Yorkshire-born Steven Goulden studied at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama with John Mitchinson and Gerald Wragg. He was awarded the Dolan Evans Memorial Award for Most Promising Male Singer in his first year; further awards soon followed including the Laura Ashley Foundation Award, the Heber-Percy Scholarship, the BT Scholarship, the William Appleby Prize and a Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama Bursary. Steven graduated with distinction and later received further vocal coaching from noted tenors Nicolai Gedda and Dennis O’Neill. He also studied with ENO principal baritone Michael de Costa.
Steven has appeared as a soloist at venues including Wigmore Hall, St John’s Smith Square, St David’s Hall (Cardiff), the Royal Concert Hall (Nottingham), the Brangwyn Hall (Swanswea), the Royal Festival Hall (London), the Birmingham Symphony Hall, Llandaff and Wells Cathedrals and Die Doelen (Netherlands). He has sung under the baton of some of the nation’s finest conductors including Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Mark Elder, Ivor Bolton, Richard Hickox and Anthony Negus, including a performance of L’enfant et les sortilèges (Ravel) under the direction of Sir Simon Rattle with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
His operatic roles include Luigi (Il tabarro – Puccini), Nemorino (L’elisir d’amore – Donizetti), Captain Macheath (Britten’s realisation of The Beggar’s Opera), the title role in Britten’s Peter Grimes, Tamino (The Magic Flute – Mozart) and Vašek (The Bartered Bride – Smetana) for the Cardiff Festival. He also created the role of Sergeant Forbes in the premier of children’s opera Sam the Sparrow and the Coca-Cola Well written by Mervyn Burtch.
Steven regularly guests as a soloist with choral and musical societies nationwide, including appearances with Hereford Choral Society, the Sheffield Chorale, Churchdown Choral Society, Peterborough Choral Society and Hull Choral Union, and has performed with groups including Welsh Sinfonia, Hallé Orchestra and the English Camerata. He has appeared at Llandaff, St David’s, St Chad’s and Wells Cathedrals in works such as Bach’s Magnificat with John Lubbock, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Hymn of Praise, Vaughan Williams’s Serenade to Music, Handel’s Messiah, Judas Maccabaeus, Israel in Egypt and Samson, Orff’s Carmina Burana, and Haydn’s Creation and Nelson Mass.
In addition to oratorio work, Steven is a regular on the recital platform with repertoire ranging from lieder, art song, opera and operetta to jazz and musical theatre. He has given a critically-acclaimed series of recitals with pianists Antony Saunders and Keith Swallow, and has performed at the Cheltenham, Lakeland, Jersey and Southwark Festivals. Other performances have included an operatic evening at London’s renowned Carlton Club and a series of open-air opera galas and Proms in the Park concerts. Current projects include a concert tour across northern cathedrals and a series of recitals to mark the centenary of the First World War.