The Apex Singers
2nd May
5.00: Workshop: £10
7.30: Concert: £18
Embark on a journey of global folk songs and storytelling with The Apex Singers, the critically acclaimed vocal ensemble. "Outstanding live video 2023". Studio albums: Hiraeth (2020), Stravaig (2022), Woven (2024) and Kvallen (2025). 4 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards.
Explore the art of ensemble singing in a folk/contemporary style by taking part in a 1.5 hour pre-concert workshop,
Simone Damiani
Solo Recital
14th June at 4.30pm
On warm Satruday or Sunday afternoons over the summer, come and enjoy a varied selection of musical delights at Hermon Chapel performed by talented musicians from the Uk and beyond. The bar will be open throughout the concert for a cuppa and a cake or perhaps something stronger! Running time approximately lasting 1 hour with a short interval.
Simone Damiani has performed solo and chamber music across Europe. He trained at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire achieving a Bachelor of Arts degree and an advanced post-graduate diploma in piano performance and also at the Liszt Academy of Music at the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp achieving a Masters degee. https://www.simonedamiani.com
Recital highlights: Beethoven Sonata n. 30 op.109 in E major, Schumann Kinderszenen op.15
Classical
Sylvie Reverdy (Cello) Clare Cocks (Piano)
June 20th at 7pm
This classical recital programme will include Beethoven's sonata in A minor and Brahms Sonata in E minor plus other smaller works.
Vocal Workshop
Sarah Wright-Owens
(Vocal Coach)
Stephen Owens (Pianist)
Leading up to the "Come & Sing" Carmina Burana event on Saturday, June 27th, Steve and Sarah will be leading two workshops for people who either don't regularly sing in a choir or who don't read music but would like to come and sing Carmina Burana.
Workshop 1: Saturday, June 6th, 2-4pm (Soprano and Alto parts only).
Workshop 2: Saturday, June 13th, 2-4pm (Tenor and Bass parts only)
Online booking £10 (+booking fee)
Pay on the door (£12.50)
June 27th 2026
Come & Sing
Carmina Burana
Carmina Burana has proved enduringly popular since it's hugely successful first performance at the Oper Frankfurt on the 8th June, 1937, opening with the rousing 'O Fortuna". Carl Orff's cantata is based upon a series of earthy German medieval songs and poems.
Rehearse and perform parts of this wonderful, exiliarating choral piece with Cantiones choir and conductor Tony Coupe.
The Fugitives
July 9th
8pm
“Despite their all-acoustic lineup, the Fugitives bring enough energy to the stage to light up a small city…...The East Van quartet conjures up a sound that’s like the missing link between Leonard Cohen, the Pogues, and the immortal Shorty Shitstain.”
— Georgia Straight
A Canadian folk staple, The Fugitives were formed in 2005 and are releasing their 7th album in 2026. They’ve been nominated for a JUNO, as well as 7 Canadian Folk Music Awards, including Best Vocal Group, Best Ensemble, and Best Songwriter. Having toured heavily across Canada, the UK, and the EU for two decades, they’ve been awarded the Best Folk Album of the Year by the German Music Critics’ Association, performed at Glastonbury, and most major folk festivals across Canada. They’ve also branched out into theatre with their show, Ridge, which was a 2020 Globe & Mail “Top Arts Pick of the Year” and has toured to 50 theatres across Canada. They have earned a reputation for unforgettable live shows, brimming with complex harmonies, infectious storytelling and top-notch musicianship. As the CBC has it: “This show is simply brilliant.”
Alive With Wings
July 11th
7.30 pm
Singer songwriter, artist and nature writer Jo Jukes has been working with drummer, percussionist Rick Wilson (The Work, Family Fodder) for four years and together they have produced three albums under their names. Now working on a fourth ‘Nest Material’ they are joined by saxophonist Niall Ross (Grand Union Orchestra, Triosh) and bassist Richard Yale (Dead Can Dance) to form a new band ‘Alive With Wings'.
Described in an interview with Aldora Britain Records as ‘old world folk with a progressive undercurrent, with songs that seek to shine light on musical spaces that have been left in the shade’. If they are still to be called folk, then they're ‘disobedient folk’.
Remi Harris & Roger Keenan
July 25th
7.30pm
An evening at the opera!
Saturday, August 1st at 7.30pm
Much loved music from the operatic repertoire will be performed at Hermon Chapel by three young 'up and coming' singers, accompanied on the piano by Stephen Owens and backed by the newly formed Hermon Singers!
