She Who Dares The New Sound of Power

Catherine Hooper is a Kiwi-British soprano and graduate of the Royal College of Music, with further studies at the Universities of Cambridge and St Andrews. A prizewinner at the 2025 Joan Sutherland Richard Bonynge Bel Canto Award, she has performed leading roles with companies including Devon Opera and OperaUpClose, and is a former member of the Glyndebourne Chorus. She appears regularly in opera, concert and recital repertoire in the UK and internationally.

Ella O’Neill is increasingly in demand across the UK and Europe as a collaborative pianist specialising in song. She was recently announced as the 2024 winner of the biennial Royal Philharmonic Society Gerald Moore Award for outstanding piano accompanists. Ella also won the Accompanist’s Prize in the 2019 Kathleen Ferrier Awards at Wigmore Hall, to which she returned in the 2024/25 season for her Wigmore recital debut with duo partner Laurence Kilsby. Last summer saw the release of the duo’s debut album, Awakenings, co-produced by Deutsche Grammophon, Avi Music and SWR Kultur. The album was longlisted for a Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik (German Record Critics' Award) as one of seven albums in the 'Lieder and Vocal Recital' category, and described in the American Record Guide as 'one of the most imaginative and thought-provoking song programs [I've] heard'.