Live Handel’s Messiah Fri 2 January

Irish soprano Anna Devin is widely admired for her “vocal control, artistry and musico-dramatic intelligence” (Opera News) and has gained recognition across the world for her work in the baroque and classical repertoire, particularly her interpretation of Handel’s heroines.

As a concert performer throughout Europe and the USA, Anna’s repertoire encompasses a wide range of sacred and secular works including Handel’s great oratorios, along with Mahler, Haydn, Mozart and early Baroque. She has enjoyed enormous success on the concert platform and has appeared at the numerous prestigious venues and festivals including London Handel, Göttingen Handel, Lausanne Bach, Brighton Early Music and Belfast festivals, the BBC Proms and Carnegie Hall. She has worked with the Vienna Philharmonic, Hallé, RTÉ NSO, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Halle, Irish Chamber Orchestra, Ulster and Minnesota orchestras and Houston, Charlotte and Seattle symphonies, among others. She has worked with conductors including Sir William Christie, Laurence Cummings, Christian Curnyn, Ottavio Dantone, Ivor Bolton, Sir Colin Davis, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Sir Mark Elder and Sir Antonio Pappano.

Anna’s 2024/2025 season comprises of a full calendar of concert work. She will join Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic Orchestra to sing Haydn’s Paukenmesse. She will sing Handel’s Messiah in Benjamin Appl’s conducting debut with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Anna continues her affinity for the baroque with a new programme with the Academy of Ancient Music under Bojan Čičić in London and Cambridge. She also sings Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem with Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under David Hill, Haydn’s Creation at the National Concert Hall, Dublin, under Peter Whelan and Bach’s Mass in B minor with Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra under Marios Papadopoulos. On the opera stage, Anna joins Irish National Opera to sing Héro in Beatrice and Benedict conducted by Ryan McAdams.

Last season Anna appeared at the Royal Opera House in the role of Gretel in Hansel and Gretel, followed by her house and role debut at the English National Opera as Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia. She made her stage debut as Cleopatra in Handel’s Guilio Cesare, a role she has received critical praise for ‘one of the finest London has heard’ (Opera Magazine), for Blackwater Valley Opera Festival. Anna performed with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Barcelona y Nacional de Cataluña in Barcelona in a world premier by Josep Maria Guix, toured Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with Irish Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Christian Curnyn, and appeared at the Winter Chamber Music Festival with the Fidelio Trio in Dublin.

In the 2022/2023 season, Anna debuted as Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte with the Irish National Opera. Her concert work included Carmina Burana with National Symphony Orchestra, Dublin, Messiah with Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, her concert debut with Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment on a tour of B Minor Mass, her debut with the CBSO for New Years Galas and chamber music festivals in Ireland. In 2021/2022, Anna started the season off with a last-minute jump in to debut the title role in Handel’s Rodelinda with the Moscow Philharmonic, conducted by Christopher Moulds. She made her debut at Opera National de Lyon in Deborah Warner’s production of Messiah. She finished the season with a debut of Elisabetta in Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda for Irish National Opera. Recent season highlights, Mozart Concert Arias with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Harry Bicket; and a concert tour performing Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater and Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate with Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre.

See Anna Devin perform Handel’s Messiah with the RSNO on 2 January 2026.

Anglo-German contralto Claudia Huckle, praised as a ‘marvel in Mahler with perfect technique’ (BBC Music Magazine), was a Grand Final Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and the first female recipient of Operalia’s Birgit Nilsson Prize for singing Wagner. She has since appeared with opera companies and orchestras across Europe and the USA.

In the 2024/25 season, Claudia returns to Opéra de Paris as Dritte Dame Die Zauberflöte and debuts at The Grange Festival as Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus. On the concert platform, Claudia debuts with the National Arts Centre, Canada in Handel’s Messiah under Trevor Pinnock, and performs with Stuttgart Ballet as the mezzo soloist in Das Lied von der Erde.

Recent opera highlights include her debut for the Bayerischer Staatsoper as The Innkeeper in Boris Godunov; Galatea in Aci, Galatea e Polifemo for the London Handel Festival; Meg Page in Falstaff at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, under Daniele Gatti; and at the Bregenzer Festspiele as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, a role she has also sung for Zürich Opera and Glyndebourne on Tour. She returned to Opéra de Paris for Blumenmädchen/Stimme von Oben in Parsifal and sang Erda/ Flosshilde in Das Rheingold for the Bregenzer Festspiele. She has also sung Erda for Oper Leipzig, Grand Théâtre de Genève and Opera North. She made her debut at Teatro alla Scala Milan singing Die allwissende Muschel in Strauss Die Ägyptische Helena, conducted by Franz Welser Möst.

