Debra Skeen (Soprano)

On leaving the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow with a BA in Musical Performance and a diploma in Operatic Studies, Debra was invited to sing with the Ambrosian Opera Chorus in London recording the great works with leading conductors and orchestras of the day. There were many appearances on Friday Night is Music Night on BBC Radio Two with the Ambrosian Singers, the Nigel Brooks Singers, the John McCarthy singers and the Maida Vale Singers.

Extensive work abroad has included Operas and Concerts in Dortmund, Zurich, Munich, Berlin, Luxembourg, Venice, Japan and Jerusalem. Debra also appeared in the opera, The Blackened Man, by Will Todd at the Buxton Festival.

As a renowned oratorio specialist her repertoire includes The Creation (Haydn), The Messiah (Handel), Nelson Mass (Haydn), Petite Messe Solenelle (Rossini), Carmina Burana (Orff) and the requiems of Faure, Brahms and Mozart. Her operatic roles include Susanna (Marriage of Figaro),  Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Queen of the Night (Magic Flute), Norina (Don Pasquale), Olympia (Tales of Hoffman), Despina (Cosi fan tutte) and Micaela (Carmen).

With the professional Anglo-Spanish choir, Coro Cervantes, Debra has performed in Spain, Mexico and Russia. She was featured soloist on their first CD O Crux (which was voted Gramophone's Critics' Choice of the Year). The choir celebrated its 10th anniversary in June 2006 by giving a concert at the Wigmore Hall and in 2008 she was featured soloist with the choir at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.   As a session singer, Debra has recorded vocals for film soundtracks, CD library music, launch music for car companies, an Ice Show for Alton towers and radio jingles.  She was featured soloist during the opening and closing ceremonies for the Commonwealth Games in Manchester with music especially written by Julian Scott for the occasion. She also recorded the vocals for the Beijing Olympic Torch Ceremony in London. 

Maria Jagusz (Mezzo Soprano)

Prior to embarking on a career in singing Maria trained as a dancer at the Marian Jepson School of Dance then, as a mezzo-soprano, she studied at the Royal Northern College of Music (where she won the Ricardi Prize for Opera) and subsequently at the National Opera Studio.

She has sung in principal roles for most of the major opera companies in the UK including the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Opera North, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Scottish Opera, Opera Northern Ireland, New Sadlers Wells Opera and Travelling Opera.  Outside the UK Maria has sung for Opera de Lyon and Opera Montpelier, Teatro Nacional Sao Carlos, Lisbon, the Singapore Lyric Theatre and the Manael Theatre, Malta.  Maria has sung with many international artists including Carreras, Domingo, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Mirella Freni. Her numerous operatic roles have included Carmen (Carmen), Cherubino (Figaro), Dimitri (Fedora), Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus), Hansel (Hansel & Gretel), Puck (Oberon), and Smeraldina (Love of Three Oranges).

As well as an international career as a singer, Maria has also taught movement at the Royal Northern College of Music, has been a singing tutor at London College of Music, a guest tutor at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and an adjudicator at the Birmingham Conservatoire.

More recently Maria has undertaken educational projects for most of the leading UK opera companies and has had considerable success in coaching young singers prior to their auditions for music colleges and conservatoires.

She has been a chorus director for a number of Longborough Festival Opera productions and has directed numerous community opera and music theatre productions. In 2009 she is directing La Boheme for Longborough Festival Opera.