Samuel Hogarth - Conductor
Born in London, Samuel Hogarth studied on a scholarship to the Junior Royal Academy of Music, on the National Youth Orchestra composers’ course and then at New College, Oxford, graduating with the top first. He will be a trainee repetiteur with the National Opera Studio in 2008/9.
Samuel has conducted a wide variety of operatic repertoire, including Britten’s The Turn of the Screw (Oxford City Opera), Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice (Cambridge University Baroque Ensemble), and his own work David and Goliath (at Queens’ College, Cambridge). As an orchestral conductor he has worked with some of the UK’s most talented young soloists, such as Thomas Gould (leader of the Aurora Orchestra) and Andrew Skidmore (Fitzwilliam Quartet).
Samuel is also an active jazz pianist, recently giving his debut performance at the Pizza Express Jazz Club. Two of his jazz compositions were included on the soundtrack to the 2007 Angelina Jolie film A Mighty Heart.
Since 2006 Samuel has been musician in residence at Queens’ College, Cambridge, where he has conducted the college choral society and orchestra in several large-scale works. He also teaches at the Junior Royal Academy of Music.
Emma Rivlin - Director
Emma studied piano at the Liszt Acadamy of Music in Budapestand music at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where she gained an M.Phil. in musicology and held a University Instrumental Award.
Emma’s opera directing includes engagements at the Royal College of Music, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Arcola Theatre, Bloomsbury Theatre, ENO Bayliss, Opera North Education and WNO Max. Her productions have fatured artists including Gerald Finley, Elin Manahan Thomas and Robin Ticciati.
As an assistant director Emma has worked for ENO, WNO, the Royal Opera and Opera North, with directors including Sir Thomas Allen, Calixto Biento, John Copley, Phyllida Lloyd, David McVicar, Sally Potter and Anthony Minghella.
Will Holt - Designer
Born in Yorkshire in 1980. Will studied Fine Art at Glasgow School of Art, graduating in 2002. Now based in London, he completed the Motley Theatre Design Course in July 2007. Recent designs include Rupture (National Theatre of Scotland - Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh), and Angry Young Man (Trafalgar Studios). He is a 2007 Linbury Prize finalist, for which he designed Varjak Paw for the Opera Group. He spent a number of years working as an exhibiting artist and theatre designer in Scotland, where productions included: Snuff (Arches Theatre Company and National Theatre of Scotland UK tour) Home: Stornoway (National Theatre of Scotland), Just (TSYP Theatre Company - Citizens Theatre & Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh). As associate designer for Glasgow Repertory Company: Lear, Richard III and Macbeth . As associate designer at the Arches: the Beckett Season (Play, Footfalls, Not I & Waiting for Godot), Caged Heat, and the Pinter Season (A Kind of Alaska, Moonlight & Betrayal). As assistant to Stewart Laing: Skin Deep (Opera North), Les Parents Terribles (Dundee Rep), Fanciulla del West and Dead Man Walking (Malmö Opera), Slope (Tramway), La Bohème (Scottish Opera).
Jemma Ewins - Costume Designer
Jemma has recently graduated with a degree in Costume Production from London College of Fashion. She has been working for The Royal College Of Music, Benjamin Britten International Opera School, as part of the costume team on productions of The Marriage of Figaro, The Rake’s Progress and The Cunning Little Vixen. While studying, Jemma also worked as a designer and supervisor for various productions, including: Macbeth with Dancing Shadows Theatre Company (supervisor); The Bald Prima Donna with Scene 24 at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (designer and supervisor); The Tempest, Love and Intrigue, Road and Romeo and Juliet with the UCL Drama Society (designer and supervisor).