Other roles sung on stage include the title role in The Rape of Lucretia and Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Glyndebourne On Tour and Glyndebourne Festival respectively; 1st Norn/Flosshilde The Ring at both Teatro Real Madrid and Opéra de Paris; Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel for Garsington Opera and Oper Leipzig; Olga Eugene Onegin for ENO and WNO; Marfa in Khovanshchina for Birmingham Opera Company; Irene in Tamerlano and Smeton in Anna Bolena for Washington National Opera; and Dalila in Samson et Dalila for the Chelsea Opera Group. For the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden she has sung Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte, Schwertleite/1st Norn in The Ring and Mérope in Oedipe.

Claudia’s notable concert appearances include 1st Norn Götterdämmerung with the LPO and Vladimir Jurowski; Rossini Stabat Mater with the Hallé and Sir Mark Elder; Dritte Dame Die Zauberflöte at the Edinburgh International Festival and Maxim Emelyanychev; 1st Maid Elektra with the Bergen Philharmonic and Edward Gardner; Haydn Paukenmesse at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino under Zubin Mehta; Mozart Requiem at the 2021 BBC Proms; Beethoven Missa Solemnis with the Rouen Philharmonic Orchestra; Beethoven Symphony No. 9 with the RPO, LPO and RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra; Bach St John Passion with the Ulster Orchestra; Bach St Matthew Passion with the Dunedin Consort and on tour with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. She has sung Handel’s Messiah with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and Trevor Pinnock, with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, and with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington DC.

Claudia’s performances of Mahler include Symphony No. 2 with the Boston Philharmonic, and under Myung Whun Chung at both the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and at the Festival de Saint-Denis with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France; Symphony No. 3 with the Real Filharmonía de Galicia; Symphony No. 8 with the RPO and for her 2018 Proms debut with the BBC NOW; Kindertotenlieder with the BBCSSO; and Rückert Lieder with the Britten Sinfonia and the RSNO. Claudia recently recorded Mahler Das Lied von der Erde in the composer’s own arrangement for piano, with the conductor and pianist Justin Brown and tenor Nicky Spence on the Champs Hill Records label.

Claudia’s performances of Elgar include Dream of Gerontius and Sea Pictures with the Hallé and Sir Mark Elder; Sea Pictures with the BBC NOW; and The Apostles at Three Choirs Festival.

Claudia has also sung Delius A Mass of Life with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Sir Mark Elder; (recording due in 2024) Saint-Saëns Oratorio de Noel with the Netherlands Radio Philarmonic Orchestra; Mendelssohn Elijah with the BBCSO and Sakari Oramo; Schubert Mass in A flat and Beethoven Choral Fantasy with Kent Nagano and the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester; Verdi Requiem at King’s Chapel, Cambridge; Flosshilde in Götterdämmerung with Sir Andrew Davis at the Edinburgh Festival; Dritte Dame in Die Zauberflöte at Festspielhaus Baden-Baden with Yannick Nézet-Séguin; Brahms Alto Rhapsody with the Northern Sinfonia and Lars Vogt; and Schwertleite in Die Walküre with the Bayerische Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle.

Claudia studied at the Royal College of Music in London, the New England Conservatory in Boston, and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. She is a graduate of the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program at Washington National Opera and was a member of the ensemble at Oper Leipzig for four seasons.

See Claudia Huckle perform Handel’s Messiah with the RSNO on 2 January 2026.

Tenor Nick Pritchard is gaining fast recognition for his performances of the music of Bach and in particular his interpretation of the Evangelist in the Passions. Described as a ‘Masterly Evangelist’ in The Guardian, he has sung the role in Bach’s St John and Matthew Passions around the world and his recording of the St John Passion (Evangelist) for Deutsche Grammophon with Sir John Elliot Gardiner was nominated for a Grammy Award for best Choral Performance (2023). Recent performances of the piece include those with the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra at the Concertgebouw under Jonathan Cohen, for the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Irish Baroque under Peter Whelan, Residentie Orkest under Richard Egarr and Stavanger Symfoniorkester under Masato Suzuki.

On the concert platform he has performed with Ensemble Pygmalion, Concerto Köln, Les Talens Lyriques, Les Violons du Roy, L’Orchestre du Chambre de Paris, English Concert, Academy of Ancient Music, Early Opera Company, Philharmonia Orchestra, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Early Opera Company and he made his BBC Proms debut with Britten Sinfonia under David Bates performing Mozart’s Requiem.

