Vache Baroque is a young and ambitious nonprofit that aims to open access to Baroque music to all.
We are based at The Vache, a glorious early 17th-century estate in Buckinghamshire, UK.
Since our launch in September 2020, we have produced a number of critically acclaimed opera productions and multidisciplinary concert projects, toured Italy, worked with over 1,000 elementary school children, and run two young artist programs for emerging singers.
Our goal is to tell old stories in modern ways, inspiring our artists, audiences and beneficiaries to build bridges between past and present.
We passionately believe in the life-affirming and joy-inspiring nature of classical music and wish to share it as widely as possible.

Jonathan Darbourne
Jonathan has worked with many major ensembles specializing in early music, including the Dunedin Consort, Concerto Copenhagen, Nederlandse Bachvereniging, Freiburger Barockorchester, and Marian Consort.
Away from early music, he took part in the world premiere of Stockhausen’s opera Mittwoch aus Licht with Ex Cathedra (dir. Graham Vick), which was performed the following year at the BBC Proms.
As a soloist, his performance of the waiter in Steven Oliver’s The Waiter’s Revenge was rated “outstanding” by The Independent on Sunday.
Jonathan co-founded the Vache Byzantine for which he has directed three operas and other multi-arts programs from the harpsichord.
In summer 2024 he will be music director of a new adaptation of Pergolesi’s L’Olimpiade.
He was assistant conductor and continuist for the Grange Festival’s production of Händel’s Tamerlane and last year was selected to take part in an ensemble directing residency with William Christie and members of Les Arts Florissants.
An experienced choral conductor, he is chorus master for the NSO and has directed a range of projects, from Voces8 Scholars to chorus scenes in numerous Netflix productions.

Betty Makharinsky
Betty’s recent successes include Purcell’s The Fairy Queen with the Hampstead Garden Opera, Brahms’ Requiem at St John’s Smith Square, and a recital for the Gustav Mahler Society.
In 2023 she reached the semi-finals of the Northern Aldborough Festival Vocal Competition and the International Opera Singing Competition in Naples.
She also joined the Utopia Chorus and Orchestra (c. Teodor Currentzis) to perform Henry Purcell’s The Indian Queen and W. A. Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor at the Salzburg Festival in Austria.
Recent operatic credits include Flora The Turn of the Screw (Dartington International Festival), The Model WEAR (Tête à Tête Festival) and Amor Orpheus and Eurydice (New Sussex Opera).
Oratorio highlights include Haydn’s Missa in Tempore Belli (c. Gianluca Marciano) for the Al Bustan Festival in Lebanon, Mozart’s Requiem (c. Jennifer Sterling) and Michal in Händel’s Saul (c. Laurence Cummings) at the Dartington International Festival.
Collaborating with pianists Jonathan Powell and Pavel Timofeyevsky, Betty has given recitals at the Indian Summer festival in Levoča, Slovakia and throughout the United Kingdom.
Betty co-founded Vache Byzantine in 2020 and Philomel Creative Circle (2019).
She studied with Antonio Lemmo and graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the Barock Vokal program (Mainz, Germany).
He holds a bachelor’s degree in music with honors from the University of Oxford.

Clara Kanter
British mezzo-soprano Clara Kanter studied at Clare College, Cambridge and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.
Her operatic roles include Junon (Actéon), Mercedes (Carmen), Pitti-Sing (The Mikado), Sorceress (Dido and Aeneas ), Third Lady (The Magic Flute), Dame Carruthers (The Yeomen of the Guard), Zita (Gianni Schicchi) and La Zelatrice (Suor Angelica).
She was soloist in Stockhausen’s Mittwoch aus Licht for the Birmingham Opera Company, and has performed roles at the Buxton Opera House and the Grimeborn and Tête-à-Tête opera festivals in London, most recently singing and recording the role of “Rowan” in Alastair White’s opera ROBE.
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In concert, she has performed Berio’s Chorus with the Lucerne Festival Academy Chorus conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, and in Oslo with the Norwegian Soloists Choir, Vivaldi’s Gloria at the Purcell Room, Messiah at Cadogan Hall and in Leicestershire with Nevill Holt Opera Young Artists, Haydn’s Nelson Mass at St Martin-in-the-Fields, and songs by Brahms and Schubert with Prince Consort/Side by Side at Wigmore Hall.
She has performed as soloist for the Harmonic Consort and in broadcasts for BBC World Service Radio.
A passionate ensemble singer, Clara has sung with groups including the Academy of Ancient Music, the BBC Singers, the English Concert, the Monteverdi Choir, Polyphony, and Tenebrae, and along with the Maida Vale Singers she has performed with the John Wilson Orchestra at the BBC.
Proms and on tour throughout the UK.

