Biographical details

Richard Fitzsimmons.

Rick developed an interest in singing while at school, where he sang in the chapel choir and in several large-scale choral works. After graduating from the University of Bath, he settled in the West Country and sang for many years in choirs around Bath and further afield.

More recently he has focussed on smaller vocal ensembles, and he was a founding member of the Bath-based vocal octet “Vox8”. As a soloist, he has performed with various choirs and choral societies around the South West.

Operatic performances include several Bath Opera productions, playing Baron Douphol in ‘La Traviata’ (2015), Schaunard in ‘La Bohème’ (2018), and Valentin in ‘Faust’ (2020). He played Sergeant Meryll in Somerset Opera’s production of ‘The Yeomen of the Guard’ (2017). In Mells Summer Opera's semi-staged concert performances, he sang the roles of Valens in Handel’s dramatic oratorio “Theodora” (2019) and Plutone in Monteverdi's opera "L’Orfeo" (2023).

As well as singing, Rick enjoys playing Renaissance wind instruments, including cornetts, shawms, recorders, dulcians, and crumhorns, and in 2019 he established the period instrumental ensemble “The Favonius Collective”.