The St Mary's Team are starting their 2026 Fundraising season with a new venture, staging a Valentine's Day concert for the first time.

The upgrade to facilities is nearly complete but the appeal continues for now as they ensure a sound financial basis for keeping the Church open for the community.

The new plant room and improved heating has already been a great success for the very busy season leading up to Christmas. Most of Hitchin's schools held carol services and the Advent and Christmas Eve services saw congregations of up to 600 at a time.

February 14th will see a early evening serenade of romance and love in all its' forms from Opera, Golden Age Musical Theatre and Jazz Classics with songs and arias made famous by The Three Tenors, Montserrat Caballé, Alfie Boe, The Rat Pack, Vera Lynn and more... Featuring tenor James Schouten and mezzo-soprano Charlotte Bateman. 

James Schouten grew up in Hitchin and discovered a passion for music at Hitchin Boys' School playing violin, viola, piano, guitar, bass guitar and singing. He continued at Goldsmiths' College, UoL studying as a classical baritone and composer and then specialised in Vocal Studies at the Royal College of Music. He then returned to the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland's Alexander Gibson Opera School retraining his voice towards the goal of singing as a 'Jugendlichheldentenor' (young dramatic tenor).

James has performed with notable companies such as Welsh National Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Grange Park Opera, Regent's Opera and Garsington Opera and won 1^st Place 2024 Mastersingers Competition for young Wagner singers, where he was also awarded the Audience Prize. He has also appeared on television singing in 'Howard's End' (BBC) and in 'The Duchess and Her Magical Kingdom' (Channel 4) where he had a residency singing for the Duchess of Northumberland. He returned to Hitchin during the pandemic where he turned to busking in order to get some practice and sort rent during a difficult time for performers! This will be the first concert James has sung in concert in Hitchin since leaving HBS and he's delighted to be performing back home with Charlotte.

Recent engagements for James include the title role in Oedipus Rex (New Palace Opera), Loge Das Rheingold (Regents' Opera), Alfred Die Fledermaus (Kentish Opera), The Architect Taj Mahal (Grange Park Opera), Bacchus Ariadne auf Naxos (Trentino Music Festival), and Le Prince Charmant Cendrillon (RCS Opera).

Charlotte Bateman was born and raised in the New Forest, with her first performance being Marta in The Sound of Music aged 7! Though not as musically multi-talented as James, she also plays flute and piano, and was a scholar at the Junior Royal Academy of Music as a first study mezzo soprano. She studied Music at the University of Bristol before heading to the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland's Alexander Gibson Opera School, where she also completed her Masters. Having moved to Hitchin in 2024, she is thrilled to be performing in the beautiful St Mary's for the first time.

Charlotte's most recent performances include Tisbe La Cenerentola (Hampstead Garden Opera), Idamante Idomeneo (RCS Opera), Mrs Nolan The Medium (RCS Opera), Dorothée Cendrillon (RCS Opera), Dorabella Così fan tutte (LoveOpera), and Imperial Commissioner Madame Butterfly (Opera Bohemia).

James and Charlotte met at the opera school at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and regularly perform together nationally. They sang together at The Grange Festival's 2024 season and their most recent private gala performances together include a partnership with Rolex, a celebration for the former chairwoman of the FA, Madhurst Festival in Midhurst and repeat performances for St. Paul's Club in Birmingham. 

Their upcoming engagements in the 2025/26 operatic season include Froh and Flosshilde in Das Rheingold for Grange Park Opera's highly anticipated new Ring Cycle, and Narraboth in Salome for Regents' Opera. James will also sing the title role in Regents' Opera's Parsifal next season."