Ashley Stillburn: York-born tenor, making York Proms debut on Sunday
THE York Proms picnic concert returns to York Museum Gardens on Sunday for its ninth celebration of pomp and circumstance.
Gracing the open-air stage will be York-born tenor and West End star Ashley Stillburn in his York Proms debut, and British-Irish soprano Jennifer Coleman, completing her hat trick of appearances.
Event co-founder Rebecca Newman says: “We have tried to book Ashley for a couple of years now, and even came very close in the past but diary clashes prevented it. I worked with Ashley in 2010 on a Bev Jones show at the Grand Opera House, when he was only about 17!
“I was so pleased to see how he went on to pursue a career in the arts and I know he will absolutely knock the socks off the audience on the night. Having the connection to York just makes it even more special.”
Ashley says: “It’ll be such a special event for me to return to York to perform and especially as it’s such a well- loved event in one of the most iconic spots in York.”
After leaving his beloved home city of York in 2011, Ashley graduated from Guildford School of Acting (GSA) in 2014 with a 1st Class BA (Hons) degree in Musical Theatre and the award for Best Performance in a Musical.
Ashley left vocational training early at GSA to join the West End cast of Les Miserables, in which he played the role of Feuilly and understudied and played Enjolras. He went on to appear as Raoul in The Phantom Of The Opera (Her Majesty’s Theatre, London); Anthony Hope in Sweeney Todd (Opera de Toulon); Corrado Montelli in Death Takes A Holiday, Armand Dufau in The Braille Legacy and Walter Hartright in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s first revival of The Woman In White, all at the Charing Cross Theatre in the West End.
He appeared as Charles Clarke in the UK and international tour of Titanic – The Musical and returned to the West End production of The Phantom Of The Opera post-COVID, where he covered and played both The Phantom and Raoul at certain performances. He later returned to play The Phantom in April 2023 for a brief period to cover for an unforeseen absence within the cast.
Ashley Stillburn in Les Miserables. Picture provided by York Proms
Ashley has worked extensively in the development of new and developing work and has participated in workshops that include She Loves You, All About My Mother, Coastliners, Dance With A Stranger, Murder At The Gates, Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day, Strangers, Annie Get Your Gunand Production 54.
Ashley’s concert work includes West End Men: Unplugged Live from Park Theatre; West End Men in Concert (Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra, Thailand); Enjolras in Les Miserables in Concert (Beau Sejour, Guernsey); Raoul in The Phantom Of The Opera in Concert (MFCC Arena, Malta) and Carols by Candlelight at St Martin in the Fields, London. He also appeared as one of the ‘3 Phantoms’ singing Music Of The Night at West End Live in Trafalgar Square in 2022.
Throughout the course of his career, he has appeared multiple times on Elaine Paige On Sunday on BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio Kent and BBC Radio York.
Ashley has had the good fortune to work with leading creatives and practitioners in the theatre, including Andrew Lloyd Webber, Claude Michel- Schoenberg, Hal Prince, Dame Gillian Lynne, Sir Cameron Mackintosh, Dame Maureen Lipman, Maria Friedman, Brian Conley, Carrie Hope Fletcher, Maury Yeston and David Zippel.
He has worked as a guest entertainer on some of the world’s most luxury ocean liners and is a member of a cappella group Shantify, enjoying two runs at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and a brief stint at the Ambassador’s Theatre in the West End.
Ashley was delighted to appear in To Maury, With Love at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in celebration of Maury Yeston’s 80th birthday in February this year.
Since 2023, Ashley has lived in Buxton in the Peak District with his wife and two young children, building a career in education. He has taught at prestigious northern institutions, including serving as director of music at St Bede’s College, Manchester, and head of performing arts at Beech Hall School, Macclesfield, and he is a guest lecturer at The Hammond School in Chester and KTCo in Castle Donington.
He is also an accredited partner for Derbyshire Music Partnership and has become part of its body of staff, aiming to build opportunities and access to singing and music across Derbyshire.
Soprano Jennifer Coleman: Making her third York Proms appearance on Sunday
GUEST soprano Jennifer Coleman will be returning to Museum Gardens after earlier York Proms appearances in 2019 and 2023, when she took on the more classic soprano songs and the finale in the Night At The Musicals-themed show.
Royal College of Music graduate Jennifer’s performance career has spanned opera, concerts, television and recitals.
As of August 2025, she is a full-time chorus member of the Royal Ballet and Opera (formerly the Royal Opera House) in Covent Garden, London. In 2026, she is delighted to be covering the role of First Bridesmaid in the Royal Opera’s production of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro and she also covered the soprano solo in Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms for the Royal Ballet.
