with The Hanover Band in Brighton and Chichester; Tour with the Orchestre des Champs-Elysées in their concert performances of Rossini’s Tancredi under René Jacobs in Rome, Rotterdam, Valencia, Barcelona, Valladolíd, Cologne, Paris and Brussels; Concerts of Five Mystical Songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams (baritone solo) with the Ensemble Vocale of the Académie Vocale de Paris directed by Iain Simcock, in Paris; Concert of J.S. Bach’s motets in an 8-voice ensemble with The Hanover Band directed by Andrew Arthur; Twenty-first anniversary concert of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment; Series of concerts of Monteverdi’s Vespers at the Flanders Festival with the Euterpe Baroque Consort (Director: Bart Rodyns), directed by Andrew Arthur; Many concerts with the Armonico Consort directed by Christopher Monks, performing works including the J.S. Bach's St John Passion (BWV 245), Victoria’s Requiem and Monteverdi’s Vespers all over England, and Alessandro Scarlatti’s 16-part Dixit Dominus in Tel-Avi; Recording of George Frideric Handel’s Messiah with the Cambridge Singers under John Rutter; Premiere of Tarik O’Regan’s Stolen Voices with the Choir of London at the Imperial War Museum, London, commissioned by the United Nations for World Peace Day 2007.
2008: In December he performed Winterreise with Iain Simcock at the church of St-Merry in Paris; In November he appeared as a soloist in a concert of English verse anthems directed by Andrew Arthur with Orpheus Britannicus; Baritone soloist in a performance of Maurice Duruflé's Messe Cum Jubilo with the Académie Vocale de Paris, directed by Iain Simcock; In September he appeared with Chœur de Chambre Accentus, the Paris-based choir recently named French choir of the year for the third time, directed by Laurence Equilbey, in a programme of Francis Poulenc, Martin and Fenelon; In July he sang in a BBC Proms concert with Philharmonia Voices providing the semi-chorus for Messiaen’s La Transfiguration de Jésus-Christ directed by Thierry Fischer, which was repeated under Kent Nagano at the Royal Festival Hall in October. In September they performed Igor Stravinsky’s Œdipus Rex under Esa-Pekka Salonen; Many concerts with the Armonico Consort directed by Christopher Monks, ranging from small consort performances of Victoria’s Requiem and Byrd’s Mass for Four Voices to large-scale performances of G.F. Handel’s Dixit Dominus, including solo performances in the Dixit Dominus, Monteverdi’s Vespers, as the Sorceress in a semi-staged Dido and Aeneas, and Hymen and Winter in The Fairy Queen, at music festivals throughout England and at the Felicja Blumenthal Festival in Tel-Aviv; Four-concert tour of Messiah with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment directed by Laurence Cummings; Concert of J.S. Bach’s St John Passion (BWV 245) with The Hanover Band in Chichester; 8-voice performance of Biber’s 8 part Missa Bruxellensis for Belgian radio station Klara’s festival in Izegem with the Euterpe Baroque Consort, directed by Andrew Arthur; Recording of music by John Rutter, directed by the composer, with the Cambridge Singers; Soloist in W.A. Mozart’s Coronation Mass in the St George’s, Beckenham Arts Festival, directed by Madeleine Lovell; Regular member of the five voice choir of Our Lady of Victories, High Street Kensington, directed by Charles Cole, and frequent appearances at The Temple Church and St Brides’, Fleet Street.
2009: In November and December he toured Messiah with Le Concert d'Astrée directed by Emmanuelle Haïm; In November he sang a programme of Italian Baroque music with Tenebrae in Spain directed by Nigel Short; In October he performed a programme of Haydn, Purcell and Christopher Gibbons with the Academy of Ancient Music directed by Richard Egarr at the Macau International Music Festival; In June, he sang with the Academy of Ancient Music directed by Richard Egarr, in Halle (Saale) and Potsdam, in performances of Messiah and other works by G.F. Handel, Purcell and Haydn; In May he travelled to Zenarruza in northern Spain with A Capella Portuguesa to perform a programme of Spanish sacred music; In March he sang for the first time with the National Chamber Choir of Ireland in a programme of early and modern music directed by Paul Hillier in Belfast and Dublin; Also in February he appeared with Philharmonia Voices in performances of Arnold Schoenberg's GLieder conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen; In February he gave a recital of mélodies by Gabriel Fauré and F. Poulenc and lieder by Wolf with Eugenia Cheng at the University of Sheffield.
2010: In October he performed and recorded Berlioz’s Grand Messe des Morts with the Gabrieli Consort, directed by Paul McCreesh; In August he recorded and performed the music of Eric Whitacre directed by the composer; he sang the part of the Mother in Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins with the Aurora Orchestra directed by Nicholas Collon in May; In April he sang with with Tenebrae in Spain directed by Nigel Short at the Mayfield Festival; In March he performed J.S. Bach’s B minor mass (BWV 232) with The Sixteen directed by Harry Christophers.
2011: In September and in November, he performed in two Choral Pilgrimage concerts with The Sixteen, directed by Eamonn Dougan; In October, he appeared as Æneas in Purcell’s Dido and Æneas with Emma Kirkby as Dido, with the Armonico Consort directed by Christopher Monks; In September, he was part of Westminster Cathedral Choir’s extensive tour of the USA, performing a programme centred on Victoria’s Requiem mass, directed by Martin Baker; he performed a programme of Spanish polyphony in Antwerp in August with Contrapunctus, directed by Owen Rees; in August he was the solo baritone in William Walton's Belshazzar’s Feast at the Sherborne summer school; he sang for the first time in three concerts with Cardinall’s Musick in June, directed by Andrew Carwood.
2012: He recorded a disc of music by Will Todd with Tenebrae, directed by Nigel Short in April; In April he sang with Cardinall’s Musick in Leeds in a programme of Byrd, directed by Andrew Carwood; In January he recorded Alexander Levine’s Liturgy of St John Chrysostom with Tenebrae, directed by Nigel Short and Adrian Peacock; In June he appeared with Cardinall’s Musick at the St Magnus Festival in Orkney, directed by Andrew Carwood, and sang a further three concerts with them later in the summer and autumn. Also in June he appeared at the Setubal Festival in Portugal with Contrapunctus, directed by Owen Rees, performing Spanish and Portuguese polyphony.
In 2005, Reuben Thomas was a eacher at the Académie Vocale de Paris, which raises children in the English choral tradition, rehearsing a wide range of choral music, and teaching technique to classes ranging in size from five to twenty children, whose ages varied from eight to fifteen. Regular performances, as singer, and (on one occasion) as director of the girls’ maîtrise.
As a programmer, Reuben Thomas' academic background in computer science, including a PhD on virtual machines, has led to work on a wide range of commercial projects (as SC3D Ltd) and free software (I am a Debian Maintainer and GNU Maintainer). His published writing ranges from translation of theoretical computer science to song lyrics. A mock–mock-epic in verse and a new sort of diary are both available to buy in beautiful hand-made editions. he also work as an editor and proof reader. He is currently based in London, England. |
