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Teesside is a great place for musical talent, and to prove it we are bring together three great singers, well known in the area, to entertain us.
The three solists will be accompanied by two exceptionally talented musicians in their own right, but who hail from outside the area, and who, therefore, are in for a treat themselves when they visit in person.
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Picture courtesy of The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
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Internationally renowned opera singer.
Julian Tovey
Julian Tovey is a British baritone whose varied and international career spans opera, concert, musical theatre, and education. Born in North Yorkshire and brought up in Nunthorpe, he studied Law and Modern History at Exeter College, Oxford, followed by postgraduate research in Cultural History at the University of St Andrews. He later trained as a singer at the RNCM, Manchester and with Anna Reynolds in Germany.
A voice teacher at the RCS for over a decade, his students have won major awards and perform with top opera companies worldwide. His teaching draws on extensive stage experience and emphasises the technical and psychological foundations of expressive, enduring vocal artistry.
His brother Wade is well known around Nunthorpe. Their mother Pat, was a member of the St Mary's Church Choir for many years.
Julian will be accompanied by Stephen Robertson (see below)
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Rising star
Charlotte Potter
Born in 2000 in North Yorkshire, Charlotte is rapidly gaining the highest acclaim for her performances in the UK and overseas. Charlotte is a recent graduate of The Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, having previously attended the prestigious Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester.
Charlotte has sung with the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain and has participated in the Samling Academy, and has been fortunate to sing in some amazing venues, including The Sage, the Royal Festival Hall, Bridgewater Hall, Durham Cathedral, Birmingham Symphony Hall and the Royal Albert Hall. In 2017, Charlotte was honoured to be invited to sing at Westminster’s Central Hall, London, and 2018 saw her singing at the Proms in the Priory, Guisborough, with the London Gala Orchestra.
Charlotte has performed solos with a range of vocal ensembles including the Chetham’s Chamber Choir, Chetham’s Vocal Department, Durham Singers, Honley MVC, and in 2019 she was invited, by Chesterfield Philharmonic Choir, to sing with Lesley Garrett. Further afield, Charlotte has been invited for four summers to perform a number of recitals in Bagni di Lucca, Italy, including one with pianist Stefano Teani.
In spring 2020 Charlotte appeared in ITV’s Endeavour, playing the role of an Oxford University Music undergraduate. In 2022, Charlotte was part of a SATB small ensemble recording of 'A Song for the Commonwealth' that was heard around the UK and Commonwealth as the beacons were lit in celebration of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. In autumn 2024, Charlotte was featured on the soundtrack of the BBC Documentary, Cumbria's Red Squirrels.
Charlotte has had the great honour of joining the Band of the Royal Fusiliers at Durham Cathedral as their soloist for the Festival of Remembrance for the last 4 years, and is looking forward to joining them again for the 2026 Festival. Discover Film with Craghoppers hosted their awards evening on London's Embankment in September 2023 & 24 where Charlotte performed. Charlotte has been the principal soloist at The Great North Proms held at the O2 City Hall, Newcastle in for the last three years. In June 2024, Charlotte was invited to perform with Ripon City Band at Ripon Cathedral to commemorate the 80th Anniversary of D-Day, and May 2025 saw her performing again at Ripon Cathedral for the VE Day 80 celebrations and Festival of Remembrance in November.
With her natural modesty, Charlotte omits mentioning her two appearances with Guisborough Choral Society, and singing carols to raise money for charity, on a chilly night round the streets of Guisborough last year!
Charlotte will be accompanied by Nurry Lee (see below)
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Locally trained
Robert Nash
Rob comes from a family of singers and has sung, both in choirs and as a soloist, for as long as he can remember. At the age of 8 Rob joined his local church choir and quickly progressed to earn his Bishop’s Chorister Award at Wakefield Cathedral. At the age of 15 he joined the National Youth Choir and was a founding member of the National Youth Chamber Choir. Whilst at University in Canterbury, Rob took the lead roles in Mozart’s ‘Marriage of Figaro’ and Purcell’s ‘Dido and Aeneas’ under the baton of Benjamin Luxon CBE.
Locally, Rob trained with renowned singing teacher Zuilmah Hopkins of Great Ayton, before taking up the more secure profession of teaching. After leaving Highcliffe Primary School, where he ran a very successful school choir for over fifteen years, Rob is still finding plenty of teaching work elsewhere.
He sings bass with, and is chairman of, Guisborough Choral Society [link], providing the odd baritone solo when required, including singing solos alongside Charlotte. He also sings with the Erimus Singers [Link], which we will hear on 18th July. For many years Rob was a member of the now defunct, Teesside based, Michelmas Singers who were one of the first choirs in the north of England specialising in choral works of the early renaissance.
Rob will be accompanied by Nurry Lee (see below)
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Picture courtesy of The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
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Accompanist to Julian Tovey.
Stephen Robertson
Stephen Eric Robertson currently works at the Research Dept, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Stephen does research in Teaching Methods, Speech and Language Pathology and Performing Arts. Their current project is 'The 'passaggio' zone and higher range in male classical singing.'
Stephen is also an excellent organist and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists.
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Accompanist to Charlotte Potter and Rob Nash.
Nurry Lee
Nurry Lee is a South Korean - British pianist who began studying the piano at the age of six with her mother. Three years later, she won her first concerto competition at the age of nine. She was offered a full scholarship and a Specialist place to study at Wells Cathedral School with the Head of Keyboard, John Byrne.
She completed her Undergraduate and Masters degrees at the Royal College of Music, studying with Professors Ian Jones, Sofya Gulyak and Dmitri Alexeev. During her time there, she was awarded the Milstein Award. She was accepted at the prestigious Korea National University of Arts in Seoul, where she worked with Professor Jinsang Lee. She completed her Artistic Diploma at the Royal Northern College of Music with the Head of Keyboard Graham Scott, where she was generously supported by FW Wright Piano Scholarship. She won first prize at the RNCM Chopin Competition. She won first prize of the Piano House International Piano Competition..
Praised as being a ‘wonderful pianist’ by Emanuel Ax, Nurry has performed all across Europe, USA, U.K., Asia and West Africa. She has played on BBC Radio 3 with her piano trio, Trio Rouge. She has toured internationally from Seoul, South Korea, Amsterdam, Hungary, Portugal, Italy, USA, Dubai, Singapore, U.K.
She recently made her debut concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City to a sold out audience. Nurry Lee is a Kawai Artist.
Nurry is absolutely phenomenal and in very high demand, so it’s very exciting that she is coming up for this concert. Nurry and Charlotte perform together most weekends in London so they are very used to performing with each other as a duo.
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