Per Piacere

Romantic, Classical and Baroque Music

Vocal Soloists

Elizabeth Roberts

Soprano

Elizabeth made her debut at London’s Royal Festival Hall and on BBC Radio 3 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in the London premiere of Birtwistle’s The Second Mrs Kong (Terror and First Woman), conducted by Martyn Brabbins and directed by Kenneth Richardson.

Elizabeth also appears on two recordings with the BBC Symphony Orchestra:  Chausson’s opera Le roi Arthus under Leon Botstein; and Josef Marx’s Herbstchor an Pan under Jirí Belohlávek. 

She was honoured to be chosen as soprano soloist at the entry of the Olympic Flame and the lighting of the cauldron, performing with Dame Evelyn Glennie, in the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Lynette Alcantara

Mezzo Soprano

Australian-born mezzo-soprano, Lynette Alcántara leads a busy life as a singer, vocal consultant, conductor and choral animateur. She is a staff alto with The BBC Singers.

She has appeared as soloist in opera, oratorio, recital and on disc, singing for many of the leading ensembles in Britain including The BBC Singers, The Monteverdi Choir, The Sixteen, English National Opera, Opera North, the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, The Bach Choir and The King’s Consort. She appears regularly for BBC radio and TV, and frequently at the Royal Albert Hall and on the South Bank.

Matthew Minter 

Tenor

English tenor Matthew Minter was educated at The Windsor Boys’ School where he excelled in Music. His undergraduate studies in Music were at Salford University, after which he continued to study singing with Nicholas Powell at the Royal Northern College of Music.

Renowned for his versatility as a soloist, Matthew is in demand throughout Britain and on the international concert platform where he has received critical acclaim for his communication, delivery, and clarity of text: “When Matthew Minter sang we were transported to a heavenly place”.

Matthew works regularly with many of Britain’s leading orchestras, including The English Symphony Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and has had the privilege of working under the direction of such distinguished conductors as Pierre Boulez, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Bernard Haitink, Richard Hickox and Sir David Willcocks.

Jamie Hall

Bass

Bass baritone Jamie W. Hall is a versatile musician who occupies multiple roles on the concert platform. Foremost a soloist with a wide repertoire of oratorio and song, he is also an experienced consort and choral singer working with leading ensembles, including the BBC Singers, a choral director, coach, and chorus master, as well as a composer of published choral works which have been performed across the globe, recorded and broadcast on radio.

Since leaving the Nottinghamshire mining village where he grew up, Jamie has relished living in new places, meeting new people and facing new challenges. Even before completing his studies he was making a living as a singer and he found himself a full-time member of the BBC Singers just six years after his first ever singing lesson.

He now lives in Hampshire with his wife and two sons and, with what little time he can find around his many commitments, enjoys gardening (particularly vegetable growing), painting (he loves portrait art), running (never too far!), and playing the character of a grumpy northerner on far too many social media sites.