Simon Toyne was a chorister in Exeter Cathedral Choir, a Music Scholar at Eton College, and the Organ Scholar of University College, Oxford. He is Assistant Head and Director of Music at Tiffin School. Under his direction, the Tiffin Boys’ Choir has worked with all the London orchestras and the Royal Opera, and has been conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Colin Davis, Bernard Haitink, Valery Gergiev and Mark Elder, among others.

The choir has recorded many operas for EMI and Antonio Pappano, and for Chandos and Richard Hickox. Simon and the choir enjoy a fruitful relationship with the London Mozart Players, performing most recently Haydn Creation, Fauré Requiem and Bach cantatas. He has conducted most of the major oratorios with the Tiffin Oratorio Choir and the Brandenburg Symphony Orchestra, including A Child of our Time (Tippett), Janacek’s Glagolitic Mass, Belshazzar’s Feast (Walton), The Dream of Gerontius (Elgar), and Bach’s Mass in B minor and Handel’s Messiah with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

Simon has led conferences and workshops on conducting and singing for the Eton Choral Courses, the Metropolitan Opera Childen’s Chorus, New York, the Kotuku Trust in New Zealand, the Association of British Choral Directors and the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, and has worked as Music Director of the IAPS Choral Courses. He has been Guest Chorus Master for many choirs, including the Royal Choral Society and the London Symphony Chorus. In addition to his work with the Tiffin Boys’ Choir at the Royal Opera House, he has assisted the Music Staff and worked as organist in recent productions of Tosca and Lohengrin. Operas conducted include Carmen, Nabucco, Eugene Onegin, Macbeth, Cavalleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci (Riverside Opera), Madama Butterfly, Le Nozze di Figaro, Die Zauberflöte and Lucia di Lammermoor (Court Opera) and Don Giovanni (Candlelight Opera). In February 2010, he became Music Director of the National Youth Training Choir of Wales.

As organist, his recitals have included both Cathedrals of Liverpool and Kuala Lumpur Cathedral. He is currently Director of Music at Kingston Parish Church, whose renowned choir maintains a Cathedral-style repertoire and has broadcast on BBC1, Radio 4 and World Service Radio. He is Artistic Director of Thames Concerts.

Lisa studied chemistry at Keble College, Oxford where she was a choral bursar. While at university she had the opportunity to enjoy an extensive and varied musical life and performed in most musical genres, from Purcell to Gershwin and stage work including Blow’s Venus and Adonis, Weill’s Threepenny Opera and Sondheim's Sweeny Todd.

She was also Musical Director for a production of the Brecht\Eisler musical The Mother featuring the musical debut of the now, Hollywood actress, Catherine McCormack, who recently appeared locally at the Rose theatre.

After university she chose to specialise in early music, and to date has sung all over the world with most of Britain's leading consorts including The Sixteen, The Kings Consort, The Cardinall’s Musick, The Oxford Camerata, The Clerks group, The Tallis scholars, Academy of Ancient Music, Hickox singers (CM90), Orchestra of the Age Enlightenment and Retrospect Ensemble.

She has an extensive discography with these groups, including The Brit award winning Universal disc ‘Renaissance’ with the Sixteen, the Bach contempories series for The Kings Consort, the Oxford Camerata series for Naxos, but most notably appeared as the soloist with Schola Cantorum of Oxford on their best-selling disc of Faure's Requiem (her Pie Jesu featured in the film ‘Broken Flowers’), and Tippett's Negro Spirituals on Hyperion.

She also regularly sings in the professional choirs of many of London's major churches, including St Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and Cathedral, whenever a mixed choir is required, and held a regular position at the London Oratory church for many years.

Concert appearances are diverse, including much of the greatest Baroque repertoire; Purcell Odes, Bach Magnificat, B minor mass, St John Passion, to the more modern including Part Passio, Rutter Reqiuem and the world premier of John Joubert’s ‘Three faces of Love’ for Soprano, Tenor and Baritone and the occasional cabaret appearance.

