Eugene Onegin

James is General Director of ETO and has written original libretti for two operas and translations for three others, as well as several works of fiction.

Operatic work includes Katya Kabanova, Rusalka, Susannah, Eugene Onegin, Orfeo, Jenufa, Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as well as Teseo and Alcina (ETO); Ariodante, Erismena, Flavio, The Cunning Little Vixen (ETO and OTC); The Marriage of Figaro (RCM and ETO); Tolomeo (London Handel Festival/ ETO); Tamerlano, Amadigi, Rodelinda, L’elisir d’amore, Katya Kabanova and The Rake’s Progress (OTC); Cinderella (De Vlaamse Opera/ Transparant); Don Giovanni (Canadian Opera Company); La Voix humaine (Teatro Nacional São João, Oporto); staging of Kurt Weill songs (Culturgest, Lisbon); La Spinalba (Casa da Musica, Porto), The Cunning Little Vixen (Moravian National Theatre, Brno).

Michael performs a wide and varied operatic repertoire, working at the ROH, Covent Garden, ENO and ETO with regular appearances at festivals including Aldeburgh, Buxton and Montepulciano. As a member of the music staff of the Wiener Staatsoper, he assisted Claudio Abbado and worked closely with many of the world’s leading singers. He has conducted extensively throughout Germany notably Kassel, Wiesbaden and Mannheim, holding the position of resident staff conductor and as Associate Conductor for the London Handel Society, he has introduced many rarely performed Handel operas to the London stage. His recording with tenor Alfie Boe and the Orchestra of SO will be released this autumn.
Michael is Music Director for ETO and Director of Opera at RCM.

Designs for theatre, opera and dance. Joanna’s opera engagements include The Rape of Lucretia (RCM); Eugene Onegin, Falstaff, Alcina, Le nozze di Figaro, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Cunning Little Vixen (ETO). She has also worked with the ROH, SO, OTC Dublin. Joanna’s designs for theatre include The Young Vic, Hampstead Theatre, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Salisbury Playhouse and The Lyric Hammersmith. She designed The Noise of Time for Theatre de Complicité at the Lincoln Centre NY, Barbican Centre London and European Festivals. Dance designs include Cholmondeleys, Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company and London Contemporary Dance Theatre. She is Senior Lecturer in Scenography at Central School of Speech and Drama.

Born
Connecticut, USA

Training
Carnegie Mellon University; Balliol College, Oxford University; Juilliard School of Music

Awards
2005 Gerda Lissner Award; 2004 and 2002 Lee Schaenen Vocal Competition Winner; 2003 Liederkranz Foundation Scholarship

Opera
Lazuli L’Etoile (Opera Boston); Ms. Jessel The Turn of the Screw (The Kennedy Centre); Rosina Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Lake George Opera); Mercedes Carmen (New York City Opera/Dallas Opera); Hansel Hansel & Gretel (Palm Beach Opera); Cherubino Le Nozze di Figaro (Glimmerglass Opera)

Concert
Mozart Le nozze di Figaro (National Philharmonic); Schoenberg Pierrot Lunaire (Alice Tully Hall); Milton Babbitt Philomel (New York MOMA)

Recordings
Agethe in Philip Glass’ Les Enfants Terribles (Euphoria Label)

Born
Glasgow

Training
RCM, RSAMD

Awards
President Emirita Award (2 Years Running), Samling Foundation

Opera
Paquette Candide (La Scala Milan and Theatre du Chatelet); Susanna Le Nozze di Figaro (ON); Gretel Hansel und Gretel (ON); Musetta La Boheme (Opera Zuid)

Concert
Britten Spring Symphony (Canterbury Cathedral); Gilbert and Sullivan Variety Programme (Bournmouth Symphony Orchestra); Vivaldi Dixit Dominus (Dresdener Kammerchor)

Born
Wolverhampton

Training
GSMD

Awards
2006 London Handel Singing Competition (2nd Place); 2006 Thelma King Award (2nd Place); Royal Overseas League Competition ‘Most Promising Singers’ Award; Winner of the Concordia Foundation of English Singers & Speakers Competition

Opera
Zerlina Don Giovanni (Festival, Portugal); Nimmy and Mary Push! (Tête-à-tête); Gretel Hansel & Gretel (Opera! Festival, Holland); Idamante (cover) Idomeneo (Glyndebourne Touring Opera); Brigitte Iolanta & Dorabella Cosi fan tutte (GSMD)

Concert/Recital
Bach St Matthew Passion (London Handel Festival); Purcell Faery Queen (Aldeburgh Festival); Clark Silver Swan (Edinburgh Fringe Festival); Three Choirs Festival; Purcell Room; Ravinia Festival (Chicago); Barbican Hall

William studied at Durham University and went on to RADA where he took his MA in Directing and Dramaturgy. He has directed Ghosts (The Young Vic); Kean (Hori Pro and Thelma Holt, Tokyo); Scenes from An Execution (Hackney Empire); Two Noble Kinsmen (RSC). In 2010 William will direct Don Pasquale for ETO.

Lina Markeby studied at GSMD. She has performed Idamante/ Idomeneo (Chelsea Opera Group); Idamante/ Idomeneo and Sesto/ La clemenza di Tito (Mozart galas with John Eliot Gardiner/ English Baroque Soloists); Third Sprite/ Rusalka and Carmen/ La Tragédie de Carmen (Wexford Festival); Messagiera/ Ninfa/ L’Orfeo (Drottningholms Slottsteater). Lina’s work with William Christie includes the roles of Doris/ Zaide/ L’Europe galante (Ambronay Baroque Academy), a solo in his recent tour of Idomeneo and Second Woman/ Dido and Aeneas (Wiener Festwochen 2006, Opera Comique 2008, Wiener Festwochen 2009, De Nederlandse Opera 2009). Future plans include Dorabella/ Cosi fan tutte and Cherubino/ Le nozze di Figaro (L’Atelier Lyrique de Tourcoing/ Jean-Claude Malgoire in Tourcoing and Paris 2010).

