Our Professional Choir

Alex has been singing as a tenor at St Columba’s regularly since 2018. Prior to this, Alex sang with the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge from 2014–2017, singing three liturgical services a week, as well as touring internationally and performing at concerts and festivals throughout the world. Alex has recorded nine discs over the course of his time with Clare, including a series of music for the church year. Alex is also a freelance audio editor and producer, and supported the music of St Columba’s throughout lockdown by editing and producing anthems and hymns remotely for each Sunday service. Professionally, Alex is a Consultant in Health Technology Assessment and Health Economics at Costello Medical.

Helen has a wealth of choral experience in addition to her solo singing and has performed with renowned choirs such as Ex Cathedra and National Youth Chamber Choir of Great Britain. Helen achieved a distinction for her PgDip in Vocal Performance at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in 2020 and sang as a Choral Scholar at Canterbury Cathedral in 2021-22, piloting a brand new career development and outreach programme. She currently works as a freelance singer and KS2 vocal coach.

Helen graduated with a BA in Music from the University of Leeds in 2010, and has gone on to sing as a soloist with a number of choral societies, as well as teaching both the voice and violin. She blazed the trail for future generations at Lincoln Cathedral in 2011, becoming the first woman to be employed as a singer on an otherwise all male back row, and subsequently Bristol Cathedral’s first female Lay Clerk from 2016-19.

Freya is a professional soprano in London. She held a choral scholarship at St Martin-in-the-Fields (2017-18), and now sings with St Martin’s Voices as a soloist and ensemble singer. Freya is a Young Artist Performer with Felici Opera, and attends Endellion Music Festival annually, performing roles in their semi-staged opera’s. She has sung solo oratorio’s including Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Handel’s Messiah and Faure Requiem. Freya’s past opera roles include Oscar The Masked Ball, Esmerelda The Bartered Bride, Mabel The Pirates of Penzance, Lace Seller Death in Venice, A Novice Suor Angelica, Angelina Trial by Jury and more. She looks forward to playing Adele in Die Fledermaus with Harrow Opera this autumn. Freya’s professional West End debut was a solo role in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical The Woman in White (2005-6) at the Palace Theatre, London. She currently studies with Stuart MacIntyre.

James is a professional classical and jazz singer and pianist. His educational path to becoming a London-based freelancer formally began as an undergraduate at the University of Birmingham, where he studied music academically in parallel with voice and piano at the Birmingham Conservatoire, with piano as his principal study. He then completed a postgraduate Masters at Trinity College of Music, specialising in vocal performance, for which he was awarded a substantial scholarship. Subsequently, James enrolled on the Monteverdi Choir Apprenticeship Scheme (one of only 8 singers internationally and biannually) under Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Its itinerary included televised BBC Proms performances and European opera tours.

Further to this, James's work continued to focus on opera and he enjoyed a number of consecutive years as a chorus member at Opera Holland Park, as well as joining companies such as Opera South and Surrey Opera as a soloist. These days, James's work also includes being a teacher, accompanist, lounge pianist and wedding musician, but choral singing has always been a love and significant part of his music-making life. While a permanent member of the St Columba's choir, James also sings at numerous other London churches, such as All Saints (Margaret St), St Bartholomew the Great (W Smithfield) and occasionally St Paul's (Knightsbridge).

After first taking up music at school, Isaac received a Choral Scholarship to King’s College, Cambridge, as a counter-tenor, where he sung under Sir Stephen Cleobury and studied for a BA in Philosophy and Psychology. After graduation, he was successfully appointed to a post at St Columba’s. Alongside this role, he has also held Layclerkships at Clare College, Cambridge, and New College, Oxford.

Beyond choral music, Isaac is an active Close Harmony performer. His previous positions include membership of The King’s Men, and Fitzwilliam Barbershop. Whilst Barbershop Director, Isaac was responsible for the organization and direction of tours to both China and The Netherlands, and produced two sell-out Edinburgh Fringe shows. He is currently a Final-year medical student at the University of Oxford, and Teaching Fellow within the University's Department of Public Health.