Bradley Smith
Bradley studied at St John’s College, Cambridge, and the Royal Academy of Music, where he won the Blythe-Buesst Aria Prize and the Tom Hammond Opera Prize.
On the concert stage he is regularly engaged to sing evangelist and tenor solos in Bach’s Passions, Händel’s Messiah, and other key pieces in the repertoire with major orchestras internationally.
Recent engagements include recitals with Angela Hewitt in Italy and Stephen Devine in London, Britten’s Serenade for Tenor and Horn, Liederkreis op. 39, Fauré’s La bonne chanson at King’s Place, Britten’s War Requiem, a new song cycle for tenor and harp by Amelia Clarkson for the Presteigne Festival, and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio for the Odensee Symphony Orchestra.
Highlights of the work include Damon/Acis and Galatea (English National Opera), Mr Denham/True Story of King Kong (Theater Magdeburg), Tenor/Awakening Shadow (Presteigne Festival), Arsete/La Dori e Lelio/The Marriage in Dream (Innsbruck Festival).
of early music), Oduardo/Ariodante (with the English concert at Theater an der Wien, the Barbican, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and the Théâtre Champs-Élysées), Albert Herring/Albert Herring (Buxton International Festival), Tamino/Die Zauberflöte ( LFO Young Artists’ Tour) and Peter Quint/The Turn of the Screw (Young Artist Opera Holland Park).
With the Royal Academy Opera he has performed Tom Rakewell/The Rake’s Progress, the Male Chorus/The Rape of Lucretia, le Prince Charmant/Cendrillon and le petit vieillard/L’enfant et les sortileges.
Upcoming engagements include performances in Birmingham, London, Cambridge, Milan and Perugia.

Christopher Webb
Christopher Webb has a varied career as a soloist and ensemble singer.
He has worked with some of the UK’s most celebrated ensembles, including the Monteverdi Choir, Dunedin Consort, Polyphony, La Nuova Musica, Philharmonia Voices, ORA Singers and The Marian Consort, as well as the acclaimed French ensemble Pygmalion.
He was recently appointed as a member of St. Paul’s Cathedral Choir.
He collaborates with London Voices as a session player for film and video game soundtracks.
He has been a member of English National Opera’s “Opera Works” young artist program; his operatic roles to date include Dulcamara (Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore), Colline (Puccini’s La bohème), Sarastro (Mozart’s The Magic Flute) and Il Commendatore (Mozart’s Don Giovanni) for the first Waterperry Opera Festival.
He sang in productions at the Summer Festival d’Aix-en-Provence with Pygmalion.
He is increasingly in demand as an oratorio soloist.
Recent events include solos in a major European tour of German Baroque repertoire with the Monteverdi Choir, including performances at the Salzburg Festival and Leipzig Bachfest, his Wigmore Hall debut with La Nuova Musica, and solo appearances with The Marian Consort at the Brighton Festival, Stour Music, and London Baroque Music Festival.
She had the honor of singing for the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla last year in Westminster Abbey.

Kristiina Watt
Lutenist Kristiina Watt enjoys a busy concert schedule in the UK and abroad, performing on a variety of lutes and guitars from the 16th-19th centuries.
Having worked professionally as a singer, Kristiina is happy to bring this experience to her work as an accompanist.
In addition to performing for Vache Byzantine singers, she has also performed with The Fieri Consort, The Marian Consort, and is a member of Ensemble Pro Victoria and The Queenes Chappell.
Kristiina is particularly comfortable in the intimate and transparent environment of chamber music.
Recent chamber concerts include Händel’s “9 German Arias” with Rachel Podger, a performance at the Holywell Music Room with the Illyria Consort (directed by Bojan Čičić), a program of trio sonatas with the Academy of Early Music in Spain directed by Steven Devine, and a program of 17th-century English music with Nordic influences in Reykjavik.
As an orchestral musician he has worked with many renowned orchestras, in historical performances and beyond, such as Academy of Ancient Music, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, BBC Singers, The English Concert, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and Scottish Ensemble.
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In addition to live performances on BBC Radio 3 (including “In Tune”) and BR Klassik, Kristiina’s music can be heard on CDs by the Spiritato ensemble and The Fieri Consort.
Her regular collaborations as a chamber musician include a duo with violinist Sophia Prodanova and the ensemble The Portrait Players with soprano Claire Ward and cellist/drummer Miriam Nohl.