Our Ensemble
Victoria Stilwell
Soprano
Stella Bracegirdle
Mezzo-soprano
Dom
Wallis
Tenor
George Salmon
Bass
Victoria’s career began with an eight year tenure in the Derby Cathedral Girls Choir, during which time she performed and toured on a regular basis at venues within the UK and Europe, as well as recording two choral albums.
Upon achieving a Bachelor’s degree in Popular Music Performance at London’s VocalTech, Victoria moved to Australia, where she spent three years performing with the Sydney Philharmonia Chamber Singers in Sydney Opera House. Alongside her regular performances, she worked as head singing teacher for Bright Sparks Singing and Drama School, teaching classes and workshops to children.
After moving back to the UK, Victoria spent two years as choral scholar for St John at Hackney, where she met her fellow Sonare founders. She now works as part of the professional quintet at the Church of the Annunciation, Marble Arch, and owns a thriving online voice studio for pupils of all ages and abilities.
Victoria also works as a singer-songwriter for several media libraries, and her music has been used across the world, from Southeast Asia, to South Africa and New Zealand.
Stella has been singing as a soloist and within ensembles since the age of 6, joining her first choir during primary school. She graduated with a Bachelor of Music from the University of Sheffield in 2019, specialising in vocal performance and composition. Engagements during her time in Sheffield included tours to Dublin and Cologne, numerous services at Sheffield Cathedral, and a collaboration in 2016 between Sheffield University Chamber Choir and English Touring Opera on Bach’s St John Passion.
Since graduating, Stella has obtained a Masters Degree in Composition from Goldsmith’s University and has become a member of the BBC Symphony Chorus, giving performances at the Barbican and the Royal Albert Hall during the Proms broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. She is a regular deputy at many churches across London for Choral Eucharist and Evensong. She recently premiered a composition with Sonare as part of Maestra: 900 Years of Female Composers. “This is No Place of Honour” was composed by Stella during the pandemic, and is a setting of words from a scientific report on long-term nuclear waste warning messages.
Dom is a specialist consort singer, with a particular love of one-per-part a cappella singing. His favourite composers range from Monteverdi to Caroline Shaw, particularly enjoying the expressive corners of the repertoire which tell a story through their music. He is currently a Lay Clerk at Ely Cathedral, where he performs choral evensong on a near-daily basis.
Dom's professional career started as a Choral Scholar at York Minster. He then worked as a tenor Lay Clerk at Clare College, during his Masters studies at the University of Cambridge. Other notable career highlights include tours of the UK, Iceland, Denmark, Germany and Israel. He has also enjoyed success as a recording artist, with broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 and 4, and has performed on a CD of previously unrecorded Palestrina. Dom's discography also includes CDs of American and Icelandic music - in the former appearing as a soloist alongside Iestyn Davies. A keen recitalist and opera singer, Dom's most recent role was the tenor lead in "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" by Michael Nyman. As well as performing, Dom also enjoys teaching and appears as a vocal coach on summer singing courses.
George has been playing music since the age of 3, when he began learning the violin. He studied Music at the University of Birmingham, specialising in conducting, before going on to obtain a Masters Degree in Conducting from the University of Surrey, achieving Distinction.
George came to singing comparatively late, taking it up in at the age of 24, after discovering a talent for it while preparing to conduct a performance of Puccini’s Tosca. Since then, he has gained a wealth of choral and solo experience, including roles in La Bohème, Rigoletto and as Henry VIII in Try Me Good King, a new opera premiered at the Queen’s House in Greenwich in 2023.
Alongside singing, George is serving as Musical Director of Sittingbourne Orpheus Choral Society, Phoenix Choir of Crawley, the Chorus of Our Lady of Lourdes, Lee and the London Philanthropic Orchestra. The latter was founded by George in 2018, and since its inception has raised thousands of pounds for a range of different charities.
Our Story
Our four original members met as choral scholars at the Church of St John at Hackney in London. In 2021, as we all emerged from lock-downs, we formed the quartet as a performance outlet in the uncertain world Covid had left us with.
Since then, we have put on three highly successful concert tours, performing in venues all over the Southeast of England, and released our debut album, "My Spirit Sang All Day". We pride ourselves on the exciting variety of composers whose music we sing: from big names like Mozart and Elgar, to 11th century German nuns, Scandinavian folksong arrangers and anything in between.
We are united by our love for the repertoire we sing, and the expressive approach we bring to it. As just four voices singing unaccompanied, we are able to really communicate the text of each piece and its meaning, and we strive for a degree of personal connection that is unique to our small ensemble.