Fantastic Mr Fox

Recent theatre performances include appearances at The London Coliseum in the presence of HRH Prince Andrew, The Hong Kong Arts Festival and a return visit to Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu.

A devoted advocate of new music, he has collaborated with The Opera Group, Opera W11 and Birmingham Contemporary Music Group on new operas by Edward Rushton, Julian Philips, Stuart Hancock, and Jonathan Dove.

Recent opera engagements have included assisting on The Queen of Spades (Opera North) and Salome (Singapore Lyric Opera).

Previously for ETO, he has conducted The Marriage of Figaro, La Clemenza di Tito, Don Pasquale, Fantastic Mr Fox also assisting on A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Born in London, Timothy Carey studied the cello with Casals-pupil, Christopher Bunting in addition to the piano from a young age. He went on to study conducting with Prof. Ilya Musin at the St Petersburg Conservatoire.

Tim read English at Cambridge, then studied singing at the Guildhall and the Munich Hochschule . His performing career included roles in opera and theatre, including work for Opera Factory, Opera 80, ENO, ROH, Opera North and Chichester Festival. His passion for education has led him to devise and direct projects for all the main opera companies, and many others here and abroad. He has led the education work at ETO since 2003, bringing a particular commitment to integrating special and mainstream schools. He has created 3 community operas for ETO: One Breath (Sheffield), A House on the Moon (Wolverhampton) and One Day Two Dawns (Cornwall). He has also written the libretti for several operas for young people, including Voithia and In the Belly of the Horse.

Liam works as a freelance director and choreographer and has gained an international reputation as being one of Britain’s leading Physical Theatre practitioners having directed, choreographed or performed with most of this country’s most influential companies, including Frantic Assembly, Complicité and eight years as a core member of DV8 Physical Theatre. He is Artistic Director of his own company Stan Won’t Dance, with whom he has created five pieces to date. His experience spans productions in West End Musical Theatre, International New Circus and numerous Contemporary Dance commissions. Theatre work includes productions with Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, The Royal National Theatre, Nottingham Playhouse, The Lyric Hammersmith, Birmingham Rep, Northampton Theatre Royal, The Royal Court, Manchester Royal Exchange, The RSC, and five productions at the Library Theatre, Manchester. For ETO, Liam has previously directed Country Matters and The Magic Flute.

Born
Birmingham

Training
Birmingham University
Slade UCL
National Film & Television school

Opera
Productions for Opera Holland Park, Almedia/ENO Opera Festival, Mid Wales Opera, Opera Theatre Company Dublin, Garden Opera, ETO, Pegasus Opera and Opera North

Future
A new Opera to coincide with the Beijing Olympics at Hackney Empire, a UK tour of the play The Dresser, a new play for the Drill Hall and a production of The Shape of Things in Istanbul.

Other
Neil has also worked for both set and costume departments for BBC TV.

Sheffield born, Nicholas Merryweather studied modern languages at University College, London, before training at the Musikhochschule, Köln and on the opera course at GSMD. He was the winner of the Glyndebourne Wessex Award in 2008 and a semi-finalist in the Kathleen Ferrier Award in 2009. Nicholas’s operatic roles include Don Giovanni/ Don Giovanni and Figaro/ Le Nozze di Figaro (Longborough Festival Opera); cover Morales/ Carmen (GOT); Papageno/ The Magic Flute (BYO); Starveling/ A Midsummer Night’s Dream (ETO). Recent concert engagements include Schubert Schwanengesang (Oxford Lieder Festival) and Carmina Burana (Plymouth Philharmonic Choir). He was the soloist on the World Premiere recording of Karl Jenkins’s Armed Man Mass for Peace.

