Biographies of those who have worked with Tête à Tête to date.

Please see here for the biographies of those involved in Blind Date 2007

Darren Abrahams
Opera credits include Ferrando for Mid Wales Opera, Ottavio for ETO, Piféar in Adam’s Si J’étais Roi at the Wexford Festival and Tamino for OTC. For two years he has appeared at the Batignano Festival in Italy, as Tracolin in Adam’s Le Toréador and as Il Pulitore in La Dama ed il Pulitore di Damasco, a new opera written for him by Jonathan Dove. His concert appearances have taken him to the US and continental Europe, as well as all over the UK and have included performances with the LPO, the Royal Seville Symphony, the St Petersburg Symphony and The King’s Consort.

Tom Albu
Trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School before working as a Stage Manager for various companies including two years with Theatre de Complicite. Ten years as a production manager includes work for Cheek By Jowl, Actors’ Touring Company, Music Theatre London, The Bush Theatre, Slava Polunin’s Snowshow, Method & Madness, Tamasha, The Shout, Trestle, Royal College of Music, Aldeburgh Productions and New Kent Opera. He was also Production Manager and Lighting Designer for The Right Size’s Olivier Award winning show Do You Come Here Often? Previously for Tête à Tête, Tom production managed Six-Pack and The Canticles.

Daniel Becker
Daniel Becker has received great acclaim for his insightful interpretations of standard and contemporary repertoire. He was first prizewinner at the British Contemporary Piano Competition in 2003, and as a result is preparing to record a CD of works by Horatiu Radulescu for Metier Records. Daniel has worked closely with many composers, and has given world or UK premieres of works by Edward Cowie, Alexander Goehr, Helen Grime, Kenneth Hesketh, Andrew Lovett, Arlene Sierra, Eric Tanguy and Paul Whitmarsh. See www.danielbecker.co.uk for more info.

D’Arcy Bleiker
D’Arcy studied at the RNCM, where he won numerous prizes and scholarships, as well as performing the roles of Collatinus The Rape of Lucretia and Schaunard La Bohème. He won the Bayreuth Bursary from the Wagner Society in 1998. D’Arcy has been a member of Glyndebourne Festival and Touring Opera, performing the roles of Sergeant of Archers Manon Lescaut, Masetto Don Giovanni and Count Le nozze di Figaro. In recognition of his outstanding achievement, he was awarded the coveted John Christie Award. Future engagements include Masetto at Glyndebourne, and a European tour of Jephtha with Rene Jacobs and Double Bande.

Katherine Bicknell
Katherine studied flute at the Royal College of Music with Susan Milan, Jaime Martin and piccolo with Stewart McIlwham supported by three prestigious scholarships. She won all the RCM flute prizes and performed the Nielsen flute concerto as a result of winning the Concerto Competition in 2002. Since leaving the RCM, Katherine has performed with the LPO, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and London Pro Arte Orchestra. As a soloist, chamber and orchestral player, she has performed in all the major London concert halls and across Europe. Katherine currently lives with her boyfriend in his pub in Suffolk with their cat, Bailey.

Adrian Bradbury
Began cello at the age of 7. He read veterinary science at Cambridge before winning a scolarship to the RAM and has since enjoyed a busy and varied career of concerto, chamber, contemporary and pop performances.

David Bruce
Recent pieces by David Bruce include his two previous mini-operas for Tête à Tête, Has it Happened Yet and Seven Tons of Dung, He has had works performed by BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, New Music Players and others and won prizes including the Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Competition (1994). He runs the music websites 8notes.com and Composition:Today
www.davidbruce.net

Robert Burt
Studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Operatic roles include Don Ottavio (ETO), Goro (Mid Wales Opera), Tanzmeister/Scaramuccio (ETO), Ninfo (Cesti’s Il Tito) for Opera National du Rhin in Strasbourg, Atrea (Cavalli’s Pompeo Magno) in Croatia and Iro (Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria) in productions for Opera North, the Aix-en-Provence Festival and for Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Dussseldorf. Robert has also been a member of Trevor Nunn’s NT Ensemble and the RSC. Future plans include the role of Snout (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) at ENO, Bragherona (Gassmann’s L’Opera Seria) and Bob Boles (Peter Grimes) at the Netherlands Reisopera.

