Šimon Voseček’s Messages from Honorary Patrons Messages from Independent Opera

It is a pleasure to welcome Independent Opera (IO) Independent Opera at Sadler’s Wells’ raison d’être is the back to Sadler’s Wells for their performances of encouragement of operatic talent through mentoring and Biedermann and Biedermann and the Arsonists. fi nancial support. Goodwill from the music profession has been vital in underpinning our progress: we benefi t not only For several years, Independent Opera has successfully from collaborations with leading British music colleges but the Arsonists presented innovative and high-quality productions of both also from partnerships with Sadler’s Wells and Wigmore Hall. acclaimed and less well-known operas for audiences to enjoy. At the same time, the company has maintained its It is signifi cant that the 100th award in our 10-year history Music and libretto by ŠIMON VOSECEKˇ commitment to support emerging directors and singers by is a new annual Director Fellowship. Unique in the UK, with a providing them with a platform to show their work. rigorous selection process, it allows an emerging director to After the play by MAX FRISCH stage a chamber opera chosen by IO and to receive English translation by DAVID POUNTNEY With the choice of a new opera by the young Austrian- exceptional mentoring from renowned directors. Czech composer Šimon Voseˇcek, IO continues this tradition. I congratulate Max Hoehn for realising his vision In staging Šimon Voseˇcek’s Biedermann and the Arsonists, Conductor ...... TIMOTHY REDMOND for Biedermann and the Arsonists and I look forward to we once again reach beyond conventional repertoire as seeing what future recipients of Independent Opera’s demonstrated in previous years with works by Elizabeth Director ...... MAX HOEHN Director Fellowship will create. Maconchy and a chamber reduction of Pelléas et Mélisande. The work’s inventive score, strong dramatic foundation and Set & Costume Designer ...... JEMIMA ROBINSON Alistair Spalding CBE undertow of social commentary provide an ideal opportunity Chief Executive and Artistic Director, Sadler’s Wells for director and creative team to showcase their skills. Lighting Designer ...... GIUSEPPE DI IORIO

Having witnessed much of last autumn’s process for With this UK première we are pleased to present our 2015 Video Designer ...... DANIEL DENTON Director Fellow, Max Hoehn. awarding the Director Fellowship, I can attest both to its Assistant Conductor ...... HARRY SEVER thoroughness and to the talent, hard work and dedication Anna Gustafson Chief Executive, Independent Opera of the candidates. Several of the concepts were so Orchestra ...... BRITTEN SINFONIA imaginative and their realisation so professional that there Directing opera inspires and challenges my imagination to might have been a handful of winners. Max Hoehn is a sensitise an audience to the power of a work. This Fellowship worthy benefi ciary of yet another bold initiative to provide Biedermann ...... MARK LE BROCQ has given me the thrilling opportunity to realise this, thanks to enduring support for young artists by Independent Opera Šimon’s characterful music, the humour of Frisch’s text and and its enlightened patrons, Bill and Judy Bollinger. Babette ...... ALINKA KOZÁRI the excellent production conditions offered by Independent Nicholas Payne Director, Opera Europa Opera. A world is created on stage that draws on the Schmitz ...... LEIGH MELROSE absurdist elements of the piece while also presenting a Eisenring ...... MATTHEW HARGREAVES After a decade of dedicated support for emerging talent, contemporary domestic environment that a modern European Independent Opera’s new annual Director Fellowship is audience will recognise. Over 50 years after the première, I Anna ...... RAPHAELA PAPADAKIS another opportunity to applaud this pioneering company. hope the arsonists cast their sinister spell once again. It adds to the signifi cant contribution they have made in Fireman tenor ...... ADAM SULLIVAN Max Hoehn Independent Opera Director Fellow 2015 creating opportunities for artists at the start of their opera Fireman baritone ...... JOHNNY HERFORD careers. Their commitment to sharing this work with Independent Opera at Sadler’s Wells helped launch my audiences is proving to be a winning combination that career, and I hope it will do the same for future winners of Fireman bass ...... BRADLEY TRAVIS makes them one of the heroes of the opera world. this award. I am in Venice directing Idomeneo and not able Policeman ...... LAURENCE NORTH Michael Grandage CBE to be at Biedermann, but I look forward to following Max’s Artistic Director, Michael Grandage Company progress. After Independent Opera, anything is possible! Presented by Independent Opera at Sadler’s Wells Alessandro Talevi Co-Founder, Independent Opera Independent Opera plays a key role in enabling emerging Chief Executive ANNA GUSTAFSON artists to make the diffi cult transition from student to Honorary Patrons Co-Founders Trustees General Manager CHRISSY JAY professional, which is why I give the organisation my full Dame Anne Evans Judith Bollinger Annita Bennett support, by both spreading the word about IO and actively 14, 17, 19 November 2015 • Lilian Baylis Studio, Sadler's Wells helping its singers with vocal coaching and advising them Michael Grandage CBE William Bollinger Elisabeth Buchanan on how best they might achieve their ambitions. Nicholas Payne Alessandro Talevi Wilson Kerr UK première. The world première was given by Neue Oper Wien at Atelierhaus der Alistair Spalding