TONUS PEREGRINUS was founded by Antony Pitts at New College, Oxford in 1990, during his studies with Dr Edward Higginbottom. The ensemble has since become internationally renowned for its award-winning recordings of early and contemporary sacred music, blending historical authenticity with contemporary vitality. From Pérotin to Arvo Pärt, TONUS PEREGRINUS explores the full sweep of Western music history, with albums on Naxos, Hyperion, and their own 1equalmusic label.

Antony Pitts is an international composer, conductor, producer, and recipient of the Radio Academy BT Award, the Prix Italia, and a Cannes Classical Award. A Chapel Royal treble, Academic and Honorary Senior Scholar at New College, Oxford, founder-director of British ensemble TONUS PEREGRINUS, Senior Lecturer at the Royal Academy of Music, and Senior Producer at BBC Radio 3, he made his Glastonbury Festival debut in 2014, and from 2016 to 2022 led Australia’s The Song Company as Artistic Director, afterwards establishing TONUS AUSTRALIS. In 2023, he was appointed as the inaugural Willam Byrd Fellow and Ambassador at Excelsia College in Sydney. Commissioned for Alexander Litvinenko, Cheltenham Festival, King’s College London, New College Oxford, Rundfunkchor Berlin, The Swingles, Westminster Cathedral, and many others, with premières of his music in London’s Wigmore Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and Berlin’s Philharmonie Kammermusiksaal, and album releases on 1equalmusic, Challenge Records, Delphian, Hyperion, Harmonia Mundi, Naxos, Novum, Signum, and Unknown Public, including the Missa Unitatis and the oratorio-musical Jerusalem-Yerushalayim. Critical acclaim for Antony’s music tends towards hyperbole: “...My first impulse on hearing this disc was to commend it unreservedly to each and every man, woman, and child on the planet”. Sydney Philharmonia Choirs commissioned his 50-part motet, XLX – Mente cordis sui, which was premièred at Sydney Opera House. TONUS PEREGRINUS released Antony’s monumental Requiem for the Time of the End on 1equalmusic in June 2025, as the album One Equal Music; he is working on a music theatre piece with Adrian Self called The Process, while developing a compositional process of ‘murmuration’. www.antonypitts.com

Joanna Forbes L’Estrange is a British vocalist, choral composer and choir director. Born into a family of eminent professional musicians, she grew up in Surrey, singing as a chorister in her local parish church choir and studying the piano and cello. After graduating with a Master of Arts music degree from Oxford University her career began with seven years at the helm of the five-time Grammy® award-winning jazz vocal group The Swingle Singers. For twenty years she has been sharing her choral jazz expertise by coaching choirs with her popular workshop You can sing…but can you swing?!. Specialising in contemporary ‘crossover’ music, Joanna receives regular engagements to be the soloist for Duke Ellington’s Sacred Concert and Mass in Blue by Will Todd (which she recorded for the Convivium record label) and to perform works by Steve Reich, John Adams, Stockhausen and Berio. Her distinctive, high soprano vocals can be heard on over 300 film soundtracks, most notably in a duet with Jarvis Cocker for The French Dispatch. She is one half of the jazz duo L’Estranges in the Night and television credits include Fleabag which featured her Andrews Sisters-inspired song You Are. The international popularity of Joanna’s choral compositions has been attributed to the composer’s belief that new music doesn’t have to be difficult to be effective. Her mission to create a body of well-crafted music which every choir can sing has been described as “an integrity of purpose which infuses every musical phrase that Forbes L’Estrange writes” (BBC Music). Most evident is her focus on melody, leading to reviews such as “a sublime blend of catchy and comforting” (Hyperion), “full of delicious ear-worms” (Gramophone) and “Forbes L’Estrange seems to have been born with catchy melodies coursing through her veins” (BBC Music). Composed to mark the coronation of King Charles III, Joanna’s anthem The mountains shall bring peace was sung by over 600 choirs across five continents and established her as one of the RSCM’s best-selling composers. This and many more of her sacred and secular pieces have been recorded by London Voices on two albums, Heaven to Earth and Winter Light, both released on the Signum record label. Her largest, most ambitious work to date is A Season to Sing, a choral re-imagining of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. In collaboration with her husband Alexander L’Estrange, she has also composed three 40-minute cantatas for their award-winning series of works for SATB choir, unison children’s choir and instrumental quintet. Joanna is an ambassador for Harmony Across Borders, a new choir competition which champions music by female composers. She founded and for five years directed the Cambridge-based, women’s choir AQUILA and has composed many songs for upper voice choirs in support of gender equality, including A Woman (Wearing Bloomers) on a Wheel, made into a film by the National Youth Girls’ Choir. With her charity single Twenty-first- century Woman Joanna made history by organising and conducting the first all-female recording session ever to have taken place at London’s iconic Abbey Road Studios. www.joannaforbeslestrange.com/