As well as teaching at Tiffin School, she also teaches at St Pauls Girl's school in Hammersmith.

She lives in Kingston with her husband Robin Blaze and her two children.

After studying at the Royal Academy of Music with the aid of a scholarship David took up the post of Singing Teacher at the Arts Educational School.

His performing career has included principal rôles with English and Welsh National Operas as well as in Europe including: Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro) in Austria; Schaunard (La Bohème) and Masetto (Don Giovanni) for Opéra de Nantes; Johnny Johnson for Opéra de Caen and a world tour in the title role of Rigoletto including Singapore and Malaysia. Other rôles include Papageno (Die Zauberflöte), Dandini (La Cenerentola), Figaro and Bartolo (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Escamillo (Carmen), Onegin and Balstrode (Peter Grimes).

In addition to performances in the major London venues: The Queen Elizabeth Hall, The Purcell Room, St. John’s Smith Square, and The National Portrait Gallery, David’s concert career has also taken him all over the world including Hong Kong, Indonesia and the USA. Oratorio and other recital appearances include Bath, Buxton, Nottingham and Kings Lynn festivals, The Queen’s Hall Edinburgh and The National Arts Club New York.

His wide repertoire of Oratorio and concert works includes Bach’s St. John and St. Matthew passions, Handel’s Alexander’s Feast and Messiah, Mozart, Brahms and Fauré Requiems, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius and The Kingdom, Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony, Britten’s War Requiem and Orff’s Carmina Burana.

He has always maintained an interest in education and now adjudicates widely for the British and International Federation of Festivals and gives regular workshops and Masterclasses throughout the UK and Ireland as well as Hong Kong, Jakarta and Sri Lanka where he returns in May this year. In 2007 he was Vocal and Choral Director for European Youth Summer Music.

Recent performances include Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and Gerald Finzi’s Song Cycle ‘Let Us Garlands Bring’. In June he will sing Vaughan Williams’ ‘A Sea Symphony’ and Stanford’s ‘Songs of the Fleet’ at Blackheath Halls.

Born in Gloucester, Peter Jaekel entered the Royal Academy of Music in 1985 where he studied organ with John Scott and piano accompaniment with Geoffrey Pratley and David Willison. For seven years he was chapel organist at Bradfield College, Berkshire.

Since 1997, he has been a freelance organist and piano accompanist. In 2007 he was appointed accompanist to Crouch End Festival Chorus, perhaps Britain’s most versatile Choir. His work with Crouch End has included on one hand performances of the solo part in Arvo Part’s Credo and world premiere performances at Kings Place, and on the other hand assisting in rehearsals with Oasis and Ray Davies. He is a deputy accompanist to the London Symphony Chorus, where he has worked with some of the world’s finest conductors, including Sir Colin Davis, Valery Gergiev, Michael Tilson Thomas, Daniel Harding and Yan Pascal Tortelier. He is accompanist to Hertford Choral Society, and regularly plays for other choirs in the South-East including the Philharmonia Chorus, Royal Choral Society and Brighton Festival Chorus. He was organist of St. Paul’s, Knightsbridge for nine years and frequently plays at many churches in the London area, and has performed as pianist with the Ben Sanders Scottish Country Dance Band throughout Britain and abroad.

Peter is in huge demand as a piano accompanist, most recently accompanying the cellist Julian Lloyd Webber and the saxophonist John Harle. He is also much sought after as a vocal coach for contemporary music; recent repertoire includes operas by Sir Michael Tippett, Jonathan Dove, Stephen McNeff and Tansy Davies. He has been principal repetiteur for Eastern Opera and has also worked for European Chamber Opera.

Recent engagements have included performances of Handel Organ Concerti and Saint-Saens Organ Symphony, and he has appeared at the Swaledale, Ryedale, Brighton and Deal Festivals. His work has taken him to France, Belgium, Holland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Norway, Hong Kong and New York. Future plans include a performance of Janacek’s Glagolitic Mass with Crouch End.