CBE Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien (Semperdepot), Vienna, 17 September 2013 Dame Anne Evans THE SECRET Synopsis OF SETTING Biedermann Defi ned BIEDERMANN BY FRED BRIDGHAM TO MUSIC Gottlieb Biedermann is the owner of a successful hair tonic business and a respected member of the local he protagonist of Max Frisch’s play Biedermann und die Brandstifter How do you write community. He lives with his wife, Babette, in a quiet, shows little trace of his name’s medieval roots, which suggest music for a comedy? T There are relatively middle-class district that has recently experienced someone honest and straightforward, upright and even valiant – few operas that are a spate of arson attacks. truly funny: operas in a Wilhelm Tell, for instance. Indeed the word, and especially its derivative The opera takes place in the Biedermann home. adjective bieder, had long acquired an ironically humorous or downright which the plot, the music and the text A trio of fi remen performs the role of a Greek Chorus pejorative sense, of someone naive and thus easily deceived, but also combine to make on the side of the stage, warning of the disaster to come conventionally conservative with narrow-mindedly provincial, middle- an audience laugh should a citizen ignore any signs of danger. out loud. class, philistine tastes (the more usual term nowadays is Spiessbürger or ACT I In his new opera, Spiesser, a stigma Biedermann and his wife strive to avoid at all costs). One day a former wrestler by the name of Schmitz Biedermann and the Arsonists, Šimon arrives at the Biedermanns’ doorstep, claiming to Biedermeier is the name given to the era exploitative businessman with ill-founded Voseˇcek presents us be homeless. Biedermann permits him to stay the 1815-1848 in Central Europe. It was a pretensions to refi ned sensibility at with a darkly comic night in the attic. score that cleverly retrospective designation that comes home, naively celebrating his ‘humanity’ In the morning, Biedermann departs for work, leaving combines numerous from verses published in the 1850s under while blind to his absurd gullibility. his wife with the task of sending Schmitz on his way musical traditions to the ironic pseudonym Gottlieb following a hearty breakfast. But when Schmitz recounts It was certainly not Frisch’s intention create a soundworld Biedermaier (cf. Frisch’s ‘Gottlieb’ his tragic, impoverished youth, Babette insists that she to illustrate a clash of incommensurable at once familiar Biedermann) and thus dubbed and unsettling. has no intention of turfi ng him out. values such as altruistic hospitality and The harmonies are biedermännisch. That era’s solidly middle- Schmitz is soon joined at the Biedermann home by his sensible caution, values equally positive, nearly (but not quite) class, early Victorian values, its emphasis friend, Eisenring, a former waiter. The two spend the yet incompatible. His Biedermann is a in tune and the on self-suffi cient Gemütlichkeit in a safe night transporting barrels of petrol into the attic. mere caricature possessing no single rhythms are regular family setting, its domestic comfort, enough to lure you in, virtue, let alone the courage to stand up The following morning, Biedermann demands the men before their off-beat its dining rituals and rediscovered both leave or else he’ll call the police. At that very and be counted in defence of his professed syncopations leave indulgences found favour again in the moment, a policeman drops by to inform Biedermann convictions, the Zivilcourage on which you reeling. Adenauer era on the threshold of the of the suicide of his business partner, Herr Knechtling, Frisch’s democratic compatriots in economic Wirtschaftswunder. Voseˇcek writes music whom he had recently sacked. When the policeman particular traditionally prided themselves. that cleverly nags inquires as to the contents of the barrels in the attic, at the subconscious, A further derivative of The parodistic Greek chorus of fi remen Biedermann answers: “Hair tonic!” hinting at the punch bieder characterizes both rail against capitulation to ‘Fate’, but line long before it’s ACT II Biedermann and his Frisch’s bourgeois Everyman remains spelled out, and With the two intruders fi rmly established in his home, visitors – his increasingly stupid to the end. He has learnt nothing when the drama Biedermann adopts a new policy of appeasement and obsequious attempts to ingratiate requires it, he allows from the performance of Jedermann (1911) attempts to befriend them. Schmitz and Eisenring do himself with them (sich anbiedern) the performers to that he and his well-matched wife had speak lines that are absolutely nothing to hide the fact that they intend in craven response to their likely attended. In Hofmannsthal’s better unsung. to burn down his home. In a last-ditch attempt to insinuating themselves into his celebrated version of the medieval placate them and get them to leave, Biedermann But none of this household, making themselves at hosts a farewell supper. morality play, Everyman, unlike would make us laugh home and becoming overfamiliar Biedermann, repents his selfi sh without two things: Towards the end of the boozy meal, the arsonists with him (Anbiederungsversuche). hedonism and fi nds salvation. Frisch’s a sense of the absurd reveal their true identities and ask Biedermann and impeccable comic play is rather a whistling in the dark. for a box of matches. Exhausted and resigned Frisch’s protagonist is less a timing. Fortunately, to his fate, Biedermann hands them over. coherent character than a bundle Dr Fred Bridgham is the author of many studies in Voseˇcek has them of contradictory and grotesquely German literature and history, and translated both in spades. MAX HOEHN exaggerated traits – a ruthlessly Henze’s ‘Der Prinz von Homburg’ for ENO. TIMOTHY REDMOND The performance begins at 7.45pm and ends at approximately 9.15pm.   A scene from the première of Biedermann und die Brandstifter ‘Morality without a moral’ at the Schauspielhaus Max Frisch and his Zurich, 1958 most famous play BY MICHAEL BILLINGTON

