Esmond Cordingley-Poole

Singer, composer and director Esmond Cordingley-Poole is reading for a degree in History at The University of Oxford, where he holds a choral exhibition in the Choir of The Queen's College. Prior to coming to Oxford, he sung as a Choral Scholar at Guildford Cathedral, before focussing increasingly on solo singing, under the tuition of Penny Jenkins. He currently sings with London-based chamber choir, the Iken Scholars, and Theatron Oneiron. As a soloist, Esmond has sung for performances of Schütz’s The Seven Last Words from the Cross, in the role of Malefactor on the Right, Vaughan Williams’s Serenade to Music, Purcell’s Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day (with the Kent Sinfonia, conducted by Robert Dean), Purcell’s Welcome to all the Pleasures (for Benslow Baroque Opera), and Handel’s Messiah. Recent opera roles include Caronte and Spirito (Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo; Theatron Oneiron) and Shepherd, Huntsman and one of the three Graces (Blow’s Venus and Adonis; Benslow Baroque Opera). Esmond is the artistic director of Theatron Oneiron, an early opera and early music production company founded by current and former students of the University of Oxford. In 2016, he produced and was the artistic director for Theatron Oneiron’s production of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, having previously directed Cantanti di Monteverdi, a vocal quintet specialising in secular Italian Renaissance music. He has particular interests in opera and in early music and historically informed performance. He has received coaching in Baroque gesture and historical stagecraft from Dionysios Kyropoulos and Katerina Antonenko, and sung in early music masterclasses with Michael Fields, Steven Rickards, Robert Hammersley, and Nathan Medley. Esmond is also a composer, whose work has been performed by the BBC Singers. His recent works include a dramatic scene, Orpheus in Hades; a haiku setting, Over the Wintry Forest; and a piano sonata, Portraits of a Ballet of two Puppets.