Jerwood Glyndebourne Young Singers
Your chance to talent-scout the opera stars of tomorrow, as exceptional young singers from this summer’s Glyndebourne Festival Chorus step out into the limelight to perform popular operatic extracts.
MarianaFernandes, Soprano
Rachel Roper, Mezzo Soprano
Matthew McKinney, Tenor
Charles Cunliffe, Bass - baritone
Daniel Vening, Bass
The Jerwood Young Artist Programme is supported by Jerwood Foundation
Mariana Fernandes
Soprano
Mariana is a Portuguese soprano currently on the opera programme at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama under the tutelage of Marilyn Rees. In 2022, Mariana performed the role of Jody in I. Aboulker’s Jeremy Fisher at the OperaFest Lisboa. Mariana was a chorus member for West Green House Opera 2023 Festival, performing in Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci, and returned in 2024 portraying Sour Dolcina in Suor Angelica. At GSMD, Mariana has performed scenes from La rondine, Arabella, Don Giovanni, Eugene Onegin and L'enfant prodigue, and the roles of Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, and Aunt Norris in Dove’s Mansfield Park. Concert highlights include Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle, Mendelsohnn’s Elijah, Beethoven’s 9th Sympnohy, and recitals for LSO Discovery Days.
Recent competition successes include 2024 Susan Longfield Award and the 2024 Worshipful Company of Chartered Surveyors Vocal Prize, finalist in the 69th Kathleen Ferrier Awards and the Concurso Internacional de Canto Lírico de Lousada. Mariana’s studies are kindly supported by the C & P Young Scholarship.
Rachel Roper
Mezzo Soprano
Rachel Roper trained on the Opera Course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama under John Llewelyn Evans. She is the winner of the 2022 MOCSA Young Welsh Singer of the Year competition, a recipient of the Marianne Falk Award, and the Joyce Budd Second Prize at the Kathleen Ferrier Society Bursary for Young Singers.
Rachel’s operatic highlights include Mistress Ford in Sir John in Love (British Youth Opera), Ottavia in L’incoronazione di Poppea, and Berthe in Blond Eckbert (Guildhall Opera). She has also created roles such as Dorotea in Stephen McNeff’s A Star Next to the Moon and Jewish Child in Noah Max’s A Child in Striped Pyjamas.
As a concert soloist, Rachel has performed Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s C Minor Mass, and Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle. A passionate recitalist, she regularly collaborates with pianist Claire Habbershaw.
Matthew McKinney
Tenor
Charles Cunliffe
Bass - baritone
Daniel Verning
Bass
Daniel Vening, a Bass from Newcastle upon Tyne, completed his Bachelors and Masters degrees at the Royal Academy of Music and is now in his final year with Royal Academy Opera, studying with Mark Wildman and Iain Ledingham.
In 2024 Daniel made his BBC Proms debut as Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Garsington Opera. Previous appearances as an Alvarez Young Artist for Garsington Opera include Lackey in Ariadne auf Naxos, Mícha in The Bartered Bride (OperaFirst Performance) and chorus in their 2022, 2023 and 2024 seasons. Daniel was awarded the Graham Clark award in 2023.
For RAO Daniel has performed the roles of Re di Scozia in Ariodante, Portrait in Martinů’s Twice Alexander, Betto in Gianni Schicchi, Snug in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and in March 2025, Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte. While at the Academy, Daniel was generously supported by the Countess of Munster Trust.
Recent competition successes include Neue Stimmen 2024 semi finalist, Winner of the 2023 Lewis Memorial Prize, Winner of the Audience Prize in the Richard Lewis Competition and Winner of the David Clover Festival of Singing in 2023.