He has performed under conductors including Harry Bicket, John Butt, Laurence Cummings, Christian Curnyn, Maxim Emelyanychev, Adam Fischer, Emmanuelle Haïm, Simon Halsey, George Petrou, Raphaël Pichon, Christophe Rousset and Ryan Wigglesworth.

A fine actor and equally at home on the operatic stage, roles have included Oronte, Alcina in a new Tim Albery production for Opera North, Lysander, A Midsummer Night’s Dream as part of the Aldeburgh Festival’s 70th anniversary, Tamino, Die Zauberflöte for Glyndebourne on Tour and for Irish National Opera, Ferrando, Cosí fan tutte for Opera Holland Park, Amphinomus, The Return of Ulysses for the Royal Opera House and Purcell’s The Indian Queen for the Opéra de Lille, Théâtre de Caen, Opera Vlaandern and Grand Theatre Luxembourg. A regular performer of New Music he has also given several World Premieres, including creating the role of Matthew in Mark Simpson’s opera Pleasure (Opera North, Aldeburgh and The Royal Opera House).

In August 2023 Nick gave his Edinburgh International Festival recital debut with pianist Ian Tindale which was broadcast on BBC Radio 3. He has also given recitals with Gary Matthewman, James Bailieu, Simon Lepper, Sholto Kynoch, Christopher Glynn, Graham Johnson and Malcolm Martineau.

More recent highlights include Mendelssohn:’Lobgesang’ with the OAE conducted by Sir Andras Schiff, George Benjamin’s Written on Skin (John/Angel 3) with the Finnish Radio Symphony conducted by the composer and Britten St Nicolas for the Aldeburgh Festival in a recreation of the first ever concert given at the festival in 1948. In North American he toured Handel’s L’allegro, il penseroso ed il moderato and Bach’s B Minor Mass with Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra with two performances at Carnegie Hall as well as making his debut at Park Armory in a world premier performance of a new creation Co-Commissioned with the Asia Society where Nick performed a selection of Bach cantatas in a staging by the celebrated director Peter Sellars.

This season Nick performs the role of Funeral Director in a new production by Oliver Mears of Bernstein’s A Quiet Place for the Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House, makes his Japanese debut with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra in Mozart’s Requiem under Masato Suzuki as well as performances with La Nuova Musica, Academy of Ancient Music, OAE and Les Talens Lyriques at venues including l’Opera Royal de Versailles, Theater an der Wien, Het Concertgebouw, Wigmore Hall, Barbican Centre, and Philharmonie de Paris.

See Nick Pritchard perform Handel’s Messiah with the RSNO on 2 January 2026.

In season 24/25 George Humphreys performs Lord Sidney in Il Viaggio a Reims, Peter Besenbinder in Hänsel und Gretel, Plunkett in Martha, Il Conte in Il Mondo alla Rovescia, Kilian in Der Freischütz at Salzburger Landestheater.

His recent operatic appearances include Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro at Glyndebourne Festival on tour, Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Zuga in Les pêcheurs de perles, Falke in Die Fledermaus, Roberto (Nardo) in La finta giardiniera, Escamillo in Carmen, Prior Walter in Angels in America, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Ein Musiklehrer in Ariadne auf Naxos, Don Giovanni, Il Conte in Le Nozze di Figaro and Valentin in Gounod’s Faust all as the ensemble member at the Salzburger Landestheater; the title role in Eugene Onegin at the Buxton Festival, Leporello in the Nederlandse Reisopera’s production of Don Giovanni, and roles at English National Opera, Welsh National Opera, the Aldeburgh Festival and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Recent concert highlights include Mahler’s Symphony No.8 with Daniel Harding and the Swedish Radio Orchestra, Bach’s Weihnachts Oratorium with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Dido and Aeneas at the Wigmore Hall, the Matthäus Passion at the London Handel Festival and performances of Handel’s Messiah with the Gabrieli Consort, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. He has given Lieder recitals at Lille Opera, Opernhaus Zürich, the Wigmore Hall in London and the Oxford Lieder Festival and he was recently made an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in London.

George Humphreys was born in Oxford and educated at St. John’s College, Cambridge, the Royal Academy of Music and the International Opernstudio Zürich.

See George Humphreys perform Handel’s Messiah with the RSNO on 2 January 2026.

