Jonathan Arnold (bass-baritone)
Monteverdi Vespers of 1610
Bristol Cathedral
Saturday, 20th March 2010
Jonathan was educated at Hereford Cathedral School and sang in Hereford Cathedral Choir in his gap year.
Since studying at Oxford University and The Royal Academy of Music, he has performed as a soloist with many leading British orchestras,
including The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The London Mozart Players, City of London Sinfonia,
Scottish Chamber Orchestra, English Symphony Orchestra, Florilegium, Symphony of Harmony and Invention, and the Gabrieli Players.
He also sings regularly with some of the country's finest ensembles, including The Sixteen, The Tallis Scholars and the Hilliard Ensemble.
For Harry Christophers he has performed as a soloist with the Seville Baroque Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchesta
de la Communidad de Madrid and the Symphony of Harmony and Invention in works by Purcell, Mozart, Fauré and Duruflé.
Jonathan has recorded as a soloist with Philippe Herreweghe's Collegium Vocale in Purcell's Ode to St. Cecilia and
Welcome to all the Pleasures); in Dvorak's Mass in D with and with St. Paul's Cathedral Choir, with Emma Kirkby
in a recording of music by Thomas Tomkins, with the consort Fretwork, entitled Above the Stars. With Harry Christophers,
Jonathan has recently recorded a disc of English seventeenth-century Verse Anthems as bass soloist.
His most recent operatic performances include Aeneas in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas in Turin. He has sung operatic roles with
Les Arts Florissants at the Bastille Opera House, Paris (Corydon in Purcell's The Faery Queen); with Kent Opera at the
Queen Elizabeth Hall, London (Apollo in Monteverdi's Orfeo); New Chamber Opera (Azarius in Britten's The Burning Fiery Furnace),
Opera Brava (Sacristan in Tosca); Opera Restor'd (Title role in Lampe's The Dragon of Wantley); and European Chamber Opera
(Speaker in Mozart's Die Zaüberflote) both in Britain and abroad.
Jonathan made his debut at the Purcell Room, on London's South Bank in 2002, with a recital of English Song with pianist Patricia Holmes.
Last year Jonathan appeared as a soloist with the BBC Philharmonic at Manchester's Bridgewater Hall, at London's Barbican and
Birmingham's Symphony Hall with the Symphony of Harmony and Invention, and toured the country with The Sixteen's Choral Pilgrimage,
performing in many British Cathedrals. Jonathan has appeared in four, hour long, television documentaries, shown on BBC4 and BBC2 this
year on sacred music with the actor Simon Russell-Beale and The Sixteen. In 2010 Jonathan gave the world premiere of four new Passion
Cantatas, singing the role of Christus, written by Simon Whalley.