Judith Howarth recently sang Lady Macbeth for Grange Festival to critical acclaim and first came to public attention when she joined the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as a Principal aged twenty one. She has since performed leading roles world-wide and has sung with many distinguished conductors on the concert platform, with a discography of more than 30 recordings. In 2024 Judith sang Lady Billows Albert Herring for Opera North.
Last year, English-Japanese soprano Julia Mariko was born in the North East of England, and is now based in London. In 2023 she recorded Musetta in a new feature of Robin Norton-Hale’s Olivier award-winning production of La bohème and performed Virtue, covering Poppea/Drusilla, The Coronation of Poppea (English Touring Opera) and Shirley and Stella, covering Vera, The Land of Might Have Been (Buxton International Festival). In 2024 she covers Anne Truelove The Rake’s Progress and performs Lamplighter Manon Lescaut for ETO alongside their next Learning and Participation opera The Great Stink.