rama cannot be confi ned to a single purpose. It can Denlighten, educate and entertain. It can be epic or minimalist. It can rejoice in language or parcel out words parsimoniously. But one of its most basic functions is to provide a metaphor that expands with time and takes on multiple meanings. The Swiss-German writer Max Frisch achieved just that in The Fire Raisers [German title: Biedermann und die Brandstifter]. Frisch’s idea fi rst took Max Frisch, in 1972 dramatic shape as a radio play in 1953 (and there is a thesis to be written on the infl uence of radio on modern drama). The stage version was premièred in Zurich in 1958, reached London’s Royal Court in 1961 in a Lindsay Anderson production and was briskly revived – in a new translation by Alistair Beaton under the title of The Arsonists – at the Court in 2007. Some plays fade with time. Frisch’s satiric fable – ‘a morality without a moral’ he called it – seemed more pertinent than ever.

Frisch’s story has a beautiful clarity. Gottlieb from the outset, point out that nothing can be put Biedermann, an archetypal bourgeois, as his name down to fate. As they say in the Beaton version: ‘If implies, is a manufacturer of hair tonic in a town humans start thinking like that Then they will not plagued by arson attacks. In his professional life, deserve Their place on this earth This generous earth Biedermann behaves with a brutal heartlessness: he That is fruitful and gracious to man.’ rejects a former employee who’s claiming a share of the profi ts from an invention and ultimately provokes The fi rst thing to strike one is Frisch’s skill in the man’s suicide. But when a homeless wrestler, resurrecting a potent dramatic myth: the danger of Schmitz, turns up at his door, Biedermann gives him showing hospitality to one’s destroyers. Sophocles’ food and shelter. To the astonishment of Biedermann Oedipus, investigating the source of the Theban and his wife, Babette, Schmitz is soon joined by plague, opens his doors to messengers of doom. an ex-waiter, Eisenring. Biedermann suspects the Ibsen’s Hjalmar Ekdal in The Wild Duck welcomes into two men are arsonists, and when they stack drums of the family home the fatally idealistic Gregers Werle. petrol in his attic and openly fi x fuses and detonators Signifi cantly in both cases, as with Babette in in front of him his fears are confi rmed. But The Fire Raisers, it is the protagonist’s wife who has Biedermann seeks to appease the intruders, even the foresight to detect the looming disaster. inviting them to a slap-up dinner of goose and red cabbage. Whatever may happen to the rest of the But, while invoking ancient myth, Frisch’s play was town, he believes that he is safe from attack. All this prompted by post-war history: specifi cally, the case of is observed by a parodic Greek chorus of fi remen, who, President Bene of Czechoslovakia. In 1946 Bene and

  his foreign minister, Jan Masaryk, had welcomed explored in plays such as The Good Person of Sezuan and Czech communists, who had a popular following, into Mr Puntila and his Man Matti. The turning point comes A conversation with their ruling coalition. Two years later the communists, when Biedermann, having threatened to call the realising they could never gain power by democratic police to the arsonists, is confronted by an offi cer of means, resorted to force. Armed militiamen appeared the law with news of Knechtling’s suicide. At the very Šimon Voseček and Max Hoehn on the streets, non-communist politicians were moment when he could reverse the situation, HUGO SHIRLEY MEETS THE COMPOSER AND DIRECTOR arrested, Masaryk was thrown to his death from his Biedermann mendaciously reports that the suspect OF BIEDERMANN AND THE ARSONISTS ministry window. As the pliant Bene stood by, oil-drums are full of hair rejuvenator. Klement Gottwald, the communist boss, said, ‘It was like cutting butter with a sharp knife.’ But while you Frisch pursues the idea of guilt right through to the can see how this would have sparked Frisch’s climax. Having invited the resident fi re-raisers to imagination, you can apply the play’s central situation dinner, Biedermann hastily hides the candlesticks, to other historical events, most obviously to the fi nger-bowls and damask linen his wife and maid have ust read it! It’s pretty deep, and it’s also funny. German people’s democratic endorsement of Hitler in provided only to be obliged to reinstate them at the ‘JAnd it’s absurd, and it’s a really good play.’ Those 1933, scarcely believing that he meant what he said emphatic insistence of his guests. were the words with which composer Šimon Voseček’s when he spoke of war and global conquest. partner, a teacher, recommended Max Frisch’s Biedermann und die Brandstifter to him ten years ago. The greatness of Frisch’s play, however, resides in its “For a play without a moral, The play, written in 1953, is a key piece of post-war openness to interpretation. When the play was seen German-speaking theatre. at the Royal Court in December 1961 – a few months it manages to communicate after the Labour Party had decisively rejected a surprising number of messages” As I talk with Voseček and Max Hoehn, director of CND’s calls for unilateral disarmament – it seemed Independent Opera’s London production of Biedermann urgently topical. Edna O’Brien, reviewing the Court’s and the Arsonists (as it has become in David Pountney’s production in Encore, wrote: ‘It is a play about NOW: It is both funny and chilling and of a piece with a play translation), it becomes clear that it is the work’s about the predicament of being alive and helpless that is as much about class as it is about impending multiple possible interpretations that make it so Biedermann rehearsal with in a nuclear age; about the rotting eff ects of power; catastrophe. Martin Esslin corrals the play into his fascinating. The play, subtitled ‘a morality without Max Hoehn directing the cast about women attending to wreaths (as women will) Theatre of the Absurd on the grounds that it is a moral’, presents an allegory that both agree speaks when the house is falling in; about the need to be about the dead world of routine and empty bonhomie. as much to us today as it did to audiences in the 1950s. This view helped inform the way that Voseček loved even by those whom we regard as our inferiors.’ But Frisch’s play is much more political than that. addressed his task, fi rst as librettist and then as It suggests the bourgeoisie turns a blind eye to Hoehn is quick to add, however, that it’s more than composer. ‘I wanted to keep my distance, to not Nearly half a century later, when Frisch’s play returned encroaching evil because of its own internal anxiety. a Lehrstück – a piece of Brechtian didacticism. ‘It’s sympathise with anyone,’ he tells me, before explaining to the Court, it had taken on a diff erent colouration. By implication, it also argues that whole nations also a very amusing and absurd situation that’s one fi nal advantage of Frisch’s play: ‘The piece is It still remained a play about a man welcoming agents embrace the seeds of their own destruction through presented to the audience. There’s something already written as if it were a libretto – it was hardly of destruction into his home, but the situation had a mix of myopia, inertia and fear. For a play without inherently entertaining about that,’ he explains. necessary to do anything to it.’ The adjustments taken on countless new meanings. To some, it was a a moral, it manages to communicate a surprising ‘The other side of the coin is that it’s actually quite Voseček did have to make were relatively minor, play about our willingness to allow corporate greed and number of messages. But Frisch’s supreme a haunting deconstruction of middle-class behaviour.’ including the loss of one character, Doktor Philosophie. individual selfi shness to destroy the planetary eco- achievement is to have created a fable that, like That, Hoehn suggests, is part of what gives the play He also deleted the epilogue that Frisch added after system. To others, it was about the surrender of precious Dürrenmatt’s The Visit, has its roots in post-war Europe its timeless relevance. The approach adopted by the fi rst Swiss audience interpreted the play as liberties, in a post-9/11 world, in the name of the War on but that acquires new meaning whenever and the production and Voseček’s libretto reinforce a straightforward warning against Communism. Terror. To right-wing nationalists, it might even be seen wherever it is produced. Biedermann's relevance. as a parable about the perils of unchecked immigration. Excerpted from Michael Billington: ‘The The play’s continued appeal and power, indeed, are “The play is written as if it were But as I watched Ramin Gray’s sharp-witted 2007 101 Greatest Plays from Antiquity to the what convinced Voseček that it was a suitable subject revival, it struck me that Frisch’s play, while Present’, with permission from Faber and for his fi rst opera. ‘I think it’s important that an opera already a libretto – I hardly had to kaleidoscopically shifting, is also about a timeless Faber Ltd. Michael Billington is theatre is “actual”, that it’s not just about love, that there is do anything to it” ŠIMON VOSECEKˇ subject: bourgeois guilt. Biedermann, as Frisch once critic of The Guardian. He lectures and something political. I’m a political being, but what insisted, is not stupid. He has, however, the uneasy broadcasts on the arts, teaches drama for I like about this piece is that it is not clear what conscience of the affl uent. He also divorces private the University of Pennsylvania and is position you’re taking on as the writer; it’s not clear For Voseček, Doktor Philosophie was simply ‘too and public morality: he shows a nervous charity to a visiting Professor at King’s College, what position the narrator has. That appeals to me, moralistic, too Fifties.’ Hoehn also appreciated the the arsonists but treats his ex-employee Knechtling London and an Honorary Fellow of because it increases the number of people who need to remove the character, and not just in terms of with total callousness. It’s exactly the division Brecht St Catherine’s College, Oxford. might be interested in it.’ the challenge of turning the play into an opera. ‘It’s

  Biedermann rehearsal scenes; costume designs by Jemima Robinson

