Third Place Cecil Drew Oratorio Prize (2018)

www.bsecs.org.uk/criticks-reviews/at-the-veni… (2023)

Coming from the coast of Pembrokeshire, Wales, baritone Aaron Kendall is a Vocal and Operatic course graduate at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, having studied with Gwion Thomas and Jonathan Gunthorpe.

Aaron has musical roots lying in musical theatre and chamber music. He studied viola from the age of 8 and piano from the age of 12 and later went on to develop an interest in vocal music. With a range of musical interests, Aaron's passion for vocal music and vocal technique increased, encouraging him to further his understanding of different singing styles and abilities. Aaron went on to study at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in 2016 where he received regular coaching and masterclasses with Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside, James Platt, Robin Bowman, and Paul Wingfield, to name a few.

Aaron keeps strong connections with his musical theatre roots. He provides performance coaching and is a musical director and accompanist working with amateur groups and small companies. He has recently been involved with productions of Little Shop of Horrors, The Addams Family, Into the Woods and Legally Blonde. Aaron has worked closely with composer Joel Hall to help create new works such as The Flying Frog, The Last Christmas Tree, and The Last Vampire. 

Aaron enjoys the busy freelance life within the operatic stage. He has appeared on stage as Forester in Janaçek's Cunning Little Vixen, Father/Other Father in Mark Anthony-Turnage's Coraline, Caliban in Jeremy Sams' The Enchanted Island, Papageno in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Edmund Bertram in Jonathan Dove's Mansfield Park (RBC), Guglielmo in Cosi Fan Tutte, Dulcamara in Donizetti's l'Elisir d'Amore (Opera Novello), Luka in Walton’s The Bear (Dafne Opera) Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro (Somerset Opera) and Belfusto in Salieri's La Fiera di Venezia. Alongside this, Aaron has also had the opportunity to explore a variety of roles in Opera Scenes; Count in Le Nozze di Figaro, Maximilian in Candide and Masetto in Don Giovanni.

Aaron also has an active involvement on the concert stage performing regular recitals and oratorio works across the UK in a variety of venues such as Leicester’s De Montfort Hall and Birmingham’s Town Hall. Recent concerts as a guest soloist include; Handel’s Messiah, Faure’s Requiem, Haydn’s The Creation and Vaughan William's Five Mystical Songs.

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