Alexander L’Estrange (b.1974) is an award-winning British choral composer, arranger and workshop leader of international acclaim. Educated at Oxford, first as a chorister in New College Choir and later at Merton College, he gained a First Class Honours Master of Arts degree in Music. His compositional voice is characterised by his love for jazz harmony and groove (he is a professional jazz pianist and double bassist as well as a jazz examiner and trainer for the ABRSM) and his background in the English choral tradition. Known for his charismatic and engaging leadership style, L’Estrange presents his music at the annual ACDA conference in the States. L’Estrange is best known for his series of large-scale choral works which draw together singers of all ages across the community. The first of these was Zimbe! Come sing the songs of Africa!, a 40-minute fusion of African song and jazz, which received over 150 performances worldwide within its first five years, establishing his reputation as one of Britain’s most popular living composers. Zadok Rules – Hallelujah! , commissioned by the Hanover Band to commemorate the 60th anniversary for Queen Elizabeth II’s reign, is based on Royal music through the ages; Ahoy! Sing for the Mary Rose is an uplifting fusion of sea shanties and Tudor music, commissioned to mark the opening of the Mary Rose Museum; Song Cycle: vive la vélorution! was commissioned for the 2014 grand départ in Yorkshire of the Tour de France, its ten entertaining songs telling the story of cycling; Wassail! Carols of Comfort and Joy, for which he won the Music Teachers Award for Best Classical Education Initiative in 2018, is a joyous sequence of Christmas songs from the folk tradition and; most recently, Freedom! The power of song, written in collaboration with his wife Joanna Forbes L’Estrange, celebrates the role of singing to effect positive change in the world. With the exception of Zadok, each of these works is scored for an SATB choir, unison children’s choir and jazz quintet. Many of L’Estrange’s sacred choral works have been recorded by the award-winning chamber choir Tenebrae, conducted by Nigel Short, on a disc entitled On Eagles’ Wings (SIGNUM label.) His song output includes Love’s Philosophy, three stunning settings of poems by Shelley, Tennyson and Byron, currently on the ABRSM Singing Syllabus, and Winter Songs, another collaboration with Joanna, commissioned to mark the 60th anniversary of the Finchley Children’s Music Group. Most recent is a setting of three movements from The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran for unaccompanied 8-part choir. L’Estrange is the go-to arranger for world-class a cappella groups including The Swingles, Voces 8 and The King’s Singers, for whom he wrote and produced the acclaimed Great American Songbook album. As Consultant Editor of Faber Music’s popular Choral Basics series, he has written hundreds of arrangements of songs from across the musical spectrum. Television credits include the theme tune for the popular CBeebies programme Magic Hands. www.alexanderlestrange.com/

