Carnegie Hall

Welsh bass-baritone Sir Bryn Terfel has led an extraordinary career since winning the 1989 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Song Prize, performing regularly on the stages of the world’s most prestigious concert halls and opera houses.

Sir Bryn studied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama with Arthur Reckless and Rudolf Piernay. His repertoire ranges from Mozart to Sondheim, and his performances span intimate recitals to the BBC Last Night of the Proms. His award-winning discography encompasses operas by Mozart, Wagner, and R. Strauss, and more than 15 solo discs including lieder, American musical theatre, Welsh songs, and sacred repertoire.

Recent performances include Dulcamara in L’elisir d’amore, Don Basilio in The Barber of Seville, and the title role in Don Pasquale (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden); his role debut as Bluebeard in a concert performance of Bluebeard’s Castle (Opéra national de Paris); Balstrode in Peter Grimes (Vienna State Opera; Royal Opera House, Covent Garden); Holländer in Der fliegende Holländer (Grange Park Opera); the title role in Falstaff (Opernhaus Zürich, Bayerische Staatsoper); Scarpia in Tosca (Opernhaus Zürich, Opéra national de Paris), Don Pizarro in Fidelio (Schloßberg in Graz); and the title role in Boris Godunov (Deutsche Oper Berlin; Royal Opera House, Covent Garden).

On the concert stage, Sir Bryn’s highlights include the opening ceremony of the Wales Millennium Centre, Royal Variety Show, and a gala concert with Andrea Bocelli in Central Park. He also curated a special Christmas concert and live international stream for The Metropolitan Opera’s Met Stars Live in Concert series from Brecon Cathedral in Wales. He has given recitals all around the world, and for nine years, he hosted his own festival in Faenol, North Wales. Recent performances include a nine-date recital and concert tour of the UK; orchestral concerts in Antwerp and Belgrade; and voice, harp, and piano recitals in Stockholm and Geneva.

Sir Bryn was made a CBE in 2003, received the Queen’s Medal for Music in 2006, and was knighted in 2017. He was honored with the title of Austrian Kammersänger by the Vienna State Opera, and in 2022, was awarded a European Cultural Award at the Tonhalle in Zurich in recognition of his extraordinary music career. In 2023, he sang Paul Mealor’s new Welsh-language Kyrie at the coronation of King Charles III.

Recognized as one of the most versatile and charismatic pianists, Annabel Thwaite has won many major collaborative piano prizes, including the prestigious accompanist’s prize at The Kathleen Ferrier Awards and Richard Tauber Piano Prize. She has collaborated with renowned artists such as Roberto Alagna, Sir Bryn Terfel, David Kempster, Only Men Aloud, the Michael Clark Company, and Ensemble MidtVest.

As a soloist, chamber musician, and regular collaborator with Sir Bryn, she has toured and performed in many countries, including the US, Canada, France, Italy, Sweden, Slovenia, and England, where she has performed concertos at the Birmingham Symphony Hall and Imperial College London. With instrumentalists and singers, she has performed at the Royal Albert Hall, Barbican Hall, Cadogan Hall, Wigmore Hall, Bridgewater Hall, Wales Millennium Centre, St. David’s Hall in Cardiff, Gŵyl Machynlleth Festival, Oxford International Song Festival, and Leeds Lieder Festival.

Ms. Thwaite’s discography includes The Scottish Tenor for Universal Records, which was nominated for a Classic BRIT Award; a world premiere recording of music by Hilary Tann; an album of Romantic violin and piano works with Matthew Jones; and the complete violin and viola works of Benjamin Britten for Naxos, named Chamber CD of the Month by BBC Music Magazine. As a filmsession pianist, she has recorded for the Hollywood movie Awake, the BBC Jane Austen series Emma, BBC movie The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister, and Spanish film De tu ventana a la mía. A four-time accompanist at the Festival of Welsh Male Voice Choirs, she has appeared at the Royal Albert Hall, where her performances were recorded and released by Sain and have been aired on UK television. Further television appearances include Blue Peter, The Rob Brydon Show, and a documentary following a day in the life of Sir Bryn for BBC 4.

Ms. Thwaite studied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama with Joan Havill, and at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris. She was the recipient of numerous scholarships including the MBF award for accompanists, and an English-Speaking Union scholarship to study at the Académie Ravel, Franz-Schubert-Institut, Fondation Royaumont, and Académie musicale de Villecroze.

Future engagements include recitals with Sir Bryn and Hannah Stone at the Kennedy Center and Hamburg Opera House.

Hannah Stone, former harpist to H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, studied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, where she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees. As part of her master’s degree, she traveled to Mozarteum University Salzburg to study with Helga Storck through the Erasmus+ program. During her studies at the Guildhall School, she was selected to represent the school in collaboration with the Academies Festival Orchestra, Singapore. This project culminated in an opening gala performance for the Singapore Sun Festival at the Esplanade with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. In 2010, she returned to Wales to further her studies at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, Cardiff, supported by the Victor Salvi Scholarship, and graduated in 2012.

Ms. Stone has performed at many notable venues including the Barbican Centre, LSO St Luke’s, St John’s Smith Square, Museum of London, National Concert Hall in Dublin, St David’s Hall, and Wales Millennium Centre. In 2010, she was appointed principal harp with the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra touring Europe. She has performed as guest soloist with orchestras that include the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Sinfonia Cymru, RTÉ Concert Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, and Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra. She has given recitals at the Edinburgh International Festival, Litchfield Festival, Kings Lynn Festival, Kings Place, and Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace. In 2012, she gave the world premiere of St Asaph’s Dance by Karl Jenkins, and in 2015, she premiered Amaterasu by Gareth Glyn at the North Wales International Music Festival. Abroad, she has given recitals in Italy, Tokyo, and Melbourne. Recent engagements include recitals with Sir Bryn Terfel in Stockholm, Geneva, Monte Carlo, Zurich, and the UK.

Ms. Stone has performed for members of the royal family on several occasions that include the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee tour of Wales. During the 2014 NATO Conference Dinner at Cardiff Castle, she performed for the NATO delegates who included the President of the United States Barack Obama, Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, and Prime Minister David Cameron.