Sarah Jillian Cox
Studied at the Royal Northern College of Music and the National Opera Studio. Roles include Kitchen Boy in Rusalka (Opera North), Hansel in Hansel und Gretel (Stowe Opera), cover of Ines in Maria Padilla (Buxton Festival), Mezzo Essential Scottish Opera (Scottish Opera), Cenerentola in Cenerentola (Mid Wales Opera), Kuchtik in Rusalka (Stowe Opera). Future engagements include covering Olga in Eugene Onegin (Scottish Opera On Tour).

Barbara Diana
B.A. Diana is an Italian musicologist, journalist and broadcaster based in London. A specialist on opera and music theatre, her book on Benjamin Britten’s “Death in Venice” was the first monograph on the English composer published in Italy. She is currently on the final stages of a PhD on the subject of Britten’s music dramaturgy.

Jo Davies
Trained at Bristol University and the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, New York. As a director credits include: Charlie Lavender Southwark Playhouse, Secondhand Dreams Stephen Joseph Theatre, Henry VI part iii Birmingham, Control Freaks BAC, The Wizard of Oz Bath Theatre Royal, Elements, Head II Head, Midnight’s Children and The Palace in The Sky ENO, About Face Royal Opera House. Previous work as a librettist includes About Face and Midnight’s Children.

Matthew Dodd
Matthew Dodd, bassoon, has an active interest in contemporary repertoire, having recently performed Berio’s Sequenza XII for solo bassoon, and The Inner Garden, commissioned from the composer and harpsichordist David Gordon for a recital at last year's Salisbury International Arts Festival: his work as a recitalist is described at www.solobassoon.net. He has also given a number of performances of the principal classical bassoon concertos, by Mozart, Hummel and Weber, and premièred the concerto written by his father Raymond Dodd.

Hilary Dolamore
Graduate of the RCM, studies with Iris Dell’Aqua. Spent much of last year in Italy, on the 2000 Jaguar Rome Scholarship. Roles include Donna Elvira, Don Giovanni, Miss Wordsworth, Albert Herring, Pamina, The Magic Flute with Garden Opera and the original production of Shorts and Rosalinde, The Flying Fox for Tête à Tête.

Mark Doubleday
Trained at LAMDA where he won the Richard Pilbrow prize. He has lit over 250 productions in most of the UK regional theatres as well as in Europe, USA, India, South East Asia and South America. Recent opera productions include: Le Nozze di Figaro, Opera Zuid, Netherlands; Hansel and Gretel, Scottish Opera Go Round; Manon, Die Fledermaus, English Touring Opera; Falstaff, R.A.M; Ariadne auf Naxos, Aldeburgh; Le Toreador, Messalina, Amadigi di Gaula and I Giardini Della Storia, Batignano; Die Entführung aus dem Serial (Läckö Slottsopera) Sweden, A Nitro at the Opera, ROH. Mark has lit all of Tête à Tête’s previous productions.

Lizzie Dudley
Lizzie has recently worked as stage manager on Cold Comfort, written and directed by Owen McCafferty at The Latchmere Theatre and the Pinter Celebrations at the Gate Theatre, Notting Hill.  Previous theatre includes: Company Stage Manager on The Wizard of Oz (New Theatre, Oxford) Red Night, What the Women Did (Two’s Company) 93.2FM (Royal Court) Talking to Terrorists (Out of Joint, UK Tour and Royal Court) Tejas Verdes, Woyzeck (Gate Theatre) Witness (Gate Theatre, including transfer to BAC) The Double Bass, Hello and Goodbye, Top Dogs (Southwark Playhouse) Through the Leaves (Southwark Playhouse, including transfer to Duchess Theatre, West End) Majnoun (Riverside Studios)

Omar Ebrahim
Omar Ebrahim was a chorister at Coventry Cathedral and studied singing at the Guildhall. He served his performing apprenticeship at the RSC and Glyndebourne. He has been involved with many contemporary performances including Electrification of the Soviet Union, New Year and The Second Mrs. Kong for Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Un re in ascolto and Gawain for the Royal Opera House, King Gesar for the Munich Biennale and Tanglewood and Punch and Judy for Basel Opera. Recent performances include Thwaite for Almeida Opera, concerts with the Ensemble Moderne at the Taipei Festival and Eotvos’s Snatches of Conversation at the BBC Proms.

