Anastassia Rakitianskaia began singing at an early age, and became well-versed in historic and contemporary choral music, as well as in the repertoire of the Russian Orthodox Church. She studied with noted South African sopranos Deirdre Blignaut and Isabella Eksteen, and, following on her passion for Early Music, went on to perform with Ensemble Fons Partita and founded her own chamber group, Dorian Consort. Since moving to Dublin in 2018 she has been singing in the Russian Orthodox Church in Harold’s Cross, as well as with New Dublin Voices and Cuore Chamber Choir. She is currently enrolled in classical vocal studies at the TU Dublin conservatory.
Theresa Burton studied singing in the Junior Department of the Royal Academy of Music with Jane Highfield during her teenage years, and has participated in workshops and masterclasses with Evelyn Tubb and Jill Feldman. She has sung with Pasadena All Saints episcopal church choir, Bartholomew Consort, Calton Consort Edinburgh and award-winning Irish choirs Mornington Singers and Cuore. She studied recorder in the Early Music faculty at Utrecht Conservatorium, with the Nuffic Scholarship. As a recorder player she regularly gives performances in Ireland and abroad, including the Hugh Lane Gallery sundays@noon, Utrecht Early Music Festival Fringe, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Vredenburg concert series, Kaleidoscopenight, and the Irish Georgian Society. Theresa plays regularly in Ensemble Chant21, and in Ensemble Revelare with soprano Aisling Kenny.
Cathal Twomey has sung with the Charles Wood Singers, the Irish Youth Choir, the Irish Youth Chamber Choir, and the Maynooth University Chamber Choir. They are currently engaged in PHD research on the English-language vocal music Handel at Maynooth University, funded by the Hume Doctoral Fellowship. Their keen interest in early music encompasses a wide range of topics from the tenth to the eighteenth centuries, including historically informed pronunciation and the linguistics of song. Cathal is co-director of music at St. Stephen’s ‘Pepper Canister’ church, and conductor of the Maynooth University Early Music Vocal Ensemble, as well as a freelance arranger and editor.
Joost Slingerland was born in The Netherlands. He studied recorder from 1995 to 1998 at Utrecht Conservatory of Music, The Netherlands with Leo Meilink and Reine Marie Verhagen. From 1998, Joost pursued a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics in Amsterdam, and during that time started singing in a local choir ‘Canticum Anglicum’, specialized in English-language music. He subsequently moved to research positions and choirs in Scotland, the American west coast, and then Ireland, and is now a lecturer for Theoretical Physics in Maynooth. Joost performs regularly as a recorder player and choral singer and has sung with award-winning choirs Mornington Singers and Cuore. Joost has also composed several choral works.