About York Proms
Guest Soloists
Ashley Stilburn - Tenor
After leaving his beloved hometown of York in 2011, Ashley graduated from Guildford School of Acting in 2014 with a 1st Class BA (Hons) degree in Musical Theatre and the award for ‘Best Performance in a Musical.’
Ashley joined the West End cast of Les Miserables where he played the role of Feuilly and Enjolras. He then went on to appear as Raoul in The Phantom of the Opera (Her Majesty’s Theatre); 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 London’s West End. Ashley also appeared as Charles Clarke in the UK & International tour of Titanic – the Musical and subsequently returned to the West End production of The Phantom of the Opera where he played both The Phantom and Raoul. Ashley’s varied concert work includes West End Men: Unplugged Live from Park Theatre and he has appeared multiple times on Elaine Paige on Sunday on BBC Radio 2.
Since 2023, Ashley has lived in Buxton in the Peak District with his wife and two young children, and enjoyed building a career in education.
Jennifer Coleman - Soprano
Since August 2025, British/Irish Soprano Jennifer Coleman is a full-time chorus member of The Royal Ballet and Opera (formerly The Royal Opera House) in Covent Garden, London.
In 2026 Jennifer is delighted to be covering the role of First Bridesmaid for the Royal Opera, in their production of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, she also covered the soprano solo in Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms for The Royal Ballet.
In the 25/26 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. Prior to this, from 2018 until 2025, Jennifer was a full-time soprano chorister with Opera Ballet
Vlaanderen (International Opera Awards: Best Opera Company 2019) in Antwerp and Ghent, Belgium. Their productions ranged vastly through a variety of operas with composers from Mozart to Philip Glass to Wagner. For OBV, she performed as a soloist in Verdi’s “Libera me” from Requiem in Choeurs 2022, Brahms’ Deutsches Requiem, Schreker’ 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 is a diverse performer whose career spans opera, concerts, tv, and recitals. Jennifer graduated with distinction from the Masters of Music and Diploma at the Royal College of Music, London, where she was a Theo Max van der Beugel Scholar. Prior to this, she completed her undergraduate training at the Royal Northern College of Music
in Manchester. She was a Britten-Pears Young Artist 2017, winner of The Hatfield Festival Voice Competition 2017, and of a 2016 Musical Odessey Prize. In 2019 and 2023 she was thrilled to headline for the York Proms as soprano soloist.
Operatic roles include: First Bridesmaid in Le Nozze di Figaro (cover, Royal Opera), Theodora in Handel’s Theodora (RCM Oratorio society), Pamina in 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 in Gluck's Iphigenie en Tauride (Euphonia Opera), Noga in Tom Smail's Electric Blue (Tête-à Tête), and Vixen in 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-William's Serenade to Music.
Other highlights include reaching the semi-finals of "Belgium's got Talent" with her opera duo, six months touring
the world as the resident opera singer aboard The Silver Muse 17/18, an 11 concert tour of the South of France with the Young Virtuosi Orchestra 2016, recitals in Spain as part of the Encuentro de Música y Academia de Santander 2017, singing on ITV's "The Only way is Essex", and recitals with clarinetist Peter Dec at prestigious London venues including The Royal Albert Hall, Kings Place, The Victoria & Albert Museum, and The Royal Academy of Art.
When she’s not singing, Jennifer can generally be found at Parkrun,
drinking tea out of china teacups, or tucking into some delicious Belgian
chocolates.