Jonathan is from Liverpool and studied at Exeter University and GSMD. Roles include Tolomeo/ Tolomeo (ETO), Bertarido/ Rodelinda (GFO); Amadigi/ Amadigi (Ireland, Paris, NYork); Nireno/ Giulio Cesare (ROH); Les Oiseax de passage (Teatro communale, Bologna); Trinculo/ The Tempest (Strasbourg); Orfeo/ L’Orfeo (Osaka). In concert Jonathan has performed with AAM, OAE, RLPO, RSNO, EBS, Gabrieli Consort, Ulster Orchestra under such conductors as Gardiner, Hickox, Parry, Fischer, Glover, Parrott, Mortensen, Bolton, Bicket. Recordings include Mattheus-Passion (Miller/ Goodwin); Agrippina, (Gardiner); Buxtehude Cantatas (Immerseel); La conversione di Clodoveo (Gester); Israel in Babylon (Fontaine).
Jonathan is baroque specialist at BBIOS. Conducting appearances include Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater for artist Dorothy Cross/ OTC Dublin; Teseo (ETO). Plans include Orfeo (Akademie fur Alte Musik im Saarland) and Flavio (Lucca).

Opera and theatre work: Choreographer: The Cunning Little Vixen (ETO, OTC); Sweeney Todd (RAM); Who Killed Mr Drum (Treatment Theatre), Jenufa, Eugene Onegin, Susannah and Don Giovanni ( ETO); Casanova (Told by an Idiot); Tartuffe and The Hypochondric (Liverpool Playhouse) Director: Hänsel und Gretel (Stowe Opera); Jephtha (ETO). Le nozze di Figaro and Eugene Onegin (Iford Arts)
Bernadette’s career as a dancer and performer includes working for Tanztheater Wuppertal, ARC Dance Company, Siobhan Davies, Aletta Collins, London Contemporary Dance Theatre, Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre, Corp Feasa and many leading choreographers and directors in dance, opera and theatre.

A graduate of RNCM, Michael’s operatic roles during college included Tom Rakewell/The Rake’s Progress, Sandy and First Officer/The Lighthouse and Ruggero/La Rondine. He was the 2006 winner of the Emmy Destinn Award for Young Singers and a prizewinner at the Mezzo Television International Opera Competition and Festival 2008. Operatic roles include Tamino/The Magic Flute (ENO); Boris/Katya Kabanova (SO); First Armed Man/The Magic Flute (ENO and OHP); Lensky/Eugene Onegin, Steva/Jenufa and Cavaradossi/Tosca (ETO); Judge Danforth/The Crucible (Dicapo Opera, New York); Don José/Carmen, Rodolfo/La bohème and Jenik/The Bartered Bride (Mid Wales Opera). In concert and broadcast Michael has performed with RLPO, RPO, English Chamber Orchestra and BBC Concert Orchestra at venues including Barbican Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Mezzo-Soprano
Born London
Training Arts Educational Schools, GSMD
Awards Sybil Tutton Trust, Ian Fleming Award, Sir James Caird Travelling Scholarship, Countess of Munster
Opera Smeton Anna Bolena (HM Tower of London Festival), Marcellina The Marriage of Figaro (Cork Opera), Old Sister 1 Babette’s Feast (Linbury, ROH), Nenila The Enchantress (Grange Park Opera), Cherubino The Marriage of Figaro (WNO)
Concert Bach St Matthew Passion (Salisbury Cathedral), Saint-Saens Christmas Oratorio (Academy of St Martin’s in the Field), Handel Jeptha (Darmstadt Hofkapelle)
Recordings Fortuna Coronation of Poppea (BBC, WNO)

Born London
Training RAM
Opera Frugola Il Tabarro (WNO), Auntie Peter Grimes, Katisha The Mikado (both ENO), Innkeeper’s Wife The Cunning Little Vixen (City of Birmingham Touring Opera), Filipyevna Eugene Onegin (ON)
Concert Elgar Sea Pictures (City of Southampton Symphony Orchestra), Verdi Requiem (Singapore Symphony Orchestra), Beethoven Symphony no. 9 (Hallé Orchestra)
Recordings Robert Saxton Caritas (Collins Classics), various musicals including The Sound of Music, Carousel, Fiddler on the Roof, South Pacific and a Gershwin album (Carlton Label)

Born
Reading

Training
RNCM; NOS

Awards
Prizewinner 2003 Cardiff Singer of the World; 2nd Prize 2000 Kathleen Ferrier Awards

Opera
Eugene Onegin Eugene Onegin (ETO); Henry Kissinger Nixon in China (ENO); Papageno Magic Flute, Schaunard La Boheme and Falke Die Fledermaus (SO as Company Principal Artist); Nick Shadow Rake’s Progress (GFO); Escamillo Carmen (Castleward and Cork Opera House)

Concerts
Rosenblatt Recital (St John’s, Smith Square); Walton Belshazzar’s Feast (Hallé); Britten War Requiem (Bydgoscz/Filarmonika Pomorska); Bernstein Candide (Edinburgh Festival); Bellini La Straniera (LPO)

Recordings
Fauré Requiem; A Masked Ball, Madam Butterfly and The Carmelites (Chandos); Il Diluvio Universale, La Straniera (Opera Rara)

Future Plans
Papageno (OHP); Alfio Cavalleria Rusticana and Shelkalov Boris Godunov (ENO); Renato Ballo in maschera (Reisopera); Belcore L’elisir d’amore (WNO);