Richard Eteson (b.1975) is a hugely versatile and experienced tenor vocalist, arranger and composer. Starting his musical life as a choirboy in Bingley, West Yorkshire, Richard went on to become Head Chorister at King’s College, Cambridge, a Music Scholar at Shrewsbury School, before returning to King’s as a tenor Choral Scholar (studying Japanese and English) under the direction of Sir Stephen Cleobury. After graduating, Richard became a Choirman of The Temple Church, London and sang with many of London’s finest choirs, consort groups and session choirs (The Gabrieli Consort, Tenebrae, Polyphony, The Cambridge Scholars, Magnificat, TONUS PEREGRINUS, The Brabant Ensemble, The Eric Whitacre Singers, Heritage Voices, The Philharmonia Voices and London Voices). Between 2000-2010 he sang tenor withThe Swingle Singers, travelling the world, recording 8 albums and performing in many of the world’s leading venues such as La Scala, Milan; The Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; Suntory Hall, Tokyo; the Esplanade Centre, Singapore; and the Parco della Musica, Rome. In 2010 he founded the London A Cappella Festival. As a tenor oratorio soloist in the UK Richard has given performances of Haydn’s Creation, Bach’s B Minor Mass, Handel’s Messiah, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Britten’s St. Nicholas, Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius, Stainer’s Crucifixion and performed the Evangelist part in Bach’s St. John Passion and St. Matthew Passion. In the world of contemporary music Richard has given over 50 performances of Berio’s Sinfonia. He has also performed Berio’s a cappella work a ronne & 3 operas by Azio Corghi, and sang chorus and solo tenor parts in the world premiere of Stockhausen’s opera Mittwoch aus Licht with London Voices/Birmingham Opera Company under Graham Vick as part of the London 2012 festival. In recording and live projects he has worked with artists such as Jarvis Cocker, Scott Walker, Hans Zimmer, Sting, Florence & the Machine, Aphex Twin and Goldie. He has made over 50 album recordings and sung on numerous movie soundtracks (e.g. Harry Potter 5/6/7, The Hunger Games and James Bond Spectre). He is frequently called upon as a judge of singing competitions (The Voice Festival UK and various UK schools,) and is a tutor/clinician for the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain and the UK Choir Festival. Richard’s writing is formed from a classical choral heritage but is very much shaped by the large variety of “crossover” vocal work he has taken part in during his professional singing career. His compositional work naturally focuses on the voice, how the music likes to be sung, and how the setting fits the occasion and the place. He writes predominantly with particular voices / choirs in mind rather than generically. In 2023 he completed Under The Hawthorn Tree, a 30 minute song-cycle written for counter-tenor/mezzo & piano, marrying the poems of Hywel John to the natural soundscape of the Preseli hills in Wales. https://www.richardetesonmusic.com “TONUS PEREGRINUS is a double quartet of expert singers brought together by the composer... they sound as ideal a group... as he is likely to find this side of the Heaven to which so much of his music aspires.” Gramophone – Editor’s Choice “TONUS PEREGRINUS, a vocal ensemble made up of first-rank singers led by Pitts...” AllMusic – All Music Guide “TONUS PEREGRINUS is proving to be one of the most skilful vocal groups around. Its composer/founder/director demands much from his singers, which they accomplish with impressive fluency and musicality...” “...combined talent for divinely pure sound...” Choir & Organ “Antony Pitts... has rapidly crafted a place for himself as one of Britain’s more enterprising writers of choral music. It seems his vocal training at the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court Palace helped to inculcate in him a patent and potent resonance with the liturgy... TONUS PEREGRINUS never wearied by the vastness of its task and the vision of Christ always palpable in the composer’s creative insights.” International Record Review “The arrangement of Away in a Manger had discovered some rather interesting new harmonies – it turned out it was by Antony Pitts of TONUS PEREGRINUS, who has remarkable ways with music...” The Independent on Sunday

Jonathan is a retired professor (of communication engineering) who enjoys playing piano, composing songs, and singing. As an engineering student (a long time ago) he started composing alternative melodies and piano accompaniments to hymns and carols – some, well known like Charles Wesley’s hymn Soldiers of Christ, arise released as Put Your Armour On by Jazz Prays in 2023, and others less well known, for example, the ancient carol From East To West whose lyrics were written by Coelius Sedulius (c.450), translated by Rev. John Ellerton (1826-93) and released by Jazz Prays in 2020 featuring St Michael’s Blackheath Singers. Jonathan has set the prophetic word to music: Till You See That Your Home Is In Heaven (Jazz Prays 2020) is from a word given in London in 1994, and he has also written lyrics based on the Psalms and other parts of the Old and New Testaments, e.g. Living Sacrifice (Jazz Prays 2023) and We Will All Be Changed (Jazz Prays 2022). Email Jonathan Pitts

John Pitts (b.1976) is a school music teacher, composer, conductor, and author of some unusual books for adventurous pianists, most recently Extreme Heterophony: a study in Javanese Gamelan for one or more pianists. “Studying John Pitts’ innovative books could fundamentally change your perspective on music. …Both books are fascinating and deserve wide currency” wrote Murray McLachlan in International Piano Magazine of John’s How to Play Indian Sitar Rāgas on a Piano and Indian Rāgas for Piano Made Easy. A pre-university gap year in Pakistan sparked an intense interest in reimagining Indian classical music and other non-western musical cultures on the piano, including Chinese lute (Pipa Dreams in Imperial Garden) and Japanese zither (SAKURA Three Koto Transcriptions for solo piano). His virtuosic pieces for two/three pianists (7 Piano Duets & Triets inspired by music from around the world) have been performed at concerts, competitions and festivals in numerous countries, including Raag Gezellig written as the compulsory piece in the Valberg International Piano 4 Hands Competition 2011, and performances by the Kyiv Piano Duo at three of the Kyiv Chamber Music Session Festivals, for whom he wrote Gaelic Faram Jig for 2 pianos and 2 percussionists in 2012. John studied Music at Bristol and Manchester Universities, winning the 2003 Philharmonia Orchestra Martin Musical Scholarship Fund Composition Prize at the Royal Festival Hall. His 2009 album Intensely Pleasant Music: 7 Airs & Fantasias and other piano music by John Pitts, performed by Steven Kings, received a 5 star review in Musical Opinion Magazine, and several 4 star reviews including the Independent, with descriptions such as “beautiful, moving and relaxing”, “delicious”, “lovely”, “colossal… stunning and seriously impressive”, “great character and emotional integrity”, “exciting stuff all round… toes—prepare to tap.” John’s religious music has previously been recorded twice by TONUS PEREGRINUS, including O Little Town of Bethlehem on The Naxos Book of Carols. He has been Associate Conductor of Bristol Millennium Orchestra since 2010 and Musical Director of Bristol Gilbert & Sullivan Operatic Society since 2022. www.pianoraga.com