Juliet Montgomery
Soprano
Juliet Montgomery has performed with Glyndebourne, Scottish Opera, Opera Holland Park, Buxton Opera, Opera North and the National Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company. Her recent engagements include performing the role of Despina in Così fan tutte (Opera Holland Park Young Artist Programme), Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana (Occento Choir & Orchestra), Orpheus and Eurydice at the Edinburgh International Festival (Scottish Opera/ Opera Australia) and will be joining Blackpool Symphony Orchestra as the soprano soloist in Mahler’s Symphony No. 4.
http://www.julietmontgomerysoprano.com/
Jamie Formoy
Tenor
Wiltshire based Tenor Jamie Formoy completed his MMus at the Royal Northern College of Music. Jamie was part of British Youth Opera’s Serena Fenwick Programme and covered the title role in their production of Peter Grimes. This year Jamie joined the Welsh National Opera chorus for their production of The Flying Dutchman and made his role debut singing Trin in La Fanciulla del West for Opera Holland Park. In recent years he has also performed Adolfo Pirelli (Sweeney Todd), Normanno (Lucia di Lammermoor), Tinca, Song Seller (Il Tabarro), First Armed Man and Second Priest (Magic Flute).
Samuel Snowden
Baritone
Samuel Snowden is a Welsh Baritone who graduated with a Distinction MMus from the Royal Northern College of Music . Recent credits include as soloist with Welsh National Opera's in Candide and Puccini’s Tosca (Sciarrone/ cover), Jim Larkens in La fanciulla del West (2026) and Doctor Bartolo: Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia at Opera Holland Park. . Samuel’s other operatic credits include Masetto (Don Giovanni: Mozart - Cumbria Opera Group), Court Usher (Rigoletto: Verdi - Opera Holland Park), Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro: Mozart – RNCM Opera). Samuel is also a local singing and piano teacher, working as a peripatetic at Oswestry School
Steve Owens
Pianist
Steve performed initially in the classical musical arena as pianist and orchestral percussionist before diversifying into Music Theatre. He was for many years a Music Director in the West End notably with the shows Grease and Footloose. He has toured extensively nationally and internationally with different theatre companies. He was MD for the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford and London and played piano in the first cast production recording of 'Matilda'. He now teaches music and piano in Shrewsbury and Oswestry and co-runs Hermon Arts Ltd with his wife Sarah.
Iago Banet
August 16th at 4.30pm
Solo recital
Iago is a Spanish virtuoso guitarist, based in the UK. He is currently touring his third album. He has recently appeared on BBC Radio 3 In Tune twice, - "a master of guitar" (Sean Rafferty) and also featured on BBC Radio 2's The Blues Show with Cerys Matthews. He has performed with Jethro Tull, Josh Smith (Joe Bonamassa), Mark Flanagan (Jools Holland and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra), Jack Broadbent and Clive Carroll, amongst others.
Jazz
Ben Creighton Griffiths
Jazz & Classical Harpist
18th September
7.30pm
Ben has had an extensive international presence on the concert platform since the age of 7, winning numerous awards at national and international competitions and touring as a classical and jazz harpist.
“A true virtuoso on the instrument” - The Jazz Mann
“Harp sensation” - Nation Cymru
“The musicianship on this is off the scale” - Adam Walton, BBC Wales Introducing
To find out more about Ben's amazing career to date, go to https://www.bjcg.co.uk/
He will be performing with his jazz trio with Benedict Stephens (Bass) & Joseph Van Parys (Guitar).
Lights Out event
Belinda O'Hooley
Belinda O’Hooley is an acclaimed pianist, singer, songwriter and composer celebrated for her expressive and distinctive musicality. Best known as one half of O’Hooley & Tidow, with her wife Heidi Tidow, she has been nominated four times for the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. The duo’s song “Gentleman Jack” found international recognition as the theme for the BBC/HBO drama of the same name.
Her piano playing – elegant, inventive, and emotionally charged has made her a sought-after collaborator with artists including Rufus Wainwright, Nic Jones, Sophie B Hawkins, Jackie Oates, and Rachel Unthank & The Winterset, with whom she received a Mercury Prize nomination.Belinda’s artistry also extends to acting, most recently in her role as DCS Liz Thornton in the BAFTA-winning drama Happy Valley.“Exquisite” ★★★★★ – The Guardian“Dense, complex, beautifully performed.” ★★★★ – Songlines
Piano duet recital
September 20th
4.30pm
Simone Daminian & Arthur Bocaneanu join forces to play piano duets which will include Bartok's Romanian Folk Dances Sz.56 and Schubert's Fantasy in F minor D.940
Tickets on sale soon!
Arthur Bocaneanu
Simone Damiani