Neil Jenkins

Please click on any photo above for a larger image.

NEIL JENKINS has been a professional singer for over forty years. Having sung in the choirs of Westminster Abbey and King’s College Cambridge he made his solo debut in October 1967, and sang and recorded with the Deller Consort, under the direction of Alfred Deller, for ten years, whilst establishing himself as an opera singer at Kent Opera. In the 1970s he was appointed as an RCM singing professor by Sir David Willcocks, for whom he became a regular soloist with the Bach Choir, especially in the Bach Passions. He became equally at home as an Operatic, Oratorio and Recital singer; and combined this with an increasingly important role as a musicologist. Neil has translated and edited all of Bach’s major choral works for the New Novello Choral Edition, & Haydn’s ‘Seasons’ & ‘Creation’ for King’s Music. He has produced several song albums for OUP & Kevin Mayhew Ltd. He is now researching the lives of Handel’s English singers, and has written the biography of John Beard, the great 18th century tenor who worked with Handel, Arne and David Garrick.

Neil has sung with all of Britain’s leading opera companies, and was associated with Kent Opera, Scottish Opera, WNO & Glyndebourne for many years. His performances in Kent Opera’s King Priam & Glyndebourne Festival’s Lulu and Higglety Pigglety Pop are available on video. He worked for WNO for 30 years, commencing as Count Almaviva to Thomas Allen’s Figaro in the early 1970s; and was with them most recently for a production of Verdi’s Falstaff, starring Bryn Terfel, which was televised. Neil has been honoured by the Worshipful Company of Musicians with the presentation of the Sir Charles Santley Memorial Award for his achievements in his career. 2007 marked the 40th anniversary of his London debut, which he celebrated with his various choirs. He is Music Director of the Sussex Chorus & the Neil Jenkins Chorale, and is President of the Haywards Heath Music Society, Grange Choral Society, Shoreham Oratorio Choir, Basildon Choral Society, as well as Patron of the Goldsmiths Choral Union. These days Neil is in demand as an Adjudicator at competitive festivals, and as a Masterclass tutor at venues such as “Jackdaws”.