The RSNO Chorus performs in around six different programmes in up to twenty concerts across Scotland with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra each year. The RSNO Chorus has also had great success in recording with the Orchestra. Its recordings, amongst others, of Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky, conducted by Neeme Jӓrvi, and Holst’s The Planets, conducted by David Lloyd-Jones, have both attracted high critical acclaim.

In addition to its commitment to the Orchestra, the RSNO Chorus performs independently and has been invited to perform with orchestras in many parts of the world, establishing an international status and touring to Copenhagen, Hong Kong, Israel, Germany, Belfast, Australia, Trondheim and most recently, Amsterdam and Prague. In 2018 it performed Britten’s War Requiem with the RSNO at the BBC Proms.

The RSNO Chorus evolved from a choir formed in 1843 to sing the first full performance of Handel’s Messiah in Scotland. Today, it is one of the most successful choruses in the UK. In recent years, it has performed practically every work in the standard choral repertoire along with contemporary works by renowned composers, including John Adams, Magnus Lindberg, Howard Shore and James MacMillan.

Stephen Doughty has been Chorus Director of the RSNO Chorus since the start of the 2022:23 Season. Since his arrival the Chorus has seen an influx of new members, and an abundance of varied and critically acclaimed performances, including Verdi’s Requiem, Britten’s War Requiem, Bruckner’s E Minor Mass and the Scottish premiere of Sir James MacMillan’s Christmas Oratorio. He has also directed the Chorus in new and imaginative programmes in their own right, including Rheinberger’s glorious Mass in E flat for double choir, and concerts with percussion and organ featuring Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, the European premiere of McIntyre’s Missa Brevis and Ives’ final major choral work, Psalm 90.  Stephen’s previous 12-year tenure as Chorus Master of Belfast Philharmonic Choir included a number of world premieres, most significantly James Whitbourn’s The Seven Heavens and Philip Hammond’s Requiem for the Lost Souls of the Titanic, performed exactly 100 years since the liner went down, and further European premieres of both Stuart Scott’s Requiem Brevis, which saw the 100-strong choir separated into eight choirs spaced around the audience, and Christopher Marshall’s Earthsong.

Stephen particularly enjoys working with amateur singers, not least leading regular singing days frequently involving up to 800 amateur singers. He was Musical Director of Edinburgh Bach Choir for 7 years and has enjoyed the directing the Garleton Singers for over 30 years, performing with them recently at the Lammermuir Festival.

Stephen plays harpsichord/organ continuo and orchestral piano and has given frequent organ recitals, including several on the grand Mulholland Organ in the Ulster Hall, Belfast. He is also in demand as an arranger and orchestrator, with a large portfolio of work particularly for young voices. He has produced a plethora of arrangements of the music of pianist Christopher Norton, including two publications of piano duets and a suite for wind sextet, and has received commissions from Children’s Classic Concerts, the Ulster Orchestra and the RSNO. Commissions from the BBC have seen his work being performed on BBC Alba and at the Last Night of the Proms, and his pieces feature on several recordings, including with the RSNO Chorus.

Finally, Stephen is an Examiner for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music.

Born in Huddersfield in 1964, Paul Whittaker has been profoundly deaf all his life yet pursued a career as a musician. A pianist and organist, he has a music degree from Wadham College, Oxford, a postgraduate performance diploma from the Royal Northern College of Music and holds ALCM and ARCO diplomas.

In 1988, he founded Music and the Deaf, a charity to help deaf people enjoy music, which he ran for 27 years. In 2007, he was awarded an OBE for Services to Music and he also holds honorary degrees from the University of Huddersfield and Open University.

For the past 13 years, Paul has been working with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra on their Feel the Music project, visiting many different countries around the world introducing deaf children to orchestral music. In 2023, he was invited to work with the Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin on a project involving deaf children and adults and in 2024 will work with an ensemble in Malmo on a similar project.

Since May 2015 he has been working freelance as a motivational speaker, signed song performer and workshop leader, and currently runs several signing choirs across the UK.

Paul has signed many musical shows and concerts, and performed with The King’s Singers, Tenebrae, Dunedin Consort, VOCES8, the Royal Liverpool, Royal Philharmonic, Scottish Chamber, Royal Northern Sinfonia and Halle orchestras, with Children’s Classic Concerts and at many festivals, including the Cumnock Tryst and BBC Proms. He is delighted to be returning to the RSNO after joining them last November for James MacMillan’s Christmas Oratorio.

See Paul Whittaker perform Handel’s Messiah on 2 January 2025 and Mozart’s Requiem on 25 and 26 April 2025.