Who we are
Find out more about the cast of our upcoming opera galas
Helen Appleton
Soprano
Helen Studied singing at the University of Hull, where she received the Andrew Brown Memorial Prize for Music, and then at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama where she received a scholarship with the BBC National Chorus of Wales and graduated with a master’s degree in vocal performance.
Favourite roles have included Miss Jessel in The Turn of the Screw (Fach n’ role), The Counsel in Trial by Jury (Windsor & Eton Opera), Zerlina in Don Giovanni (Operahouse), Anne Trulove in The Rake’s Progress (RWCMD), Alice Ford in The Merry Wives of Windsor (RWCMD), Suor Osmina in Suor Angelica (RWCMD), Second Lady in The Magic Flute (Opera’r Ddraig), Michaela in Carmen (Sheffield City Opera), Euridice in Orpheus in the Underworld (Sheffield City Opera) and Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance (Stumped).
Helen has appeared with many companies and choral societies singing a variety of repertoire from performing early music with the Armonico Consort to singing principal soprano for Bravo Productions Old Time Music Hall.
Helen recently enjoyed working in recital with award-winning flute and piano duo - Rachel Johnson and Jemima Palfreyman - at Sheffield Cathedral. Future engagements include performing locally with the Roade orchestra and appearing in concert at Hanslope Church this summer. Helen has been involved in music education since the beginning of her career and enjoys sharing her love of song with students of all ages both in schools and at her private teaching practice.
Organ Prawang
Soprano
Organ Prawang is currently studying for her PhD at Bangor University on a full scholarship from The Office of Higher Education in Thailand. Prior to this, she completed her MA in Performance at the University of Music in Vienna. During her studies, she performed a number of principal roles such as Violetta (La Traviata), Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi), Micaela (Carmen) and Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare). At Bangor, she was also cast in the leading role of Hata in their production of Smetana's The Bartered Bride.
More recently, Organ returned to Vienna to make her professional debut in the role of Lauretta at the Das Off Theatre, as well as performing concerts with Mid-Wales Opera, North Wales Opera Studio, and Opera'r Ddraig at the Wales Millennium Centre.
Organ has had a great deal of success in a number of international competitions. She was awarded 1st prize at both the Thai-Chinese Vocal Competition and the Settrade Vocal Competition in Thailand, as well as winning 2nd prize at the 7th Osaka International Competition and The Barry Alexander Competition in New York.
Andrew Powis
Tenor
Andrew Powis is a graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland where he completed a postgraduate course in vocal performance. He is also an alumna of Bangor University, where he was awarded the performance scholarship and the Eric Morris memorial prize for Outstanding Performance. Since then, he has won acclaim throughout the UK as a concert performer as well as for operatic performances across the lyric repertoire.
Andrew’s concert highlights include Mozart’s Requiem with Hoylake Choral Society, The Serenian Singers and Morley College (London), Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Glasgow Symphonia and Orff’s Carmina Burana and Britten’s St Nicolas as part of the Bangor University Concert Series.
Operatic highlights include realising the roles of Nemorino (L'elisir d'amor), Ferrando (Cosi fan tutte), Riccardo (Un ballo in maschera) and Tamino (Die Zauberflöte) as well as abridged versions and scenes from La Boheme, Carmen, Rigoletto and Idomeneo among many others.
Upcoming engagements include Don José (Carmen – Bizet) with York Opera and a variety of concerts across the UK.
Ben Noble
Baritone
Benjamin is a Northeast-born baritone, studying singing with Geraldine Cassidy. Recent engagements include Guglielmo in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte with Constella Operaballet, and Don Alhambra in The Gondoliers at Harrogate international festival. Previously he sang the bass roles of The Little Sweep, Barabaskin in Shostakovich’s Cheryomushki, the bass solos in Symphony for the Mothers and Sons, which premiered at Wakefield Cathedral marking the centenary of the Battle of the Somme, and in 2018 was extra chorus Opera North’s Silent Night. Future engagements include Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro, with York Opera, an unperformed operetta called Something in the City, postponed due to the outbreak of war in 1939. Ben is also a pianist for choirs, oratorio singer and a workshop practitioner in schools and the community, and is a musical engagement officer for Middlesbrough Town Hall.