Australian born Miriam trained at the Australian Opera Studio. She made her UK debut with the ETO as Marcellina in their 2010 production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. Other operatic roles include Frog and Woodpecker/ The Cunning Little Vixen (GPO); Dinah/ Trouble in Tahiti (Grimeborn Festival); Meg/ Falstaff (International Foundation of Arts); 3rd Lady/ The Magic Flute, Dorabella/ Cosi fan tutti (both Australian Opera Studio). Recent concert engagements include the role of Bradamante in Handel’s Alcina for Scarlet Opera, solo recitals for Western Australia Opera and Vivaldi’s Gloria (Mirfield Choral Society). She has recorded the documentary soundtrack for The Actor and the President and an ABC Classic FM Broadcast, “Australian Opera Studio Sings Sondheim”.

Martha is currently studying with Janis Kelly at RCM International Opera School and is gratefully supported in her studies by an RCM Scholarship, Sophie’s Silver Lining Fund and the Josephine Baker Trust. Prizes include awards in the RCM Schumann Competition and the Chelsea Schubert Festival. Martha is a Britten-Pears Young Artist, having sung in their 2009 Schumann masterclass season with Malcolm Martineau. Oratorio work includes Vivaldi Gloria, Mozart Coronation Mass, Haydn Nelson Mass and Mendelssohn’s Elijah. Roles include Hansl, Rosina, Florence Pike, Dorabella and Concepcion (RCM Opera Scenes); Zweite Dame/ Die Zauberflote, cover Dog and Hen/ The Cunning Little Vixen, Cupid/ Orpheus in the Underworld (all for RCMIOS); Hänsel/ Hänsel und Gretel (Woodhouse Opera); Dorabella/ Così fan tutte (Woodhouse Opera; Vignette Productions); cover Teodata/ Flavio (ETO).

Stuart Haycock is a graduate of RAM and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Recent engagements include Bardolph/ Falstaff (Mid Wales Opera); Don Curzio/ Le Nozze di Figaro (Garsington Opera); Borsa/ Rigoletto (Iford Arts Festival); the Witch/ Hansel and Gretel (Royal Academy Opera); Ferrando/ Cosi fan tutte (English Chamber Opera); cover Tom Rakewell/ The Rake’s Progress (BYO). Stuart has been an ensemble member with West Australian Opera and a full-time chorister with Opera Australia. He is a recent graduate of the Solti Accademia di Bel Canto in Italy. DVD recordings include Ben Folds Live with West Australian Symphony Orchestra.

Catrine Kirkman graduated with a Masters from The Guildhall School of Music and Drama and continues to study with Jessica Cash. Recent roles include Zerlina/ Don Giovanni (Focus Opera); Tebaldo/ Don Carlo (Midsummer Opera); Susanna/ Figaro, Papagena/ Magic Flute (both Opera Brava); Suor Genovieffa/ Suor Angelica (Midsummer Opera). Catrine performed the solo vocalise in a world premiere by Benjamin Ellin at the opening catwalk show of London Fashion Week 2010. She sings the role of Inn Hostess on the Naxos recording of Edward German’s Tom Jones, and plays the title role in forthcoming cinema release In Love with Alma Cogan (Capriol Films). Future engagements include the role of Laetitia (Sullivan’s The Zoo) for Charles Court Opera in Gettysburg, USA, in June. Catrine has previously appeared with ETO as Barbarina/ Figaro and Moth/ A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Greg studied at Exeter University and the RAM where he performed the roles of Essex/Gloriana, Wilhiem/Mignon and Lenski/Eugene Onegin. His other roles include Acis/Acis and Galatea (Canterbury); Rinuccio/Gianni Schicchi (City Opera, London). In 2007 he gave the premiere performance of Rodney-Bennett’s Lost Songs (London Guitar Festival). Concert performances include Bach’s St Matthew and St John Passions; Stainer’s Crucifixion; Puccini’s Messa di Gloria.

