A Screenshot of Now

He is the winner of the New York Respighi Prize in Composition (2022) and the London International Guitar Competition (2016). He debuted both as performer and composer at Carnegie Hall (New York) in 2024, accompanied by the Chamber Orchestra of New York.

2024 also saw his conducting debut at the world premiere of his Concerto for 10-string guitar and orchestra, Lungo il Po, in Boulder, Colorado (US), with the Boulder Chamber Orchestra and Nicolò Spera on guitar.

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© Ben Tomlin

Since 2021, Chinwe has focused her writing on contemporary classical works. She has collaborated and produced well-received art songs with esteemed composers and artists such as Geoffrey Hannan, Stuart MacRae, Bernard Hughes, Alisdair Hogarth, Andy Staples, Christopher Glynn, Isabelle Haile, and Nick Pritchard.

Previous work includes Tales of Fantasy and Reality (a book of narrative poetry); the EP Within a Certain Time and Place(Voces8 label, 2021); and the album Songs for Our Times (Divine Art Recording, 2023). She received an endorsement from Arts Council England in 2025 for her work as a lyricist.

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© Ben Tomlin

With his “rich, mellifluous sound” (The Guardian), Mead is recognised as one of the finest countertenors performing today.

He is lauded for his interpretations of the great Handel counter-tenor roles, including the title role of Giulio Cesare with Glyndebourne Festival Opera and Pinchgut Opera, and Bertarido in Rodelinda for English National Opera, Opéra de Lille, and Garsington Opera.

On the concert platform, he regularly collaborates with leading baroque ensembles, including Le Concert d’Astrée, Les Arts Florissants, Academy of Ancient Music, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, English Concert, and Dunedin Consort. He has also appeared with major symphony orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

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© Andy Staples

including Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Masaaki Suzuki, René Jacobs, Harry Bicket, Masato Suzuki, Laurence Cummings, Jonathan Cohen, John Butt, Kristian Bezuidenhout, Marcus Creed, David Bates, and Lionel Meunier.

“Chance stakes serious claim to the title of his generation’s most exciting British countertenor” (Gramophone Magazine).

He is in demand as a concert soloist and has given many recitals around Europe, making his recital debut at Wigmore Hall and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam in 2024. His recent opera roles include Oberon (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Britten) for The Grange Festival; Apollo (Death in Venice, Britten) for Welsh National Opera; and Tolomeo (Giulio Cesare, Handel) for English Touring Opera. In 2022, he became the first countertenor to win the International Handel Singing Competition, also winning the Audience Prize.

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© Ben Ealovega

He was a choral scholar at New College, Oxford, where he read Engineering, and went on to study singing and acting in the USA, Canada, and at the Royal Academy of Music.

Acclaimed as a “multi-talented tenor” (Financial Times), he has established himself as a highly adaptable singer-actor, working across traditional repertoire and demanding contemporary works. He has collaborated with all the major UK orchestras and opera companies, as well as internationally.

He is the founding director of the classical music film production company Positive Note. He is currently a Company Principal in the Ensemble of Opernhaus Zürich, where roles have included Pirelli (Sweeney Todd), Guillot (Manon), Scaramuccio (Ariadne auf Naxos), Edmondo (Manon Lescaut), and Spalanzani (Les Contes d’Hoffmann).

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© Fran Monks