Biography
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René Bloice-Sanders, a young English baritone, grew up in Canterbury and began his singing career at the age of 7 as a chorister of Canterbury Cathedral. Under the direction of choirmaster Dr David Flood his treble voice flourished, enjoying the thrills and pressures of performing at such a high level. Notably singing for the Queen Mother’s 100th Anniversary and Maundy Thursday 2003 for Queen Elizabeth II.
In 2005 René became a member of the National Youth Choir of Great Britain as a baritone and sung with the choir until 2010. Through NYCGB, he has studied and had workshops with Judy Bellingham and Felicity Cook. He has also had the pleasure of working with Stephen Connolly of the King’s Singers and one of the most accomplished composers of our generation in Eric Whitacre.
In 2007 René undertook a music degree at The University of Nottingham, where he focused on Early Music Notation, Opera and Performance. René was awarded a choral scholarship at St Barnabas’ Cathedral Choir, Schola Cantorum, directed by Neil Page and during his three years at university performed with Viva Voce, the highly regarded university chamber choir, having the privilege of becoming the choir's Choral Director in his final year. As part of his course René performed a number of public recitals and it was under the coaching of Richard Howarth that his baritone voice truly began to develop. Indulging in René's love of song cycles, St Barnabas' Composer in Residence, Alex Patterson, wrote a cyclic setting of William Blake's Songs of Innocence especially for him, which was premiered on 28 February 2011. In 2009 The University of Nottingham’s Opera Society was re-established and it was in their production of Mozart’s Magic Flute (2010) that René took on his first full operatic role as Papageno. Having graduated with a BA (Hons) in 2010, René remained in Nottingham to further his career in music as a singing teacher and performing regularly with a number of choirs of the East Midlands, Schola Cantorum and as an Associate member of The University of Nottingham Opera Society, playing the role of Count Almaviva in Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro (2011).
In August 2010, René began studying with the internationally acclaimed tenor, Ryland Davies and in December of that year was successful in being awarded a widely sought after place at the Royal Academy of Music as a postgraduate of Vocal Studies. Awarded the Nora Carstairs Bland Award 2012/2013, he continued to study at the Royal Academy with Ryland and the in-demand vocal coach Audrey Hyland, where he graduated with distinction in June 2013.
René has performed the roles of Jim Larkens (La Fanciulla del West) with Wexford Festival Opera, Eugene Onegin (Eugene Onegin), Dancairo and Morales (Carmen) with Opera South-East, Marcello (La boheme), Figaro (Il barbiere di Siviglia) with The Merry Opera Company and Jackdaws OperaPLUS, Marco (Gianni Schicchi) with Fulham Opera, Orfeo (L'Orfeo) with Hampstead Garden Opera, Baron Duphol (La Traviata) with Opera Loki. He has also performed scenes inlcuding Mercurio (La Calisto) and Taddeo (L'Italiana in Algeri) in the Royal Academy Opera Scenes, Guglielmo (Cosi Fan Tutte) for Opera South and Don Alfonso (Cosi Fan Tutte) in Liguria, Northern Italy. René has benefitted enormously from masterclasses with Simon Keenlyside, Florian Boesch, Dennis O'Neill.
René's concert work has seen him perform in wonderful venues such as St John's Smith Square, St Martin-in-the-Fields, The Sage, Gateshead and the Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham and has included Mendelssohn's Elijah, Bach's Johannes and Matthaus Passion, Brahms' Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, Monteverdi’s Vespers and Christmas Vespers, Mozart’s Requiem, Duruflé's Requiem and Stainer’s The Crucifixion. Whilst he enjoys these large ensemble solo settings he also has a passion for song cycles, of which he has performed Beethoven's An Die Ferne Geliebte, Butterworth's A Shropshire Lad and Vaughan-Williams' Songs of Travel. He has also had the song cycle Songs of Innocence written for him by contemporary composer Alex Patterson.
In 2019 René worked with The Grange Festival on their 5 start productions of Falstaff and Belshazzar, made his Wexford Festival Opera main stage debut as Valet II in Don Quichotte and proudly reached the semi-finals of the inaugural ByVoiceAlone competition 2019.
Upcoming performances include baritone soloist in Stainer's Crucifixion with Leys Choral Society and joining The Grange Festival chorus for the summer and covering the role of Dandini in their production of Rossini's La Cenerentola.
For further details of René's performances and experiences to date please contact him here or download his CV from the link above the contact form.
René has performed the roles of Jim Larkens (La Fanciulla del West) with Wexford Festival Opera, Eugene Onegin (Eugene Onegin), Dancairo and Morales (Carmen) with Opera South-East, Marcello (La boheme), Figaro (Il barbiere di Siviglia) with The Merry Opera Company and Jackdaws OperaPLUS, Marco (Gianni Schicchi) with Fulham Opera, Orfeo (L'Orfeo) with Hampstead Garden Opera, Baron Duphol (La Traviata) with Opera Loki. He has also performed scenes inlcuding Mercurio (La Calisto) and Taddeo (L'Italiana in Algeri) in the Royal Academy Opera Scenes, Guglielmo (Cosi Fan Tutte) for Opera South and Don Alfonso (Cosi Fan Tutte) in Liguria, Northern Italy. René has benefitted enormously from masterclasses with Simon Keenlyside, Florian Boesch, Dennis O'Neill.
René's concert work has seen him perform in wonderful venues such as St John's Smith Square, St Martin-in-the-Fields, The Sage, Gateshead and the Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham and has included Mendelssohn's Elijah, Bach's Johannes and Matthaus Passion, Brahms' Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, Monteverdi’s Vespers and Christmas Vespers, Mozart’s Requiem, Duruflé's Requiem and Stainer’s The Crucifixion. Whilst he enjoys these large ensemble solo settings he also has a passion for song cycles, of which he has performed Beethoven's An Die Ferne Geliebte, Butterworth's A Shropshire Lad and Vaughan-Williams' Songs of Travel. He has also had the song cycle Songs of Innocence written for him by contemporary composer Alex Patterson.
In 2019 René worked with The Grange Festival on their 5 start productions of Falstaff and Belshazzar, made his Wexford Festival Opera main stage debut as Valet II in Don Quichotte and proudly reached the semi-finals of the inaugural ByVoiceAlone competition 2019.
Upcoming performances include baritone soloist in Stainer's Crucifixion with Leys Choral Society and joining The Grange Festival chorus for the summer and covering the role of Dandini in their production of Rossini's La Cenerentola.
For further details of René's performances and experiences to date please contact him here or download his CV from the link above the contact form.