Rebecca Hickey started singing in her local church choir at the age of five which fostered an enduring passion for sacred choral music, which is good as she spends much of her time singing it! As well as being a long-standing member of TONUS PEREGRINUS, she sings with the early music vocal ensemble Stile Antico, taking Renaisssance polyphony all over Europe, the Americas and Asia. Her solo rendition of Pérotin’s Beata Viscera onTONUS PEREGRINUS’ album Sacred Music from Notre-Dame Cathedral was showcased on BBC Radio 3’s CD Review, and now has over 3 million listens on Spotify. Becky studied English Language and Linguistics at the University of York which perhaps led to her obsession with cryptic crosswords. Her other passions include baking, playing the viola in her local chamber orchestra and walking her dog Gus! She has two (technically adult….) children with husband Alex.

Paul Ayres was born in London, studied music at Oxford University, and now works freelance as a composer & arranger, choral conductor & musical director, and organist & accompanist. He has received over one hundred commissions, and his works have been awarded composition prizes in Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the USA. Paul particularly enjoys “re-composing” classical works (Purcell, Bach, Handel, Fauré) and “classicizing” pop music (jazz and show tunes, The Beatles, Happy Hardcore). Paul conducts City Chorus and London College of Music Chorus (at the University of West London), accompanies Concordia Voices, and is associate accompanist of Crouch End Festival Chorus. He has led many music education workshops for children, and played piano for improvised comedy shows and musical theatre. www.paulayres.co.uk

Harpist Olivia Jageurs is in demand as a collaborator with the UK’s top musicians and composers. She freelances with the UK’s major orchestras including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, The Glyndebourne Sinfonia, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Sinfonia Cymru, Ballet Rambert, Oxford Philharmonic, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and The Hallé. Olivia has recorded for artists such as Jacob Collier for Universal, Steven Isserlis for Hyperion, and saxophonist Jess Gillam and VOCES8 on Decca Classics. She records regularly from her home studio, and recent projects include adding harp to Netflix’s Robbie Williams documentary, a Paddington Bear immersive experience coming to London’s Southbank and a new video game from developers NetEase Games. With a particular love of accompanying singers, she has performed in recital with tenors Allan Clayton and Mark Padmore, baritones Benjamin Appl and Julien Van Mellaerts, sopranos Eleanor Janes, Olivia Warburton and Mimi Doulton. She has also worked with the UK’s top choirs including The Sixteen, VOCES8, Tenebrae and The Carice Singers. In 2023 she formed a musical partnership with mezzo Marta Fontanals-Simmons and flautist ChloëVincent: The Erda Ensemble. She regularly performs at high-profile events such as the Wimbledon Tennis Championships for guests of the Royal Box (2013-19) and for Dior in front of the Pyramids of Giza with 12 Ensemble. Other well-known clients have included Louis Vuitton, Patek Philippe and Ferrari. With a particular interest in new harp writing, Olivia has recorded over 500 original compositions for her project 15 Second Harp and particularly enjoys helping composers with their harp writing. In 2021 Olivia became a Royal Philharmonic Society Enterprise Fund trailblazer for her monthly online concert series Harpy Hour.

