Sarah Walker

Sarah Walker began her musical life as a violinist at the Royal College of Music and subsequently studied singing with Vera Rozsa, with whom she has built up a wide repertoire ranging from Bach to 20th century works by composers such as Berio, Boulez, Cage, Henze, Ligeti, Copeland and Ives.

Miss Walker is much in demand on the concert platform worldwide. She appears regularly with the major British Orchestras, and has sung at the major British and European festivals. She has been a memorable soloist at the Last Night of the Proms and sang under Leonard Bernstein in Beethoven's 9th Symphony in Berlin to celebrate the opening of the Berlin Wall (televised worldwide and recorded by Deutsche Grammophon).

She is closely associated with the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, performing a variety of roles. With the English National Opera her many roles include Cornelia ("Julius Caesar") which was recorded for E.M.I. and for video. She has sung with the Vienna State Opera, Scottish Opera, the Metropolitan Opera and Glyndebourne. She has also performed in Geneva, San Francisco and Chicago.

Sarah Walker has perhaps received the greatest critical acclaim for her recitals. Since the overwhelming success of her Wigmore Hall debut she has visited all the major European cities and Festivals, the U .S.A., Australia and New Zealand and has made numerous recordings which reflect her vast recital repertoire.

In recent seasons she has appeared in "Der Rosenkavalier" at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, under Kleiber, in "Peter Grimes" at the Geneva Opera, as Mistress Quickly in "Falstaff' for Scottish Opera and in "Le Nozze di Figaro" with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London and Japan. Concert appearances have included the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Masur, the London Symphony Orchestra under Tilson Thomas and the Halle under Marriner and she took part in the EMI recording of "Peter Grimes" under Haitink.

In the 1992/93 season, in addition to her busy concert, recital and recording career, Miss Walker's engagements include Madame Larina in a new production of "Eugene Onegin" in Paris (also to be recorded for Philips Classics under Semyon Bychov) and Filipyevna in "Eugene Onegin" for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Sarah Walker was made a C.B.E. in the 1991 Queen's Birthday Honours.

Malcolm Martineau

Edinburgh born Malcolm Martineau read Music at St Catharines's College, Cambridge.

In 1981 he went on to study at the Royal College of Music with Kendall Taylor, Geoffrey Parsons and Lyndon van der Pump, where he won all the internal accompanist's prizes, and currently studies with Joyce Rathbone. His subsequent awards include the Walter Gruener International Lieder Competition in 1984 (and he was consequently asked back to act as official accompanist in 1987). Malcolm accompanied Bryn Terfel when he won the lieder prize at the 1989 Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, Simon Keenlyside when he won the 1990 Elly Emeling Award and has played at various master-classes at the Britten-Pears School in Aldeburgh for Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Suzanne Danco, Ileana Cotrubas and Kurt Equiluz.

Malcolm has accompanied many of the world's leading singers and among many noted instrumentalists has accompanied clarinettist Emma Johnson. He presented his own series at St Johns Smith Square of the complete songs of Debussy and Poulenc (recorded by BBC Radio 3). He has appeared at numerous Festivals throughout the United Kingdom and given many recitals for the BBC.

Recent engagements have included recitals at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, the Edinburgh Festival, his debuts in North and South America and his debut at the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon. Plans include further recitals at the Wigmore Hall and on the South Bank and in Paris, Belgium, Vienna, Germany and throughout the United Kingdom. Recent recording projects have included the complete Faure songs with Sarah Walker, two recordings with flautist Jennifer Stington, a recital record with Della Jones and a recording for television (made in Vienna) with Bryn Terfel. This season he embarks on a major series of lieder recordings for Collins Classics.