Deborah Miles-Johnson

Deborah Miles-Johnson was born in London and studied at the Royal College of Music as a flautist, pianist and singer, before joining the BBC Singers and travelling all over the world with them, broadcasting regularly on the radio.

After leaving the BBC Singers to pursue a solo career, she has worked frequently with other small choirs including The Sixteen, Tallis Scholars and the Taverner Choir. She now fulfils a busy and varied career in opera, oratorio and the contemporary repertoire, working with such international conductors as Boulez, Berio, Rattle, Davies and Jane Glover.

Engagements in recent seasons include Stravinsky's Requiem Canticles which she has performed with both Sir Simon Rattle (CBSO) and Sir Andrew Davies (BBCSO), The Dream of Gerontius with the New Queen's Hall Orchestra under Matthew Best, Mendelssohn's Elijah in Toronto, Mozart's Mass in C minor at the Barbican and Cheltenham Town Hall, Verdi's Requiem at St George's Chapel, Windsor and Tewkesbury Abbey, and Vivaldi's Gloria at the Albert Hall. Her performance of El Amor Brujo by De Falla with the New London Chamber Orchestra under Ronald Corp was broadcast by Classic FM.

At the 2001 Proms she performed Haydn's Creation Mass with Andrew Parrott and the London Mozart Players following a performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in the Fairfield Halls, Croydon. She also toured Spain, Istanbul, Salzburg and Japan with the English Concert performing Bach's St Matthew Passion, a work she has also performed at the prestigious Bachwoche with Parrott and the Norsk Barokkorkester. She has visited Brazil with The Sixteen and took the lead role in Handel's Il Parnasso in Festa for the London Handel Society which was broadcast by the BBC. She has performed Handel's Messiah several times with the Northern Sinfonia and also Beethoven's Mass in C.

A regular performer of the contemporary repertoire, Deborah has just performed Henze's Elegy for Young Lovers at short notice for Radio France. She also sang Proença by John Buller for the BBC with the BBCSO under Rumon Gamba, Vanitas by Sciarrino in the York Festival and premiered Brian Elias's Laments with the BBCSO under Otaka which was well received at the Cheltenham Festival. Other performances include Jean Barraque's ...au dela du hasard with Klangforum in Vienna, Satyagraha by Philip Glass at the Festival Hall and one of the secretaries in the first London performance of Nixon in China by John Adams with Kent Nagano and the LSO. She made her Wigmore Hall debut performing Upon Silence by George Benjamin with the viol group Fretwork, recently revisiting the Wigmore Hall for a recital with clarinettist Colin Bradbury.

Among her commercial recordings are Arvo Pärt's Stabat Mater, Maxwell Davies' Resurrection, and Carl Rütti's Magnificat for ASV. A regular performer of Rütti's music, she performed the world premieres of his Stabat Mater at St Johns Smith Square and the Magnificat at the 1999 Proms. She has also recorded Betty Doxy in the Britten/Gay arrangement of The Beggars Opera and one of the Converse in the EMI recording of Suor Angelica. Deborah has performed several times at Haddo House in Aberdeen, most recently in Handel's Jephthah but also in Eugene Onegin, Die Fledermaus and Mrs. Sedley in Peter Grimes - a role she also sang for Richard Hickox. Other operatic roles include Mme. Popova in The Bear by Walton at the Thaxted Festival, the part of the Old Baroness in the British premiere of Samuel Barber's Vanessa and Mind over Matter for European Chamber Opera.

Deborah has performed at the Wexford Festival and is also a member of the extra chorus at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden where she has performed in Die Meistersinger and Parsifal by Wagner, I Masnadieri by Verdi, Hamlet by Thomas and 1984 by Lorin Maazel.

Her diverse musical life includes recording the backing music for various films including all the Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and Star Wars, a thriving private teaching practice and conducting many local groups, including her own choir, prize winning Imperial Male Voice Choir. She is vocal coach for the BBC Symphony Chorus and in 2000 became the Associate Chorus Master of the Philharmonia Chorus.