James Edwards
James is a tenor. To list all of James’ achievements is not really possible in 75 words and would in fact be very boring indeed (phrases like ‘cosi fan tutte’ and three letter abbreviations like ‘ROH, BBC and LSO’). Relevant information to this production is that I am an adopted person who has been recently reunited with my Birth Mother, Janet and in 2006 I finally traced his father Chris and met his half sisters Vikky and Kelly.
www.thetenor.co.uk

Pete Flood
Recently released an album, with his free jazz 8 piece The Very Tiny Little Kids. He puts out occasional solo material under the name Manopoderosa and has recorded with Algerian Rai legend Abdel Ali Slimani, Austrian folksters Blaubauer, and award-winning novelist Luke Sutherland’s side project Bows, among others. Other work includes a staged version of Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale, for which he was music director, Dai Kyodo – a collaboration with butoh dancer Ken Mai and Feast Your Eyes – a touring show by Fevered Sleep, in which he performs the music on a self built battery of kitchen utensils..

Andrew Forbes-Lane
Andrew read Drama at Manchester University then studied at The RNCM in Manchester. He has sung with ENO, Opera North, Glyndebourne, The Royal National Theatre, the Halle and CBSO. He performs regularly in the USA and was the first western Opera singer to give recitals in Kathmandu.

Cheryl Francis-Hoad
Graduated from Gonville and Caius College with a triple 1st in 2001 and an MPhil (with Distinction) in Composition. Commissions include works for the BBC, Surrey Philharmonic, the Manchester International ‘Cello Festival, and the Almeida Festival. Her music has been featured on BBC2, ITV, Radio 3 and Classic FM. Her first Chamber Opera, broken lines: sonata for opera was premiered as part of the Britten@25 Festival in November 2001. She holds the Mendelssohn Scholarship 2002, the Bliss Prize 2002, and is joint winner of the Harriet Cohen Award 2002. She is studying for a PhD at Kings College London.

Peter Furniss
Began playing the clarinet at the age of seven. He followed a degree in French and Drama with study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest. He has performed extensively in Europe, Israel and throughout the UK, with recitals at the Bridgewater Hall and London’s Purcell Room. In 2003 he was an invited soloist at the 1st Festival of Contemporary and Traditional Music in Baku, Azerbaijan. Peter is a member of Impropera, which has given completely improvised performances at festivals in the UK, Ireland, and Scandinavia, including the World Impro Games in Helsinki.

Jonathan Gale
Studied at the NOS and at the Guildhall. In 1998 he received the Henry Richardson Award. He now works as a repetiteur for many opera companies including the Royal Opera and he was assistant conductor for The Nose at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith in June 2001. He studied on the advanced conducting course at Dartington International Summer School 2001.

John Paul Gandy
Has worked with such diverse artists and companies as the Rambert Dance Company, Mark E. Smith (The Fall), the acclaimed music theatre group The Clod Ensemble, improvisers: Alec Dankworth, Steve Noble, Ben Castle, Viv Corringham and Brian Abrahams, Almeida Theatre, accordion virtuoso Luke Daniels (Broderick) and 8 years collaboration with extraordinary singer/performer Bettina Jonic. As that implies, JP is interested in rummaging and getting his hands dirty with any ‘genre’ without relying on any elements usually associated with a particular style. There are so many different sound worlds and possibilities available – he’d love not to leave any stone unturned.

Kate Gould
Kate Gould has been a member of the Leopold String Trio since 1991, which plays at major festivals and concert halls world wide and records for the Hyperion label. They were part of the BBC Radio 3 New Generations series last year and this season they have been chosen to represent Britain in the ECHO Rising Stars series. She also enjoys solo playing, having performed the Shostakovich 1st Concerto under Orlando Jopling’s baton last year, and is now a member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. She guests with the Nash Ensemble and has been guest principal for the LSO.

Sarah Grange
BA (hons) Theatre Design: Costume Design, Wimbledon School of Art. Wardrobe Management includes: Sunday in the Park with George, Menier Chocolate Factory, 2006. The Quare Fellow, Oxford Stage Compnay at the Tricycle Theatre, 2005. Professor Bernhardi, Rose Bernd and Musik, Oxford Stage Company with Dumbfounded Theatre, Arcola, 2005. Forbidden, Edingburgh Fringe 2004. The City Club, Edinburgh Fringe 2004. Sarah also works as a Costume Designer and makes corsets for artist Martin Firrell

Julian Grant
Operas include: The Skin Drum (winner,1988 National Opera Association of America’s biennial chamber opera competition: produced at Banff, New Mexico, Oberlin and the ENO Studio), Out of Season (ROH Garden Venture, 1991 - Olivier Award nominee), A Family Affair (Almeida 1993), Jump Into My Sack (Mecklenburgh 1996), A Very Private Beach (ENO Knack 2004) and works for Tête à Tête. Community operas include The Queen of Sheba’s Legs (ENO Baylis 1991), and Heroes Don’t Dance (ROH 1998). Since 2002 he has been Director of Music at St. Paul’s Girls’ School.

