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Christopher Wood
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GHO’s in-house composer, Sutton-based Christopher Wood developed an interest in songwriting while playing in a rock group in the 1960s. Later he wrote and arranged for Guest House, his own ten-piece, jazz-influenced ensemble, and worked as music critic and columnist with the Croydon Advertiser (1980-2003).
Chris has had close working links with the Croydon-based London Mozart Players. He collaborated with writer Martin Mooney to create A Giant on the Line, for performance in junior schools; he composed Conversation Piece for an Oboists’ Masterclass at Whitgift School; and he contributed Scene from a sad, sad story for flute, bassoon and piano for the Whitgift/LMP Prize in the 1998 Croydon Music Festival.
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The LMP commissioned Chris to compose a new work for solo viola and string orchestra, to mark the 10th anniversary of the orchestra’s residency in Croydon. Requiem for the Twentieth Century was premiered at Fairfield, on May 15, 1999. In 2000 conductor Christopher Fifield commissioned Chris to compose a work for the Lambeth Orchestra. Triptych was premiered to critical acclaim in 2001.
Current music projects include revising and orchestrating his rock opera Chains! - and writing a one-man cabaret based on Sutton-born raconteur and gay icon Quentin Crisp.
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 Patrick Cockshutt
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Baritone Patrick Cockshutt sang with the BBC Symphony Chorus and the Philharmonia Chorus for several years and has sung many oratorio solos and operatic roles, including the part of the Judge in Guest House Opera’s first production, Chris Wood’s rock opera Chains! at the Secombe Theatre, Sutton, in 1990. He was also the co-founder of Hampstead Opera.
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Patrick occasionally conducts his own ensembles, the Perosi Chamber Orchestra and the Perosi Singers. Most recently he sang with the group Con Chordance in All Saints Church, Carshalton, as part of the Carshalton Arts series. He gave the first performance (1989) and all the subsequent performances of Carter in Crisis, a solo chamber opera written especially for him by Chris Wood, accompanied by his wife, Jo Szrajbman.
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Randolph Grant Nichol
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Canadian tenor Randolph Grant Nichol graduated from Ryerson University, Toronto, before going on to study at the Manhattan School of Music, New York. After moving to the UK Randy worked as a peripatetic music teacher for vocal technique and song preparation with Lambeth Music Services. His first music roles in Britain were with the Swansea City Opera Touring Company and Guildford Opera, the latter as Chorus Director.
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Since then Randy has worked extensively in opera, principally with Southgate Opera, Riverside Opera, Guildford Opera, the Morley Choir, Not Pavorotti and the Swansea City Opera. Repertoire extended from La Boheme and La Traviata through to soloist in Mozart’s Mass. Other roles performed include Ferrando (Cosi Fan Tutti), Rodolpho (La Boheme), Pinkerton (Madame Butterfly), Des Grieux (Manon Lescaut), Spoletta (Tosca), Nadir (The Pearl Fishers), Don Jose (Carmen), Arturo Normano (Lucia di Lammermoor) and Beppe (Pagliacci).
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Lynn Marie Boudreau
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British-born Canadian soprano Lynn Marie Boudreau studied in Toronto at York University, The Royal Conservatory of Music and two opera studios. Her operatic roles there included Lucy in The Telephone at the Harbourfront Centre, Donna Elvira at the National Ballet Theatre, Musetta at University of Toronto, Gilda at the Living Arts Centre, as well as Pamina, Fiordiligi and Rosalinda in concert.
Lynn was featured in a documentary on Rogers Cable television and performed on City TV in Don Giovanni.
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Since moving to London Lynn’s operatic roles have included Masha in Cheryomushki, Lady Macbeth, Hodel in Fiddler on the Roof, Carmen, Musetta, Gianetta in The Gondoliers, Violetta and Norina. Lynn has toured Ireland and the UK with Theatre Productions in a Viennese Strauss Gala and has worked extensively with Opera on the Run for functions and in their productions such as The Perfect Picnic in London’s West End.
Most recently Lynn has appeared with Opera a la Carte as Despina in Cosi Fan Tutte. Lynn has sung in concerts for royalty and celebrities that have taken her to Oman, Hong Kong and Vietnam - and she sang for a children’s charity in Zimbabwe.
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