Jerwood Young Artists

Mariana Fernandes is a soprano from Almada, Portugal. She studied on the Opera Course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama under Marilyn Rees. She has already earned several awards, including the 2024 Susan Longfield Award. She made her professional debut at OperaFest Lisboa, performing the role of Jody in I. Aboulker’s Jeremy Fisher. She is also a Josephine Baker Trust singer and a recipient of the C&P Young Scholarship.

Rachel Roper is a mezzo soprano who 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. She has performed with the Glyndebourne Chorus, returning in 2025 as a Jerwood Young Artist. A passionate recitalist, she regularly collaborates with pianist Claire Habbershaw.

Scottish tenor Matthew McKinney is the winner of the 2024 Kathleen Ferrier Award. He performed as a member of the Glyndebourne chorus during the 2024 Festival, before joining English Touring Opera for its Autumn tour, where he performed Beethoven’s An Die Ferne Geliebte as part of the newly compiled work Do Not Take My Story for a Fairy Tale. He is a graduate of The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where he was supported by several scholarships including theJohn Mather Rising Star scholarship and the Help Musicians (Ian Fleming) Award. Alongside his career as a soloist, Matthew has a passion for community music and music outreach. Over the years he has enjoyed conducting community choirs, touring new opera for children and helping to run interactive music workshops for toddlers.

Charles Cunliffe is a baritone who has recently graduated from the Royal Academy of Music Opera School, where he studied with Giles Underwood and Joseph Middleton. Charles began singing as a chorister at Peterborough Cathedral, where he later rejoined as a choral scholar. In 2023 he won the Leeds Lieder / Schubert Institute UK Song Prize. Also during his time at RAM, he was awarded the Silver Medal by The Musicians’ Company. In January 2023 he performed Richard Strauss’ ‘Letzte Blätter’ at Wigmore Hall. He was a member of the Glyndebourne Chorus during the 2024 Festival and Autumn season. At the end of the latter he was awarded the Wessex Award by the Wessex Glyndebourne Association.

Daniel Vening (bass) is a current member of Royal Academy Opera under the tutelage of Mark Wildman and Iain Ledingham. He previously graduated from the Royal Academy of Music’s BMus course with First Class Honours and MA course with Distinction. He has performed for Garsington Opera (where he was awarded the Graham Clark award) and Royal Academy Opera and in autumn 2024 made his BBC Proms debut, singing the role of Bottom in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Competition successes includes Neue Stimmen 2024 Final Round, the Lewis Memorial Prize and the 2023 David Clover Festival of Singing, where he was the winner of the Recital Prize, among other awards.