Antony Gray
Completed his studies in Australia in 1981. He has since been resident in London. He has pursued a varied career involving solo performing, chamber music, contemporary music, work with singers, and gardening. He has released discs of the complete piano music of Eugene Goossens and Malcolm Williamson for ABC Classics, and has recently recorded for the same label the complete piano music of Poulenc and a double album of Bach transcriptions. He has also recorded a recital disc for the Spanish label, KNS Classics.
www.antonygray.mcmail.com

Helen Grime
Helen was born in 1981. She was awarded a full scholarship by the Royal College of Music to study composition with Edwin Roxburgh and oboe with John Anderson. Through the Edinburgh Contemporary Arts Trust she has had works performed by members of the Scottish Chamber Group under Martin Brabbins and the Emperor Quartet. Recent commissions have included works for the Hebrides Ensemble and a setting of a poem by Andrew Motion for his 50th birthday celebrations for the English Speaking Union.

Adey Grummet
Works in a wide range of repertoire, has created soprano roles in new operas by many UK composers, regularly develops new work and sings with The Shout. She leads workshops with community groups and performs work in sign language. She founded and directs The Curate’s Egg. She sits on the board of the SPNM and was an artistic advisor to the Stoke Newington Festival and is the author of one book and numerous songs and libretti. If that does not exhaust you, she also gardens and is a dab hand with a two-speed hammer drill.
www.adeygrummet.co.uk

Maija Handover
Having worked as a music publicist with Dvora Lewis PR and Global Music Network, Maija started mhpr in 2000 and has since managed a diverse range of projects in the UK and abroad. Current clients include: Contemporary Music Network, London Jazz Festival, PRS Foundation, Tete a Tete, fuseleeds, spnm, iF:06, nattjazz and Streetwise Opera
www.mhpr.co.uk

Mike Henry
Studied composition at the Royal College of Music under Justin Connolly and Adrian Cruft. He has been awarded the Horowitz, Stanford and Cornelius Cardew prizes among others. Radio 3 broadcasts include the 1st Wind Quartet, written at the age of 17, and the soprano saxophone elegy, Say “Ave” For Me. Throughout 2003, his clarinet quartet Birdwatching, published by Emerson Edition, has received rave reviews from performers and audiences alike throughout the USA. Michael’s extensive singing experience, ranging from Glyndebourne to Glastonbury, has proved to be an invaluable aid to his development in operatic and vocal composition

Amanda Holden
Has written more than fifty translations for the stage; several were commissioned by English National Opera, Opera North and the Raymond Gubbay/Royal Albert Hall arena productions (Madam Butterfly, Tosca, Aida, Carmen). Her translations of The Barber of Seville, Don Giovanni, A Masked Ball and Falstaff are recorded in Chandos’s Opera in English series. Amanda is the founder-editor of The Penguin/Viking Opera Guides; the latest edition is The New Penguin Opera Guide (containing 850 opera composers). She wrote the libretto for Turnage’s opera, The Silver Tassie, for which she received the 2001 Olivier award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera.

Matthew Hunt
Enjoys a career as one of Britain’s leading young clarinettists that combines the roles of soloist, chamber and orchestral musician. He has performed with the Belcea quartet, the Wakeford Ensemble, the Scottish Chamber, Royal Opera, Royal Philharmonic and Mahler Chamber Orchestras, and has appeared at festivals in France, Sweden, the United States and in India. Matthew has made recordings and broadcast for Decca, BBC Radio 3, Radio Sweden and France Musique.

Rachel Hynes
Welsh Soprano. Rachel climbed the ranks of Scottish Opera from Chorister to Company Principal, with critically acclaimed performances ranging from Freia (Das Rheingold) to Mimi (La bohème). Modern opera dominated 2005, with performances of Denise (The Knot Garden) for Scottish Opera, BBCSO, Montepulciano Festival, and a workshop performance of Stuart MacRae’s King of the Wood for EIF/ROH2. Future engagements include 4th Maiden in Strauss’s Elektra, the opening concert of the 2006 Edinburgh International Festival.
www.michaelletchfordartists.co.uk

Christina Jones
Other collaborations with Julian Grant are full-length book/libretto for Heroes Don’t Dance (ROH) and Platform 10 (Shorts). Has written book/libretti for composers Warren Wills, Roxanna Panufnik, Gillian Stevens, Geoffrey Alvaraez and Derek Barnes. Her work as actress (Tina Jones) includes the R.S.C., Old Vic, Young Vic, West End and TV.