Dan Swerdlow - Lighting Designer
From a completely accidental entry into the world of the theatre, Dan has been heavily involved in the performing arts for eight years. At school he stage managed and designed a number of plays before travelling to Switzerland in 2003 to production manage South Pacific, a post to which he returned the following year for Fame. Dan has also toured to the Edinburgh Fringe for the last five years, production managing large scale productions including one in Edinburgh’s largest venue. He has also designed lighting in Edinburgh for the new writings, Minor Irritations and The Same…But Different. Whilst at UCL, he has designed the set and lighting for Volpone(March 2005), for The Tempest (March 2006), for which he was voted UCLU Artist of the Year, and for Jekyll and Hyde in December 2006, and Pulse – 21st Annual Dance Show (March 2007). Dan has been the lighting designer for University College Opera for the past two years, with Camacho’s Wedding in 2007 and Fiesque in 2008 (4 stars – The Guardian). Dan is also a medical student. His work can be seen at www.danswerdlow.com
Margaret Cooper - Donna Anna
Margaret was born in London in 1982 and brought up in Oxford. She is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where she studied as a scholarship student with Professor Susan McCulloch. She completed first her BMus degree and then her Masters degree.
Margaret is currently studying with Professor Yvonne Kenny. Her solo experience includes the Bach Magnificat, Bach St John Passion, Brahms Requiem, Gounod St Cecilia’s Mass, Handel Messiah, Handel Dixit Dominus, Haydn Creation, Mozart C Minor Mass, Mozart Requiem, Orff Carmina Burana, Pergolese’s Salve Regina, Rossini Missa Solemnis and the Douglas Coombes Requiem. Her operatic roles include Adina L’Elisir D’Amore, Susanna Le Nozze di Figaro Dido Dido and Aeneas, Poppea L’Incoronazione di Poppea, Mercedes Carmen and Catherine (Offenbach’s operetta Pomme D’Api). She has performed female leads for the British premieres of Mendelssohn’s Camacho’s Wedding (Quiteria) and Lalo’s Fiesque (Leonore) both with UCO at the Bloomsbury Theatre and the world premiere of Ita Vivam by Christina Athinodorou (Mistress).
Margaret has participated in masterclasses with Dame Rosalind Plowright, Jeremy Silver, Carlos Fernandez Aransey, Susan Gorton, Sarah Walker, Meribeth Dame, Emma Kirkby and Graham Johnson. Margaret has received the Compton Bach award, second prize for the English song competition and second prize for the Angle-Czech Trust competition. She has regular engagements with ‘Opera on the Run’ and First Act Opera International and performs for the Live Music Now! scheme founded by Yehudi Menuhin. She is currently a musician for the 2008 Concordia Foundation concert series.
Constance Novis - Donna Elvira
Constance Novis studied at the University of Toronto, Canada and the Britten-Pears school. She studies with Marie McLaughlin and Ludmilla Andrew.
Her repertoire includes Musetta LA BOHÈME, Cio-Cio-San MADAMA BUTTERFLY, Fiordiligi COSÌ FAN TUTTE, Rosalinda DIE FLEDERMAUS, Violetta LA TRAVIATA, Lady Macbeth MACBETH, Helmwige DIE WALKÜRE, Freia DAS RHEINGOLD Tatyana EUGENE ONEGIN, Marguerite FAUST and title roles in TOSCA and JENUFA and the ENO’s world première of THE BACCHAE. She has appeared with English Touring Opera, Opera Holland Park, Wexford Festival Opera, and Opera Ireland.
She has sung on tour with the Symphony Orchestra of Flanders, the Last Night of the Proms concerts and New Year’s Eve at the Royal Festival and Queen Elizabeth Halls. Recent engagements include title roles in TOSCA with English Touring Opera, and with Co-Opera at the Theatre Royal Waterford, and The Lace Seller in DEATH IN VENICE at ENO, which she will perform again at La Monnaie and La Scala.
Sam Furness - Don Ottavio
Sam was born in Cardiff in 1986. He was a chorister and Dean’s scholar at Llandaff Cathedral before going to Charterhouse school as a music and academic scholar in 1999. While at Charterhouse he joined the National Youth Choir of Great Britain, with which he has done several tours to Australasia and Europe. He is also a member of Laudibus, the National Youth Chamber Choir. Sam arrived in Cambridge in 2005 having won a choral scholarship to St Johns college. Sam has accepted a layclerkship to stay and sing in St Johns college next year, following which he hopes to attend music college with a view to a career in opera.
