London-based tenor, John Twitchen, is a singer with a passion for opera and art song. He has a keen interest in music and has shown promise from an early age, which was made clear by his success competing in the Hastings Music Festival among other various music festivals in East Sussex and Suffolk. He studied singing with Louise Winter and became and member of Glyndebourne Youth Opera 3 where he performed new commissions by composers Orlando Gough and Hannah Conway as part of the Tête à Tête Festival as well as a staged adaptation of Britten’s Ceremony of Carols on the Glyndebourne stage.

John completed his BMus in Vocal Performance at the University of Chichester with a first-class honours degree. He studied under the guidance and support of Ian Kennedy and performed solos with the Chamber Choir and Otter Consort on tours to Bruges, Verona and Chartres. He also took the lead role in Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld ,performing in the Alexandra Theatre, Bognor Regis as well as St James’s Church, Guernsey. After graduating, he was given the chance to sing two fully staged, fully orchestrated operas with the Dorset Opera Festival for three consecutive years and performed roles in Eugene Onegin, Macbeth, Faust, Le Comte Ory, Le Cid and La Bohème. He performed in Carmen and La Bohème with Barefoot Opera where he also took part in various body, movement and voice workshops with Jenny Miller and Penny Randall-Davis.

In 2022 John was part of the St Martin in the Fields and St Stephen Walbrook scholarship programme under Director of Music, Andrew Earis. His most notable engagements included singing for BBC Radio 2 and 3 in Easter and Good Friday services with St Martin’s Voices and performing in ‘Super Choral, Super Excellent’ with I Fagiolini conducted by Robert Hollingworth as well as Arvo Pärt’s Passion with Gesualdo Six. He regularly performs with the Hastings Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra directed by Marcio Da Silva including performances with the HPO Singers and Ensemble OrQuesta. These include Pastore in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, Parpignol in La Boheme, and soloist in performances of Bach Magnificat, Charpentier Te Deum, Saint Saēns Oratorio de Noël and Monteverdi Madrigals.