Elfyn Jones
Studied MMus Composition at GSMD and attached to London Sinfonietta Education Department in 1994/95. Since then has worked freelance as a musician and composer in education and the community. Commissions include The Firebucket for ENO Baylis Programme 1998 (revived 1999), songs for the Spare Tyre Theatre Company productions Same Meat Different Gravy in 2000 and It’ll All Come Out In The Wash 2001, music for Art Start’s community show Multistory Machinations in 2000, music for three children’s plays for Hampstead Theatre in 2000 and songs for children’s choirs in Enfield in 2001.

Orlando Jopling
Orlando Jopling studied with Sir Colin Davis and Diego Masson among others. He is the artistic director of Camerata, which made its debut this summer with a new production of Cosi fan tutte, and co-founder of Tête à Tête. He is also music director of the Kew Sinfonia and has worked with orchestras at the Guildhall School of Music and other UK performers including Concilium and Jane Manning. Elsewhere, he has conducted for the Harare International Festival, and with orchestras in Italy, Austria, Yugoslavia, India and the US. He has just been given the First Leonard Hancock Memorial Award by the National Opera Studio.
www.orlandojopling.com

Stuart King
Stuart began playing the clarinet aged nine. Since graduating from the GSMD in 1997 Stuart has been enjoying a rich and varied career performing, recording, teaching and leading/devising education-outreach projects. Much in demand as soloist, chamber and orchestral musician, Stuart has performed throughout the UK, Europe, the Middle East, Far East, South Africa and North America. Stuart is a founder member and Artistic Director of acclaimed chamber ensemble CHROMA.

Rachel Leach
Rachel was born in Sheffield in 1973. She studied with Simon Bainbridge and Robert Saxton at the GSMD. Recent commissions include London Sinfonietta, Composers Ensemble, Royal Opera House Education, RSNO and the LSO. Rachel is also actively involved in education and leads workshops for many orchestras and opera companies across the UK.

Kelvin Lim
Kelvin Lim studied at the RCM and works as repetiteur for a number of opera companies including; ROH2 Opera Genesis, ENO, Opera Holland Park, Royal Academy of Music Opera, Bampton Classical Opera, Wagner Society Mastersingers. Kelvin has worked with John Tomlinson, Anthony Rolf-Johnson, Elizabeth Connell, Diana Montague, Barry Banks, Anne Evans, Sarah Walker and Gwyneth Jones. He is regular coach/MD for Royal Academy and London Opera Vocal. Kelvin was also member of Piano Circus.

Miriam Lowbury
Miriam Lowbury studied at Bristol University, the Royal Collage of Music, and with the Amadeus Quartet on a Leverhulme Scholarship. As a chamber player she has toured widely, played on radio and TV, and appeared with artists including Raphael Wallfisch, and Jack Brymer. Her highly acclaimed recordings have been nominated for a Gramophone Award, and gained the top rating of five stars in the BBC Music magazine.  Miriam is a member of Double Image, which has held residencies at Southampton University and the University of the Third Age. Her education work includes workshops in schools, universities and prisons, and teaching at the Junior Royal College of Music. Miriam plays on a cello by Thomas Dodd made in 1812.

Cassie McCallin
Cassie trained at RADA on the Stage Management and Technical Theatre Course. Since graduating six months ago she has stage managed two productions, The Rivals for Logos Theatre Company at the Wimbledon Studio Theatre and Becoming Strangers for Infinity Productions at Jackson’s Lane Theatre.

Zoe Martlew
Studied at the Royal College of Music, Clare College Cambridge, The Royal Academy of Music and the Chopin Academy in Warsaw. She enjoys a busy freelance career recording and performing around the world as a soloist, with contemporary music groups, with jazz bands, as an improvising musician, composing and performing for dance and theatre and her own one-woman cabaret show Z Unleashed. She is also much in demand for educational activities, has started singing and is determined to attend Astanga yoga classes.

Jane Michelmore
Jane is a freelance sound engineer whose working history includes the RSC, The National, Sadler’s Wells and for the last three years the ENO. She studied Art and Music at Brighton University and subsequently trained in studio technology. She also enjoys working creatively and has collaborated with various performers and musicians in sound design and music composition.

