Biography:

Leilani Barratt graduated in 2021 with a Distinction in Vocal Performance from the Royal College of Music, where she studied with Sally Burgess. Prior to her postgraduate studies, she graduated with a First Class Honours Degree in Music from Royal Holloway, where she was a choral scholar for three years and was awarded the Dame Felicity Lott Bursary.

She received First Prize in the Courtney Kenny Award English Song Competition and a Commendation in the RCM Lieder Competition, and was ‘Highly Commended’ in the Mozart Singing Competition. An accomplished performer of Lieder, Leilani was involved in a project that saw her perform works by Robert Kahn at the German Embassy in London and the Akademie der Künste in Berlin. She was a 2019 Leeds Lieder Young Artist with duo partner Brian Hughes.

Leilani has performed many operatic roles with companies including Celebrate Voice, Westminster Opera, Diva Opera, Midsummer Opera and Opera Allegria. In 2023 she toured with Diva Opera singing 1st Soprano Chorus (L'elisir d'amore), Shepherd Boy (Tosca) and Countess Ceprano/Page (Rigoletto). She returns to the company this year singing Annina (La Traviata). Leilani has also performed and recorded with Opera Holland Park Chorus, the Philharmonia Chorus and Opera Rara.

A keen performer of lighter music, cabaret and jazz, Leilani performs programmes of music by composers such as Cole Porter, Jerome Kern and Harold Arlen at private venues and jazz festivals with pianist Neal Thornton.

Biography:

Irish pianist Brian Hughes graduated with a Master of Performance in Collaborative Piano from the Royal College of Music, achieving a Distinction. He has performed at venues including the Royal Albert Hall, the Wigmore Hall and St George’s Hanover Square. In Ireland, Brian performed as an orchestral pianist with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and the Ulster Orchestra in many of the major concert venues, such as the National Concert Hall in Dublin and the Ulster Hall in Belfast.

Brian has been the musical director and arranger/composer for a number of new projects in the last few years. The musical The Ballad of the Cosmo Café was performed in Belsize Park in 2019. He worked with writer Philip Glassborow on The Unicorn and Joe at the end of 2021 and orchestrated the music for Glassborow's Welcome to Terezin in 2022. He was also the musical director for a new play entitled Brendan: Son of Dublin, which was performed in the Tung Auditorium as part of the Liverpool Irish Festival 2023.