Music in the University
Date: Thursday 29 January 2026
Time: 13:10 - 14:00
Venue: University Concert Hall
Category: Concerts and music

This event is free! Booking is via Eventbrite: please follow the link below to reserve your space.

Lea Shaw, Mezzo-Soprano

Hailed as a 'Rising Star' by Opera Now magazine, Glasgow-based American mezzosoprano Lea Shaw was Education Artist in Residence at Scottish Opera (previously an Emerging and then Associate Artist) where roles have included Flora (La traviata), Zerlina Don Giovanni, Mercédès (Carmen), Hänsel (Hänsel & Gretel), and Hermia (A Midsummer Night's Dream). In the 2024/25 season she performed Kormorna (The Makropulos Affair) and made her company debut with English National Opera as The Monitoress (Suor Angelica).

In the 2025/26 season she makes her role debut as Concepción (L’heure espagnole) at the Lammermuir Festival with Scottish Opera, performs the role of The Sorceress Dido & Aeneas with Bjarte Eike and the Royal Northern Sinfonia, and makes her company debut with Welsh National Opera in Blaze of Glory!. She has collaborated with artists such as Marin Alsop, Martyn Brabbins, John Butt, Sir Andrew Davies, Sir Thomas Allen, and Dame Janet Baker, and has created works in close collaboration with Stuart Macrae and James Macmillan.

Lea graduated from Royal Conservatoire of Scotland's Alexander Gibson Opera School where she was awarded the silver medal by the Musician's Company. She was the recipient of the First and Audience prizes at the 2023 Northern Aldborough Festival New Voices Competition. Lea is a Samling Artist and is the founder of The Small Magician, a fully accessible, inclusive, trauma-aware vocal education resource.

José Javier Ucendo Malo, Pianist

A Collaborative pianist and Répétiteur, Javier was the Scottish Opera Emerging Artist Répétiteur ’23/25, and is a Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme alumnus. A recent graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Opera School and the Estonian Music Academy, he combines his work as accompanist and vocal coach at the RCS with a busy freelance schedule including Grange Park Opera (Falstaff, Otello and Werther in 2023), the Royal Danish National Opera (La Bohème, Un Ballo in Maschera and Don Giovanni in 2021) and Scottish Opera (recently Marx in London, La Traviata, Don Pasquale and The Makropulos Affair) among others.

As collaborative pianist, he has recently participated in Oxford Lieder, Westbourne, Newcastle University and St. Andrews University concert series and Labeaume en Musiques festival as artist in residence. He has been awarded with the Elgar-Spedding Lieder Prize, the Sam Hutchings Accompanist Fellowship, the Alex Menzies Accompanist Prize and James Geddes Bursary for Répétiteurs during his studies.

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