Davey Moore
A Manchester University Drama graduate, Davey was Publishing Editor at Ragdoll Limited for two years before joining the Teletubbies team as a researcher. After a spell as an editor at BBC Worldwide in London, Davey returned to Manchester to pursue a freelance career as a writer. He has since worked for LEGO, the BBC and Carlton TV and has several programmes in development with Lion Television. He is currently writing a TV drama series.

Aris Nadirian
Born in Isfahan (Iran) of Armenian parents, studied piano and singing at the London College of Music. Operatic roles include: Schaunard and Marcello (La Boheme), Sid (Albert Herring), Escamillo (Carmen), Figaro (Marriage of Figaro), Papageno (The Magic Flute), Don Carlo (La Forza del Destino), Apprentice (Wozzeck), Zurga (The Pearl Fishers), Bartolo (The Barber of Seville), Aeneas (Dido & Aeneas), Dulcamara (L’Elisir d’Amore), Macbeth (Macbeth), and Falke (Die Fledermaus).

Hattie Naylor
Hattie Naylor is currently writer-in-residence at the Bath Theatre Royal.  She has written over 20 plays for BBC Radio, many plays for live theatre in all kinds of venues and contexts, and as librettist has adapted The Overcoat for Kenneth Hesketh.

Simon Nicholson
Works as a writer, director and producer in television and theatre. Theatre writing includes the musical China Song (Plymouth Theatre Royal); a children’s version of The Magic Flute (City of London Festival); Pied Piper (Unicorn Theatre). Screenwriting includes War Game (Illuminated Films) and The Hoobs (Jim Henson Company). Directing includes Big Baby (Royal Exchange, Manchester) and Wasps (Watford Palace Theatre). Simon is co-creator and producer of The Investigators, his BAFTA-nominated children’s programme for Channel Four.

Daniel Norman
Daniel has recorded Vaughan Williams’s Sir John in Love with Richard Hickox and contributed to Graham Johnson’s complete Schubert Edition. Operatic roles include Tanzmeister, Ariadne auf Naxos with Sir Simon Rattle, the Electrician in Adès’s Powder Her Face for Almeida Opera, Sam in Weill’s Street Scenes at the Proms and Peter Quint in The Turn of the Screw for Porto 2001. This season he makes his debuts with the Bavarian State Opera and New Israeli Opera in Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea.

Meredith Oakes
Was a music critic in Sydney, then London. Writes and translates plays. Has written libretti for Gerald Barry and Julian Grant, and is working on a Royal Opera commission with Tom Ades.

Des Oliver
Was born in 1976 in Bedford and began playing trumpet and piano at the age of thirteen. He studied composition at the Guildhall. His work has been performed at the BMIC, Chelmsford Music Festival, Wegelius Hall, Helsinki and at the Young Composers’ Parkland Group Symposium. This is his first opera.

James Olsen
Has seen over sixty performances of his works so far, by groups such as the London Sinfonietta, the BBC Singers, the Britten Sinfonia, and the Galliard Ensemble. Improved Burial-Case was heard at the Britten and Strauss festival at Aldeburgh last October, and Chameleon Concerto will premiere in Prague this March. Current commissions include a dance piece for pianist Sarah Nicolls and an arrangement of Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn to be performed by Ann Murray, Thomas Quasthoff and the Belcea Quartet at the Wigmore Hall. Having graduated last June from King’s College, Cambridge, James is now studying with Wolfgang Rihm in Germany.

Sarah Playfair
Sarah Playfair has been a freelance opera casting director for eight years following some 30 years of full-time jobs in theatre, dance and, mainly, opera. Her regular clients include Tête à Tête, Garsington Opera and Birmingham Opera Company, and other current and recent work includes a new Jonathan Dove/Nicholas Wright television opera for Tiger Aspect/Channel 4, two projects for the Young Vic and a film of THE MAGIC FLUTE, directed by Kenneth Branagh.
www.sarahplayfair.com

Toby Purser
Studied conducting with Donald Leggatt, George Hurst and later with Ilya Musin at the St. Petersburg State, and at the Royal Academy of Music, under Colin Metters. Toby has worked as répétiteur and conductor to Broomhill Opera, British Youth Opera, Longborough Opera, Almeida Opera, and The Syrius Ensemble. He has performed with the Oxford Sinfonietta, Oxford Philomusica, St. Petersburg Camerata, Worcestershire Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven Philharmonic, Royal Orchestral Society, Camden Chamber Orchestra, Havant Symphony Orchestra (as holder of the Bob Harding Bursary for Young Conductors) Cheltenham Chamber Orchestra, and Orchestra of Opera North. He won second prize in the 2002 Leeds Conducting Competition.
www.tobypurser.co.uk

