Falstaff

Director
Born Venice
Training Cà Foscari University, Venice, Paolo Grassi Theatre School, Milan
Awards 2003 Best Opera Production Irish Times Award for Svanda the Bagpiper (Wexford Festival Opera)
Opera Trionfo delle Belle (Rossini Opera Festival), The Little Sweep (Luglio Musicale Trapanese), Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Maggio Musicale Fiorentino), The Soldier’s Tale, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Carnival of the Animals, Noye’s Fludde (Auditorium di Milano)
Theatre Una notte, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Amadeus (Teatro Franco Parenti, Milano), Quartetto Campanile (Teatro al Parco, Mestre), La Betìa (Festival Teatro in Campo, Venice)

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.

Wendy was born in Timaru, New Zealand and went on to train at Victoria University of Wellington, RNCM and RCM. In 2005 she was a Cardiff Singer of the World finalist and won the Kathleen Ferrier Award, Royal Overseas League Music Competition and Young Artist Trust in 2003. Opera roles include Isabella/ L’italiana in Algeri (New Zealand Opera); Fiduma/ The Secret Marriage (SO); Innocent/ The Minotaur (ROH); Messenger/ L’Orfeo (ENO); Der Komponist/ Ariadne auf Naxos (Garsington Opera); Varvara/ Katya Kabanova (ON). Concert appearances include Mahler Symphony No. 2 (Zagreb Philharmonic); Mozart Mass in C Minor (RLPO); Song Recital (Wigmore Hall).

Andrew studied at RNCM and St Petersburg Conservatoire. Opera roles include Patsy Love Counts (Almeida Festival); The House of the Gods (Music Theatre Wales); Leporello Don Giovanni (BOC); Falstaff Falstaff (ETO); Ben Selim Dom Sebastien (ROH). Recent concerts include Verdi Requiem (RLPO); Brahms Requiem (RTE Orchestra Dublin); Britten War Requiem (Orchestra de l’Ile de France). Recordings include Michael Berkeley Jane Eyre (Chandos); Stravinsky The Flood (Twentieth Century Classics); Mozart The Marriage of Figaro (BBC TV).

Born Warrington

Training GSMD, NOS, studies with Jacqueline Bremar

Awards John Christie Award and Esso Singer’s Prize (Glyndebourne), International Singer of the Year at the Llangollen International Eistedfodd, Harold Rosenthal Opera Award.

Opera – Alice Ford Falstaff (ETO),Tosca Tosca (ETO) Madame Butterfly Madame Butterfly (HPO), Countess The Marriage of Figaro (GTO, ETO and HPO), Donna Anna (GTO) Mimì La Bohème (Opera Zuid), Cleone Ermione (GFO), Micaela Carmen (RAH, WNO), Pamina The Magic Flute (ENO), Nancy Silas Marner (City of Birmingham Touring Opera), Tatyana Eugene Onegin (HPO)

Concert Berlioz L’Enfance du Christ (Helsinki Philharmonic), Beethoven Symphony no. 9 (Helsinki Philharmonic), Mahler Symphony no. 2 (Kaplan and London Philharmonic) Four Last songs (Strauss) Mansfield Street Concert series. Italian Song recital (Verdi and Bellini) Mansfield Street Concert series. Opera Gala – Lakeland Symphonia with Wyn Davis.

TV / Recordings Cleone Ermione (Glyndeborne and Channel 4), Damigella and Virtu L’Incoronazione di Poppea (BBC Wales) Title role in Cornet Christoff Rilke’s songs of Love and death (Siegfried Matthus) BBC radio 4

Born Port of Spain, Trinidad
Training GSMD, RNCM, NOS
Awards Peter Moores / Lord Pitt Foundation Scholarship to RNCM, Sybill Tutton Awards, Alexander Young Competition second prize
Opera Bardolph Falstaff (ETO), cover Otello Otello (GFO), cover Canio I Pagliacci (WNO), Canio I Pagliacci (English Pocket Opera), Florestan Fidelio, Drum-Major Wozzeck, Prodigal Son The Prodigal Son (all Birmingham Opera Company)
Concert Verdi Requiem, Verdi Otello (Royal Festival Hall)
Recordings / TV Don Jose Carmen and Otello Otello (Opera Works, BBC 2), Florestan Fidelio (South Bank Show)

Born Belfast
Training ENO Baylis
Opera Macduff Macbeth (Surrey Opera), Ferrando Così fan tutte (London Opera Players), Quint/Prologue The Turn of the Screw (Pigott’s Music Camp), Basilio/Curzio The Marriage of Figaro (Palace Opera), Alfred Die Fledermaus (Tête à Tête)
Concert Rossini Petite Messe Solennelle (Barnes Choral Society), Berlioz L’Enfance du Christ (Kensington Choral Society), Mendelssohn Elijah (Putney Choral Society)

Baritone
Born Cardiff
Training RWCMD, GSMD
Awards Sir Geraint Evans Memorial Prize, MOCSA Young Welsh Singer Competition, National Mozart Competition, Royal National Eisteddford Blue Riband
Opera Jacob Joseph (Bill Kenwright Ltd), Black Bob The Little Sweep (Alfresco Productions), Leoporello Don Giovanni and Mefistopheles Faust (Freiburg Opera), Basilio The Barber of Seville (WNO)
Concert Beethoven Symphony no 9 (Royal Philharmonic Orchestra), Berlioz La Damnation de Faust (London Symphony Orchestra), Mendelsohn Elijah (National Chamber Orchestra of Wales)
Recordings Gran Sacerdote Nabucco (BBC, WNO), King of Clubs Love for Three Oranges (Freiburg Opera, Südwest FUMK TV)

Born Bolton
Training Manchester University, RNCM
Awards Ricordi Prize for Opera
Opera Ford Falstaff (ETO), Don Magnifico La Cenerentola (Garden Opera), Michele/Tonio Tabarro/Pagliacci (ON), Sharpless Madame Butterfly (Opera Project), Rigoletto Rigoletto (OHP) + one?
Concert Handel Messiah (Liverpool Philharmonic), Puccini Madame Butterfly (Liverpool Philharmonic), Tchaikovsky Maid of Orleans (BBC Philharmonic)
Recordings Martin In Terra Pax (Swiss Radio)

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 Bedford
Training RAM
Awards Leverhulme Award (RAM), Sybil Tutton Award, Kathie Thomas Prize
Opera Tytania A Midsummer Night’s Dream (BYO), Flamina Il Mondo della Luna and Amore The Coronation of Poppea (RAM), Vixen The Cunning Little Vixen (Surrey Opera), Sabina Adriano in Siria (Classical Opera Company)
Concert Mozart Grabmusick (Wigmore Hall), Lunchtime Recital (ROH Linbury Studio), Handel Acis and Galatea (St Martin’s-in-the-Field)
Recordings Britten Albert Herring (BBC Radio 3 and Chandos, cond. Hickox)

Born London
Opera Notar Die Rosenkavalier (ROH), Bartolo The Marriage of Figaro (WNO), Micha The Bartered Bride (GFO), Bonzo Madam Butterfly (Scottish Opera), Avocat Un Re in Asscolto (Geneva)
Concert Handel The Messiah (Düsseldorf), Haydn The Creation (Stoke on Trent), Elgar The Dream of Gerontius (Leeds)