William Kendall (tenor) was born in London, the son of a naval ...

William Kendall (tenor) was born in London, the son of a naval architect. He was
educated at Betteshanger (now Northbourne Park) School, near Deal, and The King’s
School, Canterbury, where he received his musical training from the legendary Edred
Wright. He gained a Choral Scholarship to St John’s College, Cambridge, gaining an
upper Second in Music. After a year’s further study with Robert Tear at the Royal
College of Music he received further tuition with Sir Peter Pears and Helge Mott
He made his London debut with the Bach Choir at London’s Royal Festival Hall for
Sir William Walton’s 80 th Birthday Concert in 1981, and at the BBC Promenade
Concerts. He has performed regularly at all the major music festivals of Europe,
including at Salzburg, Holland, Innsbruck, Vienna, Amsterdam and Madrid.
He has sung at the Edinburgh Festival four times since 1993, including Glück’s
“Iphigenië auf Tauris” in 2003 and Wagner’s “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg” in
2006. He returned to the Téatre Réal in Madrid for a revival of the Glück in 2004.
William has enjoyed a long collaboration with the conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner,
for whom he has appeared in over 100 concerts and nine recordings, including the
Gramophone Magazine’s “Recording of the Year” award for the Monteverdi Choir
and English Baroque Soloists’ recording for Deutsche Grammophon of Beethoven’s
“Missa Solemnis”. He received high critical acclaim for his recording for Naxos of
Elgar’s “The Dream of Gerontius”, released in 1999; this was the first commercial
recording of the work for over thirty years.
Future projects include a return for the seventh year running in April 2008 to sing the
Passions of J. S. Bach for King’s College Choir, Cambridge, and the Academy of
Ancient Music, and also a tour of France with the Orchestre Lamoureux of Paris.
William has combined his professional career happily with that of membership of
Winchester Cathedral Choir for the last 32 years. His hobbies include classic
motorcycles, maps, torches and haute cuisine.
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Philip White-Jones (accompanist) was born in Liverpool where he was a chorister at
the Anglican Cathedral and a music scholar at Liverpool College. After further study
in piano, organ, French horn and composition at the Royal Northern College of
Music, Philip took up the position of Assistant Organist at Winchester College. From
there he moved to be Organ Scholar of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, during
which time he gained the Associateship and Fellowship diplomas of the Royal
College of Organists while studying for his bachelor’s degree in Music. He has held
the position of Assistant Organist at Winchester Cathedral and organist of St
Swithin’s School since 2003
He performs many organ recitals each year across the country including venues such
as St John’s College, Cambridge, Liverpool Cathedral, Liverpool Metropolitan
Cathedral, Chester Cathedral, Bath Abbey and in Gloucester as part of the Three
Choirs Festival.

He is much in demand as a continuo player, having worked with the Waynflete
Singers, Portsmouth Festival Choir, Romsey Choral Society and Southern Voices on
many occasions including performances of Bach’s B minor Mass, Handel’s Dixit
Dominus and Mozart’s C minor Mass.
Philip also works extensively as a piano accompanist with a particular focus on vocal
music. He has played Schubert’s Schwanengesang with Jimmy Holliday in
Winchester Cathedral and at Warwick Arts Centre and Britten’s canticle Abraham and
Isaac at the Newbury Festival with William Kendall and Tom Norrington, as well as
frequent appearances at the Hampshire Singer of the Year competition with a number
of soloists.
His CD recording work has included organ accompaniment, choral direction and
production with a discography focusing on late 19 th and early 20 th century English
choral music. Philip’s orchestral conducting engagements have included Bach’s St
Matthew Passion and Bernstein’s Candide at the Cambridge Arts Theatre.
In his spare time he enjoys fine food and wine, which he routinely combines with his
passion for cinema.
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