Natalie Raybould
Natalie is currently studying on the Academy Opera course at the RAM with Joy Mammen and Clara Taylor. Operatic experience includes Adèle The Flying Fox for Tête à Tête, Sofia Il Signor Bruschino for LRSO, Ermione Oreste in association with English Bach Festival, ROH and Cleopatra Giulio Cesare for Opera Seicento. Contemporary opera roles include Soprano in A Man of Feeling (Oliver) and Natalya in A Proposal (Dubugnon) for Chimera Opera. Natalie gratefully acknowledges the assistance of the Countess of Munster Musical Trust in their support of her studies.

Anna Reynolds
Anna's stage plays include Jordan (Time Out/Writers Guild award winner), Wild Things (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Deep Joy (Mercury Colchester), Look At Me (Theatre Centre), Ring Road Tales (Watford Palace), Left Luggage (Trestle Theatre Company) and many others. She is currently the Royal Literary Fund writer-in-residence at the London College of Fashion. Her latest play, Blue Sky State, will open this autumn at the Mercury, Colchester . She has also written for BBC2, is working on a feature film for Screen East and is editor of the UK's biggest website for writers, www.writewords.org.uk

Mark Richardson
Bass-baritone. A student of Joy Mammen and recent graduate of ENO young singers program , Mark this year made his Covent Garden debut as Professor/ Corporal Mors in Nielsons Maskerade. Future plans include Vaarlaam for Reis Opera and Charrington in Maazel's 1984 in Spain and Italy.

Jonathan Rouse
Previous lighting designs include: Arabian Nights, Manchester Youth Theatre; School Play, Hey Good Looking, Soho Theatre Company; All Words for Sex, International Artistes. Relights include: The Mysteries and The Beggars Opera for Wilton’s Music Hall at New Haven International Festival, Connecticut; Six-Pack for Tête à Tête. Jonathan has worked as lighting associate for Robert Bryan Albert Herring, Kent Opera and Paul Pyant Glorinana, Aldeburgh Festival. Also lighting assistant to Bruno Poet Just Between Ourselves, Theatre Royal Bath Productions; and Jason Taylor The Mikado, Yeoman of the Guard, Iolanthe for D’Oyly Carte Opera.

Toby Satterthwaite
Writer and director. Born and brought up in Leeds. Graduate of the MA in Playwriting Studies from the University of Birmingham. Writing credits include The Firebucket, Going Home, for the Baylis Programme at ENO, Ariadne/Medea for Opera Works, Woollen Town and The Odyssey for Local Space.

Joe Sharp
Joe works as a freelance trumpet player based in London, having graduated from the Royal College of Music in 2004 with a First Class honours degree. He regularly appears with both the London Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Recent engagements include Verdi’s ‘Requiem’ with the LSO under Sir Colin Davis in London and New York, and Tchaikovsky 6 with the LPO under Vladimir Jurowski. He is currently on trial for the 2nd Trumpet position with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra in Dublin. For the last two years he has also been artistic director of the award-winning brass dectet, 'Brass10.' An experienced performer of ‘lighter’ music, he recently recorded with the LSO and Sarah Brightman at EMI Abbey Road, and has worked extensively on both the London and touring productions of ‘Edward Scissorhands.’

Lucy Shaw
Lucy read music at Edinburgh University before taking a post-graduate course at GSMD. She is a freelance orchestral player and works in an improvisatory way with various artists and bands. She premièred the ground-breaking choreographed piece db-II-bass, working with Aydin Teker and Luke Stoneham. Lucy is a member of the acclaimed music theatre group the gogmagogs and plays the bass guitar with the band Slovo.

Thom Stanbury
Trained at Royal Holloway London University, started his theatre career with the Glyndebourne Festival Opera and has subsequently worked in stage management for companies including Garsington Opera, English Touring Opera, Music Theatre London, Opera Circus, Royal Exchange (Manchester), Queen’s Theatre (Hornchurch), Mountview Academy of Theatre Art and Musica nel Chiostro.