In March 2008 Sam sang the role of Abinadab in David and Goliath by Samuel Hogarth.
Adam Green - Don Giovanni
Adam was born in Harrogate, North Yorkshire and studied at St John’s College, Cambridge, the Royal Academy of Music, London, and the National Opera Studio. He has won several competitions including the Song Prize at the National Mozart Competition, and was awarded the prestigious Ian Fleming and Sybil Tutton Awards.
Adam’s recent operatic engagements include Aeneas Aix-en-Provence Festival, Burghess Peter Grimes in Salzburg and Berlin with Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic, Sergio Fedora and Naval Officer Manon Lescaut for Holland Park Opera, The Pig (Title role) by Jonathan Dove, at Glyndebourne, the Assassin Tangier Tattoo, Glyndebourne on Tour, Ford Falstaff, and Il Conte Le Nozze di Figaro with the Southbank Sinfonia.
His concert experience is already extensive - Bach’s Weihnachtsoratorium in Frankfurt under Lutz Köhler, Brahms’ Requiem, Handel’s Messiah and Fauré’s Requiem all at the Royal Albert Hall under Sir David Willcocks and with the RPO, Elgar’s Coronation Ode with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Elijah in Budapest, Carmina Burana televised in Ely Cathedral, and Telemann Matthäus Passion at the Snape Maltings.
Engagements for the 2007/8 season include Aeneas for Opera North, The Barber of Seville for WNO, Retrofire, Buzz on the Moon, by Jonathan Dove, for Channel 4, First Mate, Billy Budd with the LSO and Daniel Harding in the Barbican, recorded for Virgin/EMI, Judge Korngold Das Wunder der Heliane with the LPO and Vladimir Jurowski, Aeneas for Opera du Lille, and the Grand Theatre d’Aix en Provence. The Count for OEP, Don Giovanni at the Berbigueres Festival, France, and, and Amantio di Nicolao in Gianni Schicchi (in Italian) at the Opera Fringe festival in Downpatrick, Northern Ireland.
In March 2008, Adam will make his debut with ENO singing Aeneas.
James Gower - Leporello
James Gower was born in Newport, South Wales. He studied at St John’s College, Cambridge and the Royal Academy of Music. He is currently studying with Robert Lloyd.
James is a young singer at English National Opera and there he has performed Notary, Der Rosenkavalier; Bogdanovitsch, The Merry Widow; Mercury/Seneca friend, The Coronation of Poppea (broadcast on BBC Radio 3); Lord Krishna/Parsi Rustomji, Satyagraha by Philip Glass. As an associate artist with Welsh National Opera, James performed Un Moine, Don Carlos and Second Armed Man, Magic Flute. For Glyndebourne Festival Opera he performed Pinellino, Gianni Schicchi, (broadcast on BBC Television and performed at the Proms) and Erster Priester/Zweiter geharnischter Mann, Die Zauberflöte. For Glyndebourne on Tour he sang Doctor, Pelleas and Melisande and Doctor Grenvil, La Traviata. Other roles include Raimondo, Lucia di Lammermoor, Iford Arts; Colline, La Bohème, Opera Theatre Company; High Priest, Vanda (Dvorak), University College Opera; Bartolo/Antonio, Le Nozze di Figaro, Classical Opera Company.
James made his Proms debut singing a false witness in Mendelssohn’s St Paul with BBC NOW directed by Richard Hickox, recorded for Chandos. He has since performed with Hickox as Sir Walter Raleigh, Gloriana, St Endellion Festival; Nym, Sir John in Love, with the Northern Sinfonia; the voice of God, the Devil and Jesus, Fall and Resurrection by Sir John Tavener, with the City of London Sinfonia; Horaste, Troilus and Cressida with the Philharmonia Orchestra in Birmingham Symphony Hall and the Royal Festival Hall, broadcast on BBC Radio 3. In Dortmund Konzerthaus he has performed Israel in Egypt; Pagano, I Lombardi; Silva, Ernani.
