Introduction

The divine voices of Jo Appleby (from left to right), David Habbin, Bruno Santino and Tsakane Valentine blend to create the sound that is uniquely Amici Forever. The brief bios below are courtesy of Amici Forever's official website - you can visit their site to find out more at www.amiciforever.com

Jo Appleby (Soprano)
The Blackpool, England-born Jo Appleby has a background of artistic studies including ballet. She studied opera at The Royal Northern College of Music where she gained her honours degree and won a scholarship from the legendary D'Oyly Carte before embarking on her successful operatic career. She performed with the Glyndebourne Festival and Touring Opera Company as well as singing at prestigious venues such as The Royal Albert Hall and The Royal Festival Hall. She also worked with many other UK based opera companies.

David Habbin (Tenor)
David comes from Ringwood in the South of England. Having spent several years of extensive performing and writing with rock/pop bands he began vocal training with international operatic tenor, Jon Andrew and secured funding to study acting and music theatre at Mountview Theatre School in North London. With his studies there completed, engagements followed including Marius and Combeferre in Les Miserables at the Palace Theatre, a role in a British feature movie and over 600 performances in the role of Tony in the UK revival of the original production of West Side Story both on tour and in the West End. David then went on to consolidate his operatic training for two years at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and has since performed with various UK opera companies, in several roles including Alfredo in La Traviata, Lt Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly, Ernesto in Don Pasquale, Almaviva in The Barber of Seville, Alfred in Die Fledermaus and Fenton in Falstaff. David also worked with Glyndebourne Festival Opera for their Summer Festival and their touring company before joining Amici forever.

Bruno Santino (Baritone)
Italian Brazilian baritone Bruno Santino originally studied chemical engineering, but after being invited to sing in six different choirs he decided to change his life and started to learn music. He began his musical education at CEFAR Music School in Brazil, and his outstanding abilities saw him win scholarships for the prestigious Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where he completed a Masters degree in Music Performance and achieved his Post Graduate Diploma in Vocal Training with distinction. His solo performances include Cantata BWV 131 Bach, Requiem and Messe "Cum Jubilo" Duruflé and the role of Apollo in L'Orfeo Monteverdi. In London his performances include Béatrice et Bénédict Berlioz, Hin und Zurück Hindemith, the role of Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas Purcell and the role of Oscar Wilde in the new opera The Nightingale And The Rose by Yuko Katori. His honours include the Brazilian Revelation Singer Award of 2001, the UFMG's Young Soloist Award 2002 and winning Eleazar de Carvalho's National Competition for Young Soloists 2002. He has just been Highly Commended on the English Song Award 2005 at GSMD, and his rich voice, warm personality and good looks make him an invaluable member of Amici. Jo & Tsakane particularly like the fact that he can dance the Lambada!

Tsakane Valentine (Soprano)
Soprano Tsakane Valentine was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and cut her teeth on the rich a capella choral traditions of her home country. She studied music at Pretoria University. Tsakane continued her operatic training at the Pretoria Technikon (University of Tshwane) where she quickly caught the attention of the country's leading music enthusiasts. She appeared in high profile recitals including performing for Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki. She took the lead role of Maria in West Side Story for Spier Opera Company in Cape Town. Other operatic roles include the title role in Grafin Mariza, Manja, Musetta (La Boheme), Valencienne (Merry Widow), Amelia (Amelia Al Ballo), Arminda (La Finta Giardinera) and Contessa Ceprano (Rigoletto).