Natalie Steed
Natalie Steed is a freelance arts producer and project manager working largely in music theatre. Current clients include Tête-à-Tête and The Shout.
www.nataliesteedproductions.co.uk

Stuart Stratford
Studied conducting with David Parry at Cambridge University and Ilya Musin at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Engagements in the UK include: The Turn of the Screw for ETO; Candide for Birmingham Opera Company; The Eternity Man, Tobias and the Angel, Ion, Kantan, L’altra Euridice, Ariadne and The Embalmer for Almeida Opera Festival; The Palace in the Sky for the ENO Baylis programme; Six-Pack for ENO Studio/ Tête-à-Tête. Current season/future plans include: I Pagliacci for Opera North, Carmen and The Magic Flute for Savoy Opera, Don Giovanni for ENO.

Simon Sturgess
Simon is a freelance Production Manager whose recent work includes SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE at the Menier Chocolate Factory and Wyndhams, BLASTED for Graeae and various projects for CIRCUS SPACE. For Tete a Tete he was Production Manager foe ORLANDO PLAYS MAD.

Richard Taylor
Richard studied composition at the RNCM. He has written musicals: Whistle Down The Wind, The Silver Sword, The Go-Between, music for plays: Manchester Library Theatre, Contact Theatre, Oxford Stage Company, West Yorkshire Playhouse, music for cathedrals: Warchild, Creation, for the television film: Father Christmas and The Missing Reindeer, for concert halls: Manchester Camerata Orchestra, London Sinfonia Soloist and for the occasional opera company ENO Studio and Opera North.


Alice Trentham
Alice is a Masters and teaching assistant graduate of the Eastman School, USA after winning awards from the Worshipful Company of Musicians and a Fellowship from the Eastman School. She has performed her harp orchestrally and as a soloist throughout Europe and the US. Her recent engagements include the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Northern Ballet Company and a chamber recital at The Brighton Festival 2001.

Stephen Wallace
Stephen studied at the RNCM. Recent acclaimed performances include Athamas Semele ENO, title role Orfeo and Euridice ETO, Orlofsky Die Fledermaus RPO Flanders, The Last Supper Berlin, Glyndebourne and Death in Venice Opera Zuid. Other appearances include Semele Berlin, Speranza Orfeo Brussels, London, Aix-en-Provence, Human Frailty/Anfinomus The Return of Ulysses Opera North, Osmino Solimano and Semele Innsbruck, Orlofsky Die Fledermaus Dublin, Madam Bubble The Pilgrim’s Progress RNCM and Orlando finto pazzo Tête à Tête. A recording of Dido and Aeneas for Harmonia Mundi is due for release and plans include further performances of Orfeo Brussels and a new production of Gassmann’s Opera Seria in Paris.

Julian Warburton
Studied percussion at Huddersfield University and the GSMD. After leaving college in 1996 he has been dedicated to the performance and recording of contemporary music. As a soloist he has toured Brazil, India, Switzerland and the Channel Isles, and is a regular performer with the ensembles; Endymion, Lontano, Nash, Expose, Composers, Apogee, Topologies, BCMG and the London Sinfonietta. Julian is renowned for his musical versatility, which has led to more unusual collaborations with the likes of Richard Alston, Ed Harcourt, Selvaganesh and most recently the rock guitarist Uli John Roth.

Ian Watson
Ian graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in 2000 with the coveted Dip.RAM. He has a busy freelance career, which has included included performances with the CBSO, BSO, BCMG, London Sinfonietta, ROH, ENO, ETO, BBC NOW, BBC CO, BBC SO and the LSO. Ian also appears with contemporary music ensembles 'Icebreaker' and in summer 2004 joined the band of the 'Divine Comedy' including appearances at Glastonbury and the Montreaux Jazz Festival. More recently he has performed with Sophie Solomon (violin) and will tour with her band from 2006.

John Webb
John Webb’s music has been performed throughout Europe and the UK and broadcast on Dutch Radio, Classic FM, BBC Radio 3 and BBC2.  He has written a large variety of works, including some for early instruments. Most recently, he has written a solo work for harpsichordist Trevor Pinnock, which is being widely performed. He has also composed for the violinist Monica Huggett, the Albion Ensemble and accordionists Owen Murray and Ian Watson. His first operatic work was The Phone Call commissioned by Tête à Tête and performed as part of Six-Pack. He is also active as a teacher and animateur

Lynne Williams
Before moving to the UK in 1985 Lynne had a wide-ranging career in the arts in her native Australia, including performing as a singer/ actress, writing, directing, producing and lecturing. In 1985 she began postgraduate research into new directions in opera and music theatre and spent time with many opera festivals and companies including ENO. In 1991 Lynne founded Eastern Touring Agency, aiming to bring contemporary arts and audiences together. ETA commissioned works by many composers, including Richard Taylor.

Roger Williams