Occupation: Linguistic consultant working for a charity in Africa. I've also been involved in Bible translation and Maths teaching.
Home:
Chad/Hampstead Garden Suburb
Where did you start singing? Sang solos in church as a child and in the school choir, sang and played in an early music group as a teenager.
Favourite piece of choral music: The Messiah
Favourite composer: Bach
Favourite singer: no-one in particular – tenors or 4-part quartets
Favourite CML concert: Evensong at St Barts the Great (partly because of the setting)
Hobbies and pastimes: playing and listening to music, cartoon drawing, Japanese puzzles, designing cross stitch, making friends with people from different cultures.
Sebastian Borger
Voice: Bass/baritone
Nationality: German
Occupation: London correspondent for newspapers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland
Home: Harringey, North London
Where did you start singing? At home with my parents and sisters
Favourite piece of choral music: St Matthew Passion
Favourite composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Favourite singer: The Baritone Christian Gerhaher
Favourite CML concert: B-minor Mass in St James’s, Piccadilly
Hobbies and pastimes: Playing football in Finsbury Park with my wife, two sons and lots of neighbours, both parents and children
Mary Verdult
Voice: Alto I
Nationality: British
Occupation: Translator
Home: Brussels
Where did you start singing? I had singing lessons when I was at school and sang twice in the (primary) school opera – my big part was Electra, Goddess of Light in "The Magic Ruby", sadly no opera parts since, though I did tour Europe with Jimmy (James) MacMillan and the catholic chaplaincy choir of Edinburgh University in 1980. Since then, I've sung in various big choirs in Germany and Switzerland, the Brussels Choral Society, and now CML.
Favourite piece of choral music: Anything by Whitacre
Favourite composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Favourite singer: Matti Salminen
Favourite CML concert: May 2009, Latin American music
Hobbies and pastimes: Politics, books, culture, learning new languages
Barry Creasy
Voice: Bass
Nationality: British
Occupation: Consultant, evaluator, researcher and cultural analyst
Home: Kilburn, London
Where did you start singing? I have sung since I was first a choirboy, aged 9, at school in York.
