George Humphreys

George Humphreys is the recipient of the first Oxford Lieder Scholarship, awarded in March 2007

George Humphreys was born in Oxford, and was educated at Christ Church Cathedral School, Wellington College, and St. John's College, Cambridge, where he read music and was a Choral Scholar.

His Operatic work has included the roles of Collatinus in Britten's Rape of Lucretia, Balstrode in Britten's Peter Grimes, Masetto in British Youth Opera's production of Don Giovanni, and Papageno in a production of The Magic Flute in Palestine. He also performed in Graham Vick's production of Britten's Curlew River, the first full-scale opera to be performed at The BBC Proms.

He has performed widely as a Concert and Oratorio soloist, with highlights including Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on Christmas Carols with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and John Rutter, Bach's Christmas Magnificat and Cantata 36 with the English Concert in Valencia, Mozart's Requiem with the Brandenburg Sinfonia in St Martin-in-the-Fields, and Handel's L'Allegro under William Christie at the Spitalfields Festival. He was also a soloist on a recording of SS Wesley by Clare College Choir under Christopher Robinson. George has collaborated with the Ossian ensemble on a number of contemporary projects, including Peter Maxwell Davies' 8 Songs for a Mad King in the presence of the composer, and a new realisation of Saint-Saens Carnival of the Animals. Future plans include an adaptation of Schubert songs, and Schoenberg's Serenade.

George is the Bursenhart Morgan-Evans Award Winner, is generously supported by the Josephine Baker Trust, and is the winner of a BBC Fame Academy Bursary, the Sir Elton John Scholarship, and the Alfred Alexander Award. In September he will take up the offer of a place on the Royal Academy of Music's Opera Course. He currently studies with David Lowe and Audrey Hyland.