Michael Burke - Masetto
Born and educated in Manchester, Michael spent the early part of his life studying science including an honours degree in Chemistry from the university of Durham. Since then, he has studied at the RNCM and at the RAM, picking up two diplomas and a LRAM as well as being the recipient of three college prizes for Russian and English songs and arias.
Michael is currently on a job share at English National Opera and is combining this with extra chorus work at the Royal Opera where he has performed in many operas including Mussorgsky Boris Godunov, Britten Peter Grimes and Verdi La Traviata. He is currently covering the role of the Baron and George Bush in ENO’S production of Bernstein’s Candide .
He has sung with Garsington Opera for six seasons including the roles of the Justizrat (Strausshjy Intermezzo; 2001) and Giorgio (Rossini La Gazza Ladra; 2002). He also covered the role of Hidulfus (Schumann Genoveva; 2000), Fernando (La Gazza Ladra; 2002), Raimbaud (Rossini Le Comte Ory; 2005) and Sadik (Mozart et al Der Stein Der Weisen; 2006). He has also worked with Almeida Opera (World Premiere Production of John Casken’s God’s Liar, 2001), London Opera Players (Taddeo-Rossini L’Italiana in Algeri; 2001), Raymond Gubbay Opera (Aida, Carmen and Cavelleria Rusticana/I Pagliacci), Bampton Classical Opera (Guglielmo-Mozart Cosi Fan Tutte 2000), Opera North, Opera Omnibus (Marchese-Donizetti Linda di Chamounix 1999) and Broomhill Opera.
Internationally, Michael has performed as a soloist in Spain, Gibraltar, USA, Ireland, Belgium and in several performances of the Ligeti Requiem with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Other work involves projects with the internationally renowned choral group Polyphony. In February 2005 he sang the role of one of the Burgesses with the European Voices in Salzburg and Berlin in performances of Britten’s Peter Grimes with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle.
Future work involves returning to ENO for the 2008-9 season. He returns to the Royal Opera this autumn to sing in Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West.
Louise Alder - Zerlina
A finalist in the 2008 Tovey competition in Edinburgh, Louise Alder is a versatile musician whose repertory ranges from opera and oratorio to jazz and straight theatre. Over the past two years Louise has played Venus in ‘Venus and Adonis’ with Edinburgh Studio Opera, one of two principle soprano roles in ‘Opera Cabaret’ in the new festival ‘Grimeborn’, at the Arcola Theatre, London, Maria in ‘West Side Story’ and Polly in Gershwin’s ‘Crazy for You’ with Footlights at the Church Hill Theatre, Magdalena in Lorca’s play ‘The House of Bernarda Alba’ and Abigail Williams in ‘The Crucible’ at Bedlam Theatre. She has performed widely as a soloist in London including at the Royal Albert Hall and the Royal Academy of Music.
Louise Alder is currently at Edinburgh University studying singing with Irene Drummond and Patricia McMahon and has sung in master classes with Susan McCulloch, Robin Bowman and Lillian Watson.
Tim Mirfin - Commendatore
Tim has just completed three very successful years as a principal bass with Hamburg State Opera. His 20-odd roles there included Leporello, Sarastro, Selim (Il Turco in Italia), Colline, Farasmane(Radamisto), Publio, Pistol, Peter Quince and Sparafucile. He returned to the UK this summer to sing Sarastro for Holland Park Opera,having sung Count Rodolfo (La Sonnambula, Bellini) there in 2005 just before leaving for Germany.
He originally read Law at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, later studying post-graduate at Royal Acedemy of Music and National Opera Studio. Other roles include Sarastro with Scottish Opera; Bottom for Aldeburgh Festival; Selim for Buxton Festival; Argante (Handel’s “Rinaldo”) for Grange Park Opera; Collatinus in “The Rape of Lucretia” for Opera East; regular appearances in concert performances every year since 2002 for the Edinburgh Internaional Festival; and Publio, Parson (Cunning Little Vixen), Timur and Colline for WNO. Future plans include his first Prom and a return to WNO for Don Basilio in “The Barber of Seville”.