very obvious that these two arsonists are pranksters, eff ort to make sure a sort of Mitteleuropäisch sensibility are more contemplative. And there are two Voseček is quick to remind me that Biedermann’s that they’re brutal characters as well, despite their is still present, as well as visual references that are not monologues for Babette and Biedermann,’ he adds, behaviour regarding poor Knechtling adds another charm. But they’re clearly not ideologues, and you strictly contemporary.’ Hoehn wanted to make sure he conceding a little reluctantly, ‘which we can call arias.’ complex dimension. It casts Biedermann’s ‘humanity’ don’t need a Doktor Philosophie to see that.’ reacted to what he sees as the ‘hyper-theatricality’ of towards the arsonists in a diff erent light. ‘This,’ the the play, to off er the audience the opportunity to One other important change takes us right to the composer explains, ‘is why the character becomes so Many performances of the play drop the epilogue, interpret it in their own way. heart of the drama, to the idea of Biedermann “inhuman”. Throughout the course of the piece he as Voseček did in his opera. Yet Hoehn found that himself, with his name that embodies resonances loses his grip on reality, and his voice gradually rises the epilogue – in which Biedermann and his wife This was also a concern for Voseček. ‘There is class of specifi cally Austro-German culture: the 19th- to refl ect this, so that at the end the voice stays up on Babette fi nd themselves answering to the Devil, warfare in the original as well,’ he explains, ‘but century ideal of Biedermeier domestic comfort the high B fl at – you can simulate panic musically, but helped inform some of his fi rst ideas about the opera. I tried to put that into the background. My work (‘Gemütlichkeit’) and petit-bourgeois values if you make a tenor sing very high, it is panic!’ ‘It was quite important to me in how I approached with the libretto was to throw out everything that (‘Kleinbürgerlichkeit’); and the fi gure of the concept proposal for the [Independent Opera] was somehow “Fifties”. And that’s why the epilogue Jedermann, immortalised in the morality play Addressing the Jedermann resonances, and specifi cally competition, with this idea that the arsonists are isn’t there – although it in fact wasn’t in my edition by Hugo von Hofmannsthal – itself based on the Frisch’s own references to Hofmannsthal’s play in his actually devils. Then I listened to Šimon’s very of the play, so I didn’t initially know it was there! medieval English play Everyman. fi nal scene, presented a diff erent sort of challenge for menacing orchestration, and it led me to think of But there is also the fi nal explosion in the play, after Voseček. His solution? To turn Frisch’s literary a two-tiered set with a domestic paradise above, which the fi remen explain that everything happened reference into a musical one, and, as Schmitz relives this very white apartment for the Biedermanns, because of stupidity.’ That was cut, Voseček explains, “I discovered that Frisch felt his brief experience of working in the theatre, to and then underneath – well, you have to put the because he wanted to ‘let people in the audience that the audience should identify conjure up the Commendatore from Don Giovanni. orchestra somewhere! – I felt the musicians could think about that themselves.’ Voseček skilfully quotes from Mozart’s score, using play the devilish role.’ with Biedermann – even if they suitably uncanny and disconcertingly spectral Voseček’s attitude towards the text informed how don’t want to” MAX HOEHN instrumentation. When talking about the aesthetic of his production, he approached the music, scored inventively for Hoehn notes Frisch’s direction. ‘He says “Today”; a small ensemble of three clarinets, three trombones, Hoehn makes clear his appreciation for Voseček’s he doesn’t say “1950s” or anything specifi c. And tuba, two percussionists (with a large selection of Neither composer nor director sees much problem Mozartian link. ‘My hope is that it might while researching I discovered that Frisch wrote to instruments), a single violin and three cellos, one with the cultural specifi city of Biedermann. ‘Is he give opera audiences a little chuckle, but Lindsay Anderson, the director of the fi rst British tuned down a third from standard pitch. Part of the actually kleinbürgerlich?’ Voseček asks. Hoehn suggests, that it’s also a little scary,’ he explains. production at the Royal Court, emphasising that challenge, he says, was to deal with so much dialogue, ‘There’s something in the Biedermanns’ taste that Then he adds, with a laugh: ‘It also it’s very important that the audience identify with to work out how to ensure that each character could I’d associate with the petit-bourgeois sensibility that means I get to stage the Biedermann or can see themselves possibly acting in have his or her individual musical language. ‘They Frisch so liked to satirise. They both crave respectability Commendatore scene!’ the way he does, even if they don’t want to.’ were assigned individual musical intervals, but that and suff er from small-mindedness, but these disappears in the fi nal scene, where it was no longer characteristics are not restricted to the German- Hugo Shirley is reviews To achieve this, Hoehn has sought to create ‘a modern, important. People have asked why I kept it so dialogue- language world or to a particular time.’ Once again, editor at Gramophone and middle-class environment that’s recognisable to based, and it’s true that it’s remained a conversation part of the work’s appeal for both is its timelessness, a Financial Times and UK audiences. It could be the UK, but I’ve also made an piece, but between the scenes are intermezzi, which the questions it still asks of an audience today. Daily Telegraph critic.

