Laika the Spacedog

Abigail was born in Birmingham and trained at the Birmingham Conservatoire and also at the RSAMD. She was the Peter Moores Foundation Scholar in 2008-2009 and the winner of the Rae Woodland Prize 2008. Operatic roles include Sara/ Tobias and the Angel (Bollington Opera Festival); Mrs Grant/ Mary Seacole, The Opera (Gyenyame Performing Arts) and Belinda/ Dido and Aeneas (SAMPAD Arts). Abigail has toured with British Youth Opera in Italy, France and London, performing in the choruses of La Boheme, Don Giovanni and Eugene Onegin and has also performed with Opera South Africa and the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra. Abigail has previously performed with ETO as Naiad and cover Kitchen Boy/ Rusalka, Mary Prince/ Bridgetower, Cobweb/ A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Bridesmaid/ The Marriage of Figaro.

Lorna graduated from RCM before continuing her studies at BBIOS, where she was awarded the Eric Joseph Shilling Prize for Opera. She studies with Janis Kelly. Her operatic experience includes Gretel/ Hansel and Gretel, Marenka/ The Bartered Bride, Erato/ Terpsicore, First Lady/ Die Zauberflöt (all for BBIOS); Solo Ragazzi/ Linda da Chamounix (ROH, con. Mark Elder); Fox/ The Cunning Little Vixen (Woodhouse Opera); Tatyana, Eugene Onegin (WHO); Nightingale/ The Nightingale and the Rose (premier RCM). Lorna’s concert performances include Bach B minor Mass (St John Smith’s Square); Vivaldi Gloria, Bach Cantatas (both St Martin-in-the-Fields), and internationally Lorna has toured China with The Amadeus Orchestra. Lorna has recorded the role of Arial 1 and Iris for Joe St Johanser’s The Tempest, with The London Sinfonietta. Lorna has previously covered Seleuce/ Tolomeo and sung Carissimi/ Jepthe for ETO.

Emma Watkinson, Mezzo Soprano read music at City University followed by a Masters at Trinity College of Music and a further year at The Flanders Opera Studio, Belgium. Notable roles to date include the title role in Julie by Belgian composer Philippe Boesmans; Nancy Albert Herring under Steuart Bedford; the title role in Handel’s Giustino; Olga Eugene Onegin; Cherubino Le Nozze di Figaro; Dido Dido & Aeneas, Alisa Lucia di Lammermoor and Shepherd Boy Tosca. She has worked numerous times with Wexford Festival Opera; Pavilion Opera, Dorset Opera, Grange Park Opera, British Youth Opera and has appeared at Covent Garden in the ragazzi chorus of Linda di Chamounix under Mark Elder. She was selected for the Festival d’Aix en Provence Contemporary Music Academie in 2011. Emma sings with the Philharmonia Chorus, Professional Singers Scheme.

David was trained at the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied with Jonathan Papp and Ryland Davies and was awarded the Stanley Picker Trust and Leverhulme Awards. He has performed extensively throughout Europe and beyond. His opera credits include, Remendado (Carmen), Flute (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Mayor (Albert Herring), Fenton (Die Lustigen Wieber von Windsor), the title role in Vaughan-Williams’ Hugh the Drover, and Monostatos (The Magic Flute). A proponent of new music, David played Gérard in the British premiere of Philip Glass’ opera, Les enfants terrible at the Grimeborn Opera Festival. In concert, he has performed amongst others Bach’s B minor Mass and Mendelssohn’s St Paul in Durham Cathedral, Schumann’s Manfred with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Sir John Eliot Gardiner (European Tour), and Monteverdi’s Vespers with the English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble. David currently studies with Ryland Davies.

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.

PIOTR LEMPA (bass), a native of Poland. Graduate of Royal Academy of Music in London, Cardiff International Academy of Voice and the Vocal and Acting Faculty at the Music Academy in Gdansk, Poland, where he made his concert debut during his first year of study, in Mozart’s Requiem. During his third year in Gdansk he appeared with the Baltic Opera House in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro and has since appeared in many productions with several opera companies in Poland, Italy, Germany, Switzerland (Verbier Festival), UK (WNO, ETO) and Ireland also with the Musical Theatre in Gdynia, Poland.
He made his opera debut singing the role of Oroveso in Bellini’s Norma for English Touring Opera in London, in their spring season 2009. Since then Piotr has appeared in the productions of La Boheme, Die Zauberflote, Ariadne auf Naxos, Katja Kabanova, Halka, Don Giovanni, Rigoletto, Le nozze di Figaro, Bastien und Bastienne, Salome, and Traviata in Wales, England, Germany and Poland.
Future plans include: Halka with Polish National Opera, Esther at the Handel Festival in Karlsruhe (Germany) as well as The Coronation of Poppea and Jason with English Touring Opera. More information: www.piotrlempa.com