My career might be called eclectic: I’ve been a rock roadie and a classical music producer. I spent 20 years at the BBC, starting as a Studio Manager (radio sound operator) in London before becoming a Producer in the Music Department in Cardiff: from 2003–2008 I was Senior Producer of Radio 3’s Composer of the Week. Since starting my own company, my portfolio of work has extended beyond audio production and engineering to include festival directorship (Swansea International Festival) and management (Ludlow English Song Weekend), sessional lecturing in media production (University of South Wales), filmmaking (Royal Society of Architects in Wales, Brecon Baroque, Rogers Stirk Harbour Architects) and live web-streaming (City of London Sinfonia). I’ve trained many BBC producers in location recording and audio editing techniques; and have been a key member of the selection panel for the BBC’s prestigious Cardiff Singer of the World competition. Recently I’ve had the privilege of sitting next to Britain’s Marxist national treasure Alexei Sayle, on several long train journeys, making three series of Alexei Sayle’s Strangers on a Train (Ride Productions for BBC Radio 4). Other recent jobs: I’ve recorded podcasts with vegan chef Gaz Oakley, and fair fashion campaigner Venetia la Manna (18sixty for Canopy and Stars) and recorded an interview with Dr Tabitha Stanmore about witches in 16th-century Britain for the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC. Alongside numerous podcast bookings, I’ve produced and recorded many programmes for the BBC including Jazz Now with Soweto Kinch (7Digital for Radio 3), Archive on 4 and How to Play (BBC Audio for Radio 4), Dr Phil’s Bedside Manner (Ride Productions for Radio 4) and In the Studio (BBC Audio for World Service). And alongside the pleasure of recording with Antony Pitts and TONUS PEREGRINUS, I’ve also recorded other distinguished artists around the UK, including Samantha Ege / Castle of our Skins at Turner Sims, Southampton; Isata Kanneh-Mason at Tetbury Festival, Rosalind Ventris and Llŷr Williams at Cowbridge Festival, and the Dunedin Consort at Cheltenham Music Festival. lyndonjonesmedia.com/

KathrynKnightreadMusicatWorcesterCollege,Oxford,wheresheheldaMusicScholarship. She has gone on to pursue a busy and varied musical career in publishing, education and technology in both UK and USA, and continues to sing with various choirs and ensembles, as well as a solo recitalist. Kathryn is a founder-director of the national singing programme for schools, Sing Up, and has guest-presented for BBC TV Proms and BBC Radio 3. Kathryn and her husband Alex, who also performs with TONUS PEREGRINUS, have three children.

Alexander Hickey KC started singing as a chorister at Hereford Cathedral, went up to Christ Church, Oxford as a choral scholar and now regularly sings with professional choirs in and around London. He combines his singing with a successful career as a barrister specialising in construction law at 4 Pump Court Chambers in the Temple.

Alex Knight was a chorister at Christ Church, Oxford and a choral scholar at King’s College, Cambridge. He studied singing at the Royal Academy of Music under David Lowe. He now sings when not working as a headhunter and as Director of Development for the Eton Fives Association and raising children with his wife Kathryn. He has worked with a number of groups including TONUS PEREGRINUS, Collegium Musicum 90 and Close Encounters.

Francis Brett has sung professionally since graduating from King’s College Cambridge and then the Royal College of Music in 1997. During this period he has enjoyed singing with TONUS PEREGRINUS as well as the Royal Opera House and English National Opera, and small ensembles such as The Sixteen and Exaudi. As a soloist he has worked with conductors such as Andrew Litton, Trevor Pinnock, Richard Hickox, Vladimir Yurowski, and Edward Gardner.

Nicholas Garrett has performed over fifty roles in opera and music theatre internationally for over thirty years covering everything from Mozart to Sondheim. He has sung at prestigious venues such as Royal Opera House, Wembley Arena, Théatre du Châtelet and Opera National de Paris and his concert work has seen him tour multiple times to USA, Japan, Italy and Dubai as a member of Amici Forever (Sony/BMG) and “The Swingle Singers”. Nicholas is a regular guest artist at Opera Holland Park in London and won the “Friends of OHP” award for “Best male in a leading role” for Scarpia, Tosca in 2008 and Don Giovanni 2010.

Benedict studied at King’s College London and the Royal College of Music. As a concert soloist he works all over the world with conductors such as Philippe Herreweghe and Jos van Veldhoven. He has wide-ranging experience performing the evangelist in Bach’s Passion settings with one reviewer recently remarking, “Benedict Hymas was exemplary in the narrative role of the Evangelist, knowing when to move the story along, and when to linger over important moments – and his smooth, lithe voice is always a delight to listen to.” Recent operatic engagements include leading roles in Acis and Galatea by Handel, and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas across Belgium and The Netherlands, as well as a role in Poulenc’s Les Mamelles de Tiresias at the Britten Theatre in London. He is an active recording artist with many credits across a broad range of repertoire. He has sung with TONUS PEREGRINUS since 2008.

Nick Flower has been sighted singing with TONUS PEREGRINUS, Oxford Camerata, and the Borough Green Occasional Choir.