Lunchtime Concerts

Tuesdays at 12.30pm - Free entry with retiring collection

Songs of life and loss - Schubert, Debussy, Butterworth, Vaughan Williams, Mussorgsky

Chris Murphy, baritone & Izzy Mohan, piano. Tuesday 7th October 2025, 12.30pm

Chris Murphy is a London based classical baritone. Chris studied for a BA in Music at the University of York and is currently under the tutelage of Gary Coward. After York Chris moved to Oxford to sing as a lay clerk at Magdalen College and Christ Church Cathedral. In 2022 Chris left the back row of Christ Church Cathedral to pursue a career as a soloist.

Operatic roles have included Don Magnifico in Rossini's Cenerentola (HGO) Tom in Verdi's A masked ball (Opera on Location) Falke in J. Strauss' Die Fledermaus ((SPO) Sleep in Purcell’s ‘Fairy Queen’ (HGO) Tsar Dodson in Rimsky-Korsakov’s ‘Golden Cockerel’ (Orchestra Vox), Sam in Bernstein’s ‘Trouble in Tahiti’ (Cumbria Opera Group), Leporello in Mozart’s ‘Don Giovanni’ (Orchestra Vox), Junius in Britten’s ‘Rape of Lucretia’ (Aspect Opera), and Ariodate in Hansel’s ‘Xerxes’ (New Chamber Opera).

Beyond operatic performances, Chris has been sought after for solo engagements, including the John Passion with Christ Church Cathedral Oxford and Wye Choral Society, Faure Requiem with Farnham and Bourne Choral Society, and Duruflé’s Requiem with Sussex Chorus. Chris also sings with a number of choral groups and teaches singing to children of all ages.

Izzy Mohan is a British/Spanish pianist, conductor, and singer based in London. She is the Director of Music at St Mary’s, Harrow-on-the-Hill, and has a busy studio of private students learning piano, singing, and music theory. Izzy is in demand as a collaborative pianist and has recently performed at the Royal Festival Hall, the Austrian Cultural Forum, and Oxford International Song Festival. She has also appeared as a soloist and chamber pianist with the Southbank Sinfonia. Izzy is the pianist-in-residence at St John the Baptist, Holland Road where she runs a flourishing recital series. She also holds an alto choral scholarship with the Christopher Wood Choral Foundation based at St Mary le Strand.

Izzy’s musical career began as a chorister at Chester Cathedral. She subsequently attended Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester before reading Music at the University of Oxford. Izzy has since established herself in London and is currently undergoing an MMus at the Royal Academy of Music supported by the Ruth Harte Scholarship. Izzy studies Collaborative Piano with James Baillieu and Joseph Middleton, and has been awarded a Second Study in Singing under Alex Ashworth.

The Great Bear Ensemble - Tuesday 21st October 2025, 12.30pm

Corelli, Krieger, Castello, Uccellini,

The Great Bear Ensemble

Formed in 2024, The Great Bear Ensemble is an up and coming historical chamber group based in London. The ensemble takes its name from G. F. Handel, whose gruff temperament and imposing stature earned him the nickname “the Great Bear.” TGBE actively performs both at home and abroad, with recent recitals at Danny House, the Royal College of Music Museum, and the Prangins Baroque festival in Switzerland. Recent projects have focused on Austro-German and Italian music ca. 1650–1700, including efforts to make the first-ever recording of Erlebach’s Sonata in A major with a second violin in place of the viola da gamba.

The ensemble is committed to presenting the results of original research on the concert stage. TGBE embraces the performer-led nature of the HIP movement, along with the notion that performance practice has been at least as important for making sense of texts, images, and instruments as the other way round.