 Artist Biographies

Šimon Voseček David Pountney Timothy Redmond Britten Sinfonia Max Hoehn Jemima Robinson Guiseppe di Iorio Harry Sever Composer Translator Conductor Orchestra Director Set & Costume Designer Lighting Designer Assistant Conductor

Born in 1978, Austrian- David Pountney became A love of contemporary Britten Sinfonia is one Max Hoehn is the recipient Jemima Robinson has Born in Naples, Giuseppe After studying music at Czech composer and internationally known music has taken Timothy of the world’s most of the 2015 Independent designed for theatre, di Iorio studied at the Oxford, where he was chansonnier Šimon Vose ˇcek through his production Redmond to orchestras celebrated and pioneering Opera at Sadler’s Wells dance and opera in the UK Guildhall School. He awarded fi rst-class studied composition at the of Katya Kabanova at the and opera houses around ensembles, acclaimed for Director Fellowship. and abroad. A winner of recently lit Morgen und honours, Harry Sever Prague Conservatory with 1972 Wexford Festival. the world. Opera highlights its virtuoso musicianship His productions as director the biennial Linbury Prize Abend (ROH); The Ice continued his training as a Otomar Kv ˇech, following He was director of include The Golden Ticket and an inspired approach include The Waiter’s for Stage Design and the Break and Khovanskygate répétiteur at the Guildhall early lessons in piano and productions for Scottish (St Louis, Wexford, New to concert programming Revenge (Birmingham Bristol Old Vic Technical (Birmingham Opera) and School. As a vocal coach organ. He continued Opera (1975–1980) and York), The Original Chinese that makes bold, Opera Company), Theatre Award in 2011, L’elisir d’amore and accompanist, he has composition studies at for English National Conjuror (Aldeburgh, intelligent connections Erik Satie: Memoirs of her design work has been (Glyndebourne Festival). worked with singers from the University of Music Opera (1982–1993), and Almeida) and Powder Her across 400 years of a Pear-Shaped Life exhibited at the National the Royal Opera House, and Performing Arts Vienna has a long-standing Face (Royal Opera House, repertoire. Britten Sinfonia (Cheltenham Music Theatre and the Royal His extensive lighting ENO, and the National with Dietmar Schermann, association with Opera English National Opera, does not have a principal Festival), Handel Furioso Festival Hall. She studied experience outside the UK Opera Studio. He is the Erich Urbanner and North. Since 2011 he has Mariinsky). He worked conductor or director but (Arcola Grimeborn sociology at the University includes The rise and fall musical director of Pop-up Chaya Czernowin. been Chief Executive and closely with Thomas Adès instead collaborates with Festival & UK Tour) and of Bath and undertook of the city of Mahogany Productions HK, which Artistic Director of Welsh for the première of The the fi nest international Ullmann’s The Emperor a foundation course at (Opera di Roma); Singing premièred Beijing Ranging from chamber National Opera, where he Tempest at Covent Garden guest artists from across of Atlantis (Arcola Wimbledon College of in the rain (Théâtre du Bohème, an immersive music to orchestral work directed Lulu, Guillaume and subsequently at the musical spectrum, Grimeborn Festival). Art before completing Châtelet); Falstaff adaptation of La bohème and opera, Šimon’s Tell and Mosè in Egitto. Strasbourg and the Met. resulting in performances the postgraduate (Bucharest); Tristan und set in contemporary China. Over the last two years compositions have been of rare insight and energy. theatre design course Isolde (Athens); War and David has directed many Timothy conducts and Max has worked closely Recent conducting performed around the at the Bristol Old Vic Peace, The Makropulos world premières and records with many of the Britten Sinfonia is an with Birmingham Opera engagements include world. Last year, his music Theatre School. Case and Boris Godunov was performed in the translated operas into major British and European Associate Ensemble at Company as Assistant (Mariinsky); the award- Verdi’s Requiem in the USA, Japan and the English from Russian, orchestras, and has long- the Barbican, and has Director to Graham Vick Formerly resident artist winning Curro Vargas Sheldonian Theatre, UK (Soundings 2014; Czech, German and Italian. standing associations with residencies in Norwich and as translator, writing at Kenya’s Kuona Arts (Teatro de La Zarzuela, Oxford; Unfi nished Austrian Cultural Forum He received a Janá ˇcek the Royal Philharmonic and and Cambridge (where a new English translation Trust and resident Madrid); Die Zauberfl öte (Mozart’s Requiem/ and the RCM). medal for his Janá ˇcek cycle London Symphony it is the university’s of Mussorgsky’s designer for Istanbul’s (Bolshoi Theatre); Schubert’s