Soprano Paula Downes was a Choral Scholar at Trinity College, Cambridge, and a member of the National Youth Choir of Great Britain. She has since sung with The Sixteen, Philharmonia Voices, The Handel and Haydn Society, and Emmanuel Music. As a soloist, she has sung with numerous Choral Societies and Orchestras in the UK and USA, including performances under Stephen Cleobury in King's Chapel, Cambridge and under Sarah MacDonald in St John's Smith Square, London. She has also recorded as a soloist with the Firebird Ensemble in Boston, USA, for Navona Records, has performed opera roles for Opera East Productions and for the Thomas Hardy Festival, and has performed as a recitalist in venues including Harvard University, MIT Chapel, The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge and the Holburne Museum, Bath. Most recently, along with her husband, conductor and pianist, David Trippett, she has been organising and singing in recording projects of music by her late father, English Composer, Andrew Downes, with the Philharmonia Orchestra for Regent Records, and with The Chapel Choir of Robinson College, Cambridge, for Prima Facie, all to be released in 2026. Paula is a regular dep with Ely Cathedral Choir, where her two daughters are choristers.