In the 2025/26 season with RBO, Jennifer will perform in Tosca, Les Vêpres Siciliennes, Die Zauberflöte, Ariodante, Turandot, Traviata, Boris Godunov, Peter Grimes, Samson & Delilah, Le Nozze di Figaro, I Puritani and La Boheme.
From 2018 to 2025, Jennifer was a full-time soprano chorister with Opera Ballet Vlaanderen (OBV) (International Opera Awards: Best Opera Company 2019) in Antwerp and Ghent, Belgium. Productions ranged from Mozart to Philip Glass to Wagner.
For OBV, she performed as a soloist in Verdi’s Libera Me from Requiem in Choeurs in 2022, Brahms’s Deutsches Requiem, Schreker’s Der Schmied von Gent, La Cugina in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, cover Giovanna in Verdi’s Ernani and a spoken solo in Halevy’s La Juive.
Jennifer completed her undergraduate training at the Royal Northern College, Manchester, then graduated with distinction from the Masters of Music and Diploma course at the Royal College of Music, London, where she was a Theo Max van der Beugel scholar.
In 2016, she won a Musical Odessey Prize; in 2017, she won the Hatfield Festival Voice Competition and was a Britten-Pears Young Artist.
Her operatic roles have included First Bridesmaid in Le Nozze di Figaro (cover, Royal Opera); Theodora in Handel’s Theodora (RCM Oratorio Society); Pamina, Mozart’s The Magic Flute (St John’s Opera); Taumann/Dew Fairy, Hänsel und Gretel (RCMIOS); Mabel , The Pirates Of Penzance; Frasquita, Carmen; 2nd Niece, Peter Grimes (Dartington International); Priestess, Gluck’s Iphigenie en Tauride (Euphonia Opera); Noga, Tom Smail’s Electric Blue (Tête-à-Tête) and Vixen, Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen (RCM Scenes).
Concert performances include soprano solos in Bach’s St John Passion, Brahms’ Deutsches Requiem, Handel’s The Messiah and Dixit Dominus, Purcell’s Come Ye Sons Of Art, Fili in Handel’s bilingual Acis And Galatea (Snape Maltings) and Elsie Suddaby in Vaughan-Williams’ Serenade To Music.
Among further highlights, she reached the semi-finals of Belgium’s Got Talent with her opera duo, toured the world for six months as the resident opera singer aboard The Silver Muse and undertook an 11-concert tour of the South of France with the Young Virtuosi Orchestra in 2016.
She performed recitals in Spain as part of the Encuentro de Música y Academia de Santander in 2017, sang on ITV’s The Only Way Is Essex and gave recitals with clarinettist Peter Dec at the Royal Albert Hall, Kings Place, Victoria & Albert Museum and Royal Academy of Art, London.
Naming her dream roles, Jennifer picks: Musetta (La Boheme); Leila (Bizet’s Pearl Fishers); Cleopatra (Handel’s Giulio Cesare); Cunegonda (Bernstein’s Candide); Eliza Doolittle (Lerner and Loewe’s My Fair Lady) and, most especially, Mary Poppins (the Sherman Brothers’ Mary Poppins).
When she is not singing, Jennifer generally can be found at Parkrun, drinking tea out of china teacups or tucking into delicious Belgian chocolates.
Rebecca Newman: York Proms co-founder and organiser
Sunday’s York Proms programme
RUN as ever by classical chart-topping York soprano Rebecca Newman, Sunday’s York Proms will feature music from the world of classical and opera, film soundtracks and show songs.
“This year we have invested a bit more into the stage show, with a larger instrumental line-up in the orchestra to support these great singers, and also to allow us to take on some of the bigger film pieces, like works by Star Wars composer John Williams,” says Rebecca.
“We’ve always been restricted by the size of the venue and stage, but this year we’ve pushed the boat out a bit more and we hope our audience enjoys it.”
Tickets are on sale in advance at www.yorkproms.com or at the Visit York Information Centre. Attendees are allowed to bring food and drink, including alcohol, plus picnic chairs (which helps to keep down costs). Food and drink be will be available on site on the day, with a bar, hot and cold food and drinks, treats, and more. No tables or trolleys are permitted on the main lawn.
Please note, NO tickets will be sold on the gate. Previous years’shows have sold out, so prompt booking is advised.
Fast Track tickets have sold out; gates for these ticket holders will open at the Marygate entry at 5pm. Gates for all other ticket holders will open on Museum Street at 5.30pm, after the Fast Track queue has entered.
Wheelchair spaces can be booked after booking a disabled plus carer ticket via the website.
Entertainment will start from around 6pm and the evening show will begin at 7.30pm, climaxing with a low-noise fireworks finale from 10pm to 10.20pm.