Our Ensemble

Victoria Stilwell

Soprano

Stella Bracegirdle

Mezzo-soprano

Andrew Morton

Tenor

George Salmon

Baritone

Victoria is a specialist consort singer based in London, and is a co-founder of Sonare.

Recent soloist engagements include the premieres of two new operas - Serenoid by Robin Fiedler and All Rest by Simone Spagnolo - as well as Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Handel’s Messiah with Sittingbourne Orpheus Choral Society. Victoria sings weekly with the professional quintet at the Church of the Annunciation in Marble Arch, having completed scholarships with St James’ Piccadilly and St John at Hackney. Victoria also sings regularly as a guest with the London Philanthropic Orchestra, performing works such as Bach’s "Jauchzett Gott in allen Landen" and Delibes’ "Flower Duet".

She owns a thriving online voice studio for pupils of all ages and abilities, regularly coaching students for performances and exams. She also works as a singer-songwriter for several media libraries and dance music producers. Her music has been used in TV and film across the world from the UK to New Zealand.

Victoria’s life in singing began with an eight-year tenure in the Derby Cathedral Girls Choir, with whom she completed several European tours and recorded two choral albums. Upon achieving a Bachelor’s degree in Popular Music Performance, Victoria moved to Australia, where she spent three years performing with the Sydney Philharmonia Chamber Singers in Sydney Opera House, alongside her role as head singing teacher for BrightSparks Singing and Drama School.

Stella is an active singer and composer in London. She is a co-founder of Sonare.

Stella is a choral scholar with the Crown Court Church of Scotland in Covent Garden. She is a member of the Cantus Ensemble and the BBC Symphony Chorus, giving performances at the Barbican and the Royal Albert Hall during the Proms broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.

Stella premiered a composition with Sonare as part of Maestra: 900 Years of Female Composers. “This is No Place of Honour” was composed during the pandemic, and is a setting of words from a scientific report on long-term nuclear waste warning messages.

Stella graduated with a Bachelor of Music from the University of Sheffield in 2019, specialising in vocal performance and composition. Engagements during her time in Sheffield included tours to Dublin and Cologne, and a collaboration in 2016 between Sheffield University Chamber Choir and English Touring Opera on Bach’s St John Passion. Stella then went on to graduate with a Masters Degree in Composition from Goldsmith’s University in 2020. Whilst studying, Stella was a choral scholar at St John's Church in Hackney.

George is a Masters Vocal Studies student at Trinity Laban Conservatoire in London, where he is the recipient of the Morag Noble Scholarship, and is a co-founder of Sonare.

George began singing at the comparatively late age of 25, having initially studied as a violinist and conductor. He met his fellow Sonare founders during his tenure as a scholar at St John at Hackney. In 2024, he appeared as a soloist in the premiere of Simone Spagnolo’s All Rest at the Wanstead May Music Festival and in the UK premiere of Craig Hella Johnson’s ‘Considering Matthew Shepard’ with the Royal Leamington Spa Bach Choir.

George recently toured Northern Ireland as a soloist in Merry Opera’s staged production of Handel’s Messiah,and sang the title role in ‘Eugene Onegin’ in a collaboration between Trinity Laban and Welsh National Opera.

Outside of singing, George is the founder and Musical Director of the London Philanthropic Orchestra. The orchestra brings together musicians from all over London, including members of top ensembles like the BBC Concert Orchestra, English National Ballet Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and raises thousands of pounds each year for different charities.

George is the Musical Director of Phoenix Choir of Crawley, Sittingbourne Orpheus Choral Society, the Our Lady of Lourdes Chorus, and St Alban’s Rehearsal Orchestra. He is also a guest conductor with Dartford Symphony Orchestra.

Tenor Andrew is the newest addition to Sonare, joining the group in Spring 2025. He is part of Vox Urbane’s Vox Next Gen young artist programme, and he is a graduate scholar with Ex Cathedra. Andrew is also a choral scholar with All Saints Church in New Cross, London.

Andrew has always shown a keen interest in music. He began learning the violin at the age of 5, followed by piano and singing. He was a music scholar at Eltham College and studied Music at the University of Manchester, specialising in singing, before going onto a Masters Degree at York University. There, he received intensive training on the Solo Voice Ensemble Singing course. Led by Robert Hollingworth, the course involved many masterclasses with some of the most renowned singers in the UK such as Nicholas Mulroy and Eamonn Dougan.

While studying, Andrew completed a year as a Choral Scholar at York Minster and performed with renowned choirs The 24 and Vox.

Our Story

Sonare are a renowned London based choral quartet bringing sophisticated and accessible concerts to communities around the UK. We have been celebrating the joy and power of a cappella choral music since their inception in 2021, lending our signature sound to well-known favourites, hidden gems and everything in between. We also regularly write our own arrangements and compositions to perform, as well as giving choral workshops and Come-and-Sing days.

Our four original members met as choral scholars at the Church of St John at Hackney in London. In 2021, as we all emerged from lock-downs, we formed the quartet as a performance outlet in the uncertain world Covid had left us with.

Since then, we have put on five highly successful concert tours, performing in venues all over England, and released our debut album, "My Spirit Sang All Day". We pride ourselves on the exciting variety of composers whose music we sing: from big names like Mozart and Elgar, to 11th century German nuns, Scandinavian folksong arrangers and anything in between.

We are united by our love for the repertoire we sing, and the expressive approach we bring to it. As just four voices singing unaccompanied, we are able to really communicate the text of each piece and its meaning, and we strive for a degree of personal connection that is unique to our small ensemble.