Carole Miles-Kingston accompanied by Paul Miles-Kingston
Carole Miles-Kingston has sung since early childhood and gave her first solo public performance at the age of 4. She has consistently won many competitions and musical festivals. She attended the Corona Academy stage school and was a finalist in the Dame Maggie Teyte competition at the London Opera Centre when she was twenty. She completed her studies as a mezzo soprano at the Guildhall School of Music with the well known opera singer and composer Margaret Lensky-Rizza. Her musical interests are very wide. From early engagements with the Canal Street Jazzmen, she has sung as a solo artist in oratorio including the Messiah (Handel), Elijah (Mendelssohn), the Stabat Mater (Bononcini), the Christmas Oratorio (Bach) and the Missa Brevis in D (Mozart). She has taken leading roles in many operettas and her concert work has included song cycles by Schumann and Brahms. She regularly performs as a solo artist at venues in the South of England. Recently she was the jazz soloist at a large concert in Nether Wallop attended by over 350 people. In 2010 she gave a recital in Winchester Cathedral with her son Paul as piano accompanist. Her recent recording (A Dedication) made for Priory Records (profits to Cancer Research UK) has already raised over £4000 for the charity.
Paul Miles-Kingston began his musical training as a chorister at Winchester Cathedral. As Head Chorister in 1985, he was chosen to be the treble soloist on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘Requiem’ album, which went platinum, selling over half a million copies and winning a Grammy award in 1986. He performed this role at the world premiere of the work at St.Thomas’, Fifth Avenue, New York with Placido Domingo and Sarah Brightman, conducted by Lorin Maazel. Following on from this, Paul continued to perform as a soloist in many major concert venues around the world, including the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Barbican, St James Cathedral, Chicago and Verona Amphitheatre. He appeared in many television and radio broadcasts, including a Royal Variety performance and recorded a solo album for EMI.
Paul continued his education at Cranleigh School in Surrey, where he was a Music Scholar. He then went up to Durham University, where he was a Bass Choral Scholar at the Cathedral, graduating in music and achieving a first in his finals recital as a keyboardist. At the start of his professional career, Paul pursued an active career as a Bass, working as an oratorio soloist and consort singer. He was contracted as a Songman at York Minster from 1994-1998 and later as a Bass Lay Clerk at Christ Church, Oxford from 1998-2002. Paul was a founder member of ‘The Clerks of Christ Church’ in 2000 and can be seen singing with this group in Howard Goodall’s Bafta award-winning ‘Big Bangs’ and ‘Great Dates’ series for Channel 4. Paul has sung with many other consort groups including the Scottish Early Music Consort and Voces Sacrae. Paul was awarded an LRSM diploma in singing teaching in 2000 and has worked extensively as a voice coach, specialising in training children’s voices.
In 2002 Paul decided to pursue his interest in education full time and he became Director of Music at Christ Church Cathedral School, Oxford, a post he held until he took up the position of Assistant Director of Music at St Peter’s, York in September 2006. Paul was asked to give a lecture last year at the Royal College of Music on children’s voicecraft, and he completed a research degree at the University of York, entitled ‘Training Boys to Sing’ in 2009. He is now Director of Music at St Peter’s, York.
Thank You to all who made the 'Music in the City' 2011 festival held during the
1st - 9th of October 2011 such a success.
We will once again be back by popular demand in 2012, bringing you the very best music in Southampton. Music in the City began with the simple idea of making more of the music made and performed in Southampton. There is a huge wealth of musical talent in this city, so what better way to celebrate, than to bring you over 100 acts across 10 amazing venues including the Vaults, Bargate, Holyrood Church and City Art Gallery.
With music represented from every genre there is something in our programme for all musical tastes from classical to jazz and raga to indie; and most of it is free!
We have some exciting plans for 2012's event so keep an eye out for further information...
Photo by Marc Jaytin
Details of the 2012 Music in the City event will be coming later this year.