Ashley Riches is a member of the Jette Parker Young Artists programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Previously he studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and English at Cambridge University, where he was a member of the King’s College Chapel Choir under Stephen Cleobury.

Concert appearances include the UK premiere of Shostakovich’s Orango with Esa-Pekka  and the RPO, Messiah in Symphony Hall, Birmingham with Stephen Cleobury, Mass in B Minor with Arcangelo at Flanders Festival in Ghent, Belshazzar’s Feast with David Temple at the RFH, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with Sir Roger Norrington, Verdi Requiem at the Royal Albert Hall and Winchester Cathedral, Handel L’Allegro with the Gabrieli Consort at St John’s, Smith Square and in Beaune, Mozart Requiem with David Hill and the Bach Choir, Britten’s War Requiem with Jan Latham-Koenig and Novaya Opera, Moscow, and Handel’s Israel in Egypt at Dartington with Jonathan Cohen.

Operatic appearances include the title roles in Eugene Onegin (Ryedale Festival) and Don Giovanni; Marcello and Schaunard (La Bohème), Aeneas (Dido and Aeneas), Father (Hansel and Gretel), Tarquinius (The Rape of Lucretia), Sid (Albert Herring), Demetrius (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and Ibn-Hakia (Iolanta) and The Fairy Queen with Paul McCreesh and the Gabrieli Consort, Polyphemus (Acis and Galatea) with Paul McCreesh and Claudio (Béatrice and Bénédict) with Robin Ticciati and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. In November 2012 he made his debut at the ROH performing with Roberto Alagna in a Gala Concert and appeared as Salieri in Rimsky Korsakov’s Mozart and Salieri with the Jette Parker Young Artists.

He has given song recitals at Wigmore Hall, Barbican Hall, the City of London Festival, Chelsea Schubert Festival and Ludlow Festival and has recorded Poulenc Chansons Gaillardes with Graham Johnson for Hyperion. He recently sang several Handel arias for a David Starkey TV series Monarchy and Music with the AAM and has recorded Pilate (St John Passion) with Richard Egarr.