Caryl Hughes, winner of the 2009 Stuart Burrows International Voice Award, was born in Wales and studied at the RAM. A finalist at the 2007 Ferrier Awards, she was awarded the Towyn Roberts scholarship at the 2005 National Eisteddfod. Engagements have included Sonya/ Sonya’s Story (tete-a-tete Festival), Cenerentola/ La Cenerentola (Iford Opera), Yniold/ Pelleas et Melisande (Independent Opera), Flora/ The Enchanted Pig (The Opera Group), Varvara/ Katya Kabanova, Cenerentola/ La Cenerentola (both SO), Teti/ Le nozze di Teti e di Peleo (WNO) and Rosina/ Il barbiere di Siviglia (Armonico Consort). Concert highlights include the Nelson Mass (London Mozart Players). She recently recorded Britten’s Cabaret Songs with Malcolm Martineau, having performed them at the Aix-en-Provence and Aldeburgh Festivals in 2009.

Henry trained at GSMD, the Alexander Gibson Opera School at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and as a Britten-Pears Young Artist. Previous roles include Snug/ A Midsummer Night’s Dream (ETO, Opera de Bauge and BYO); Antonio/ Le Nozze di Figaro (ETO, BYO); Don Alfonso/ Cosi Fan Tutti (Grange Park Opera, Pimlico Opera); Superintendent Budd/ Albert Herring (Co-Opera Co, Dottore); Grenvil/ La Traviata (Opera de Bauge); covered and sang The Mikado/ The Mikado (Carl Rosa Opera, UK and US National Tours); Farmer Boggis/ Fantastic Mr Fox (Chamber Version World Premiere, OHP). Oratorios have included Haydn’s The Creation, Haydn’s Nelson Mass, Mozart’s Requiem, Polyphemus in Handel’s Acis and Galatea at venues including St. Martin’s in the Fields and the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Future plans for 2011 include Perichaud/ La Rondine, Antonio/ Le Nozze di Figaro (OHP).

Mark Wilde studied at the RCM. Roles include Ferrando/ Così fan Tutte (GFO); Frederic/ Pirates of Penzance (ENO); Albert/ Albert Herring (Perth Festival); Il Campanello (Buxton Festival); Ottone/ La Serenissima (BBC Radio 3); Jacquino/ Fidelio (GTO); Seven Deadly Sins (WNO); Cat/ Pinocchio (ON); Ottavio/ Don Giovanni (Mostly Mozart Festival); Male Chorus/ The Rape of Lucretia (European Opera Centre); Giannetto/ La Gazza Ladra, Albafiorita/ Mirandolina (both Garsington); Rudolf/ Euryanthe (Netherlands Opera); Ottavio/ Don Giovanni, Alfredo/ La Traviata, title role in Candide and Idamante/ Idomeneo (all Birmingham Opera Company); Count Almaviva/ Barber of Seville (Savoy Theatre Opera); Adelaide de Borgogna (Edinburgh International Festival); Madwoman/ Curlew River (BBC Proms). Recent engagements include Snout/ A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Bari and Reggio Emilia). Future engagements include further performances of Pinocchio (ON in Ravenna). Previously for ETO, Mark has performed the roles of Tamino/ The Magic Flute, Flute/ A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Basilio/ Le Nozze di Figaro.

Fiona trained at the RCM and NOS and was a recipient of the John Christie Award at Glyndebourne. Recent operatic engagements include Mrs Chin and Old Crone/ A Night at the Chinese Opera (SO); Jane’s Mother/ Snow White (Nationale Reisopera); Ma/ House of the Gods (Music Theatre Wales); Annina/ Der Rosenkavalier (Opera Zuid); Ulrica/ Un Ballo in Maschera (Canadian Opera Company); Mistress Quickly/ Falstaff (Garsington); Azucena/ Il Trovatore (Stowe Opera); Rosa Mamai/ L’Arlesiana (OHP). She was also Katharina Schratt/ Mayerling for the Royal Ballet on tour to Tokyo. Concert performances include work at the Concertgebouw, South Bank and Wigmore Hall. Recording and broadcast work includes In Flanders Fields (Quartz); L’Enfance Du Christ (Thames); Rusalka (BBC); Taverner (NMC); Greek (Decca). Fiona has previously performed Jezibaba/ Rusalka and Kabanicha/ Katya Kabanova with English Touring Opera. Future engagements include Governess/ The Queen of Spades (ON).