Symphony in Wales and Scotland, orchestras. He has orchestra in association). Khovanshchina. Entitled Talimhane Theatre, Otello (Salzburg; Teatro No.8 with the Novalis In 2008, Šimon received and a Martin˚u medal for conducted productions Britten Sinfonia also Khovanskygate: A National Jemima has been an dell’Opera, Rome) and Chamber Orchestra) and the Upcoming Artist Julietta and Greek Passion for Opera North, ENO, presents a chamber music Enquiry, it won Best assistant designer at the La clemenza di Tito a new work at the Award from the Austrian (Opera North and the English Touring Opera, series at Wigmore Hall New Production at the Royal Shakespeare (Teatro Regio, Turin). Tête-à-Tête opera festival. Federal Ministry for Bregenz Festival, where he Bregenz Festival (The and appears regularly International Opera Company, Theatre Royal Harry also directs from Education, Arts and was Intendant for several Cricket Recovers), Tenerife at major UK festivals. Awards. He has also Haymarket and Kensington Giuseppe has also the harpsichord; recent Culture for his fi rst full- years). Recent projects Opera (Glyndebourne The orchestra’s growing assisted on productions at Palace. She previously designed sets and lighting performances include length opera, Biedermann include Kommilitonen, his productions of Carmen, international profi le Glyndebourne, Zurich collaborated with Max for Elektra and Cassandra Handel’s Tamerlano und die Brandstifter, third opera written in Gianni Schicchi, The Miserly includes regular touring to Opera, Welsh National Hoehn when she designed (Teatro Bellini di Catania), Il (New Chamber Opera) premièred by Neue Oper collaboration with Peter Knight) and the Wexford North and South America Opera, Grange Park and the set and costume for trovatore (Nuremberg) and and Messiah (Novalis Wien in September 2013. Maxwell Davies. Festival (Der Silbersee). and Europe. with the Mariinsky on Tour. Handel Furioso. Semele (Scottish Opera). Chamber Orchestra).

 Matthew Hargreaves Johnny Herford Alinka Kozári Mark Le Brocq Leigh Melrose Raphaela Papadakis Adam Sullivan Bradley Travis Eisenring Fireman Babette Biedermann Schmitz Anna Fireman Fireman

Matthew Hargreaves Last season Johnny Alinka Kozári studied at Mark Le Brocq studied Leigh Melrose has a Award-winning British Adam Sullivan is a recent Bradley Travis studied began singing as a Herford created the role the Franz Liszt Music at the Royal Academy formidable reputation soprano Raphaela graduate of the Guildhall at the RNCM and the chorister at Westminster of Josef K in the world Academy, the Birmingham of Music and the for the performance of Papadakis made her School of Music & Drama, Royal College of Music Abbey before studying at première of The Trial Conservatoire and the National Opera Studio. new works and dramatic professional début at where he studied with International Opera School. the Guildhall School. He by Phillip Glass at the National Opera Studio. As company principal 20th-century repertoire. Garsington Opera last Theresa Goble and was At the RCMIOS his roles was a fi nalist in the 1996 Linbury Studio, Royal Operatic roles have with ENO, his roles World premières include year, and recently covered supported by the Behrens included Figaro International Coloratura Opera House, in included Erste Dame have included Tamino Kalitzke’s Die Besessenen the Nymph in Michael Foundation, Donald (Le nozze di Figaro), Singing Competition and a co-production with Die Zauberfl öte (BYO), (The Magic Flute), at Theater an der Wien, Boyd’s Orfeo for the Royal Adams Memorial Trust Don Iñigo Gomez won the Decca Prize in Music Theatre Wales. Adina in L’elisir d’amore Narraboth (Salome) MacMillan’s The Sacrifi ce Opera House. An avid and the Musicians (L’heure espagnole) the 1997 Kathleen Ferrier This role also marked (Anghiari Festival), Walter and Paris (King Priam). at Welsh National Opera lover of contemporary Benevolent Fund. and Lord Ellington Competition. Johnny’s German debut in La Wally and Berta in Il Other operatic highlights and On Conversing music, Raphaela created (La vie Parisienne). at Magdeburg Oper. barbiere di Siviglia (Opera include Belmonte with Paradise at the the role of Kikuyo in Nicola His opera roles include Recent and future Holland Park), Countess in (Die Entführung aus dem Aldeburgh Festival. LeFanu’s Tokaido Road at Sam in Our Town (GSMD), Other engagements engagements include Other appearances last Marriage of Figaro (ETO), Serail) for Garsington the Cheltenham Festival. Prologue/Peter Quint in included Minos (Arianna Inspector (A Dog’s Heart) season included Emireno and Gilda in Rigoletto and Opera and the title roles Recent highlights include The Turn of The Screw in Creta), Argenio A committed recitalist, and at La Scala‚ Milan; (Ottone) for English Violetta in La traviata (Iford). of Idomeneo (Opera an acclaimed performance (Frome Festival), Boy/Bull (Imeneo) for the London a Samling and IMA Artist, Leporello (Don Giovanni) Touring Opera, Nikitch Roles in contemporary Northern Ireland) and as Wozzeck at ENO, Zurich in How the Whale Became Handel Festival and Count Raphaela made her recital for Opera North; (Boris Godunov) with the opera have included Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria Opera and the Royal (ROH), Male Chorus in Robinson (The Secret début at Carnegie Hall last Angelotti (Tosca) for Philharmonia conducted Lucille in Maconchy’s The (Chicago Opera Theater). Festival Hall; Traveller in Rape of Lucretia (Lyric Marriage) for British Youth year, and was a Vocal ENO; Stagehand (The by Jakub Hr˚uša and Sofa (Independent Death in Venice (Teatro Productions), Witch in Opera, where he received Recent engagements Fellow at this summer’s Makropulos Case) for Kuligin (Katya Kabanova) Opera), Princess Caraboo Real), the world première Hansel and Gretel and the Basil A Turner Award. include Errollyn Wallen’s Stean’s Music Institute at Edinburgh Festival and for Opéra de Dijon. in Williamson’s English of Solaris (Théâtre de Basilio in Le nozze di Yes at Linbury Studio, the Ravinia Festival, For Garsington Opera, Opera North; Montano/ Eccentrics (Crescent Champs-Élysées), the UK Figaro (both ECO). This season, engagements ROH; Vitek (The Chicago. Raphaela is the where he won the Leonard Herald Otello (BBC Theatre, Birmingham) and première of Francesconi’s include the Journeyman Makropulos Case) for winner of the Mozart Adam has appeared as Ingrams and Helen Clarke Philharmonic) and Sally Bones in Varjak Paw Quartett (ROH) and Curlew River for Opéra Opera North, and Loge Competition, the Clonter a soloist with London awards, he covered Harašta Ceprano Rigoletto (LSO). (Julian Philips) for the Birtwistle’s Gawain (BBC de Dijon; his debut with (Das Rheingold) for Opera and Audience Symphony and Royal (The Cunning Little Vixen) Opera Group. Symphony Orchestra). His extensive concert Scottish Opera; Josef K Longborough Festival. Prizes, and the Maureen Philharmonic orchestras; and the Traveller in Death and oratorio experience (The Trial) in Romania Recent engagements Other highlights include Plans include the lead role Lehane Vocal Award. She Bath Philharmonia; Suffolk in Venice. He recently includes Petite Messe and Magdeburg. In include the title role in Aron (Moses und Aron) for in the world première of studied at the Guildhall Symphony; and the South made his Opera North solennelle (BBC Singers‚ recital Johnny will Agrippina (Iford), Donna Welsh National Opera. Andriessen’s Theatre of School with Janice Bohemia Philharmonic début singing Figaro, Handel’s Sing unto God make his debut at the Anna in Don Giovanni This season he sings Froh the World, Et in Terra et Chapman, supported by (Czech Republic). In recital and Lesbus (Agrippina) for (BBC Proms)‚ Pulcinella Wigmore Hall with (Budapest and Czech in Das Rheingold and Pax (Dutch National Independent Opera, he has appeared at Song Iford Festival. Future plans (RPO) and St John James Baillieu, and will Republic), and the Siegmund in Die Walküre Opera) and his role début Leverhulme Arts, the in the City, Saffron Hall, include Masetto (Don Passion (Chicago), Fauré’s appear at the Leeds soprano solo in Benjamin’s for Opera North, and in as Stolzius in Zimmerman’s Countess of Munster Wigmore Hall, Barbican Giovanni) with ETO Requiem and Elgar’s Lieder Festival with Into the Little Hill for the the world première of Iain Die Soldaten at Teatro Musical Trust and JM Finn Hall, Milton Court and and with Classical Dream of Gerontius. Joseph Middleton. Budapest Spring Festival. Bell’s In Parenthesis. Colón, Buenos Aires. & Co. Snape Maltings. Opera Company.

  Orchestra and Acknowledgements About Independent Opera About the Independent Opera at Sadler’s Wells Director Fellowship

BRITTEN SINFONIA PRODUCTION PHOTOGRAPHY Independent Opera at Sadler’s Wells was founded in 2005 The 100th award in Independent Opera’s 10-year history to serve as a London platform for outstanding emerging is a new annual Director Fellowship, which provides the Violin Production Manager Rehearsal photography artists in every discipline of opera production. The roots recipient the opportunity to stage a chamber opera Jacqueline Shave (leader) Tom Lee Max Lacome of Independent Opera (IO) lie in an encounter between chosen by IO at the Lilian Baylis Studio, Sadler’s Wells. Cello Production Consultant Additional photographs Bill Bollinger, Co-Founder of IO, and Alessandro Talevi, Caroline Dearnley Andrew Quick © Ullstein Bild/Lebrecht Music Candidates for the Director Fellowship are recommended a répétiteur from the Royal Academy of Music, whose Julia Vohralik Video Designer & Arts (p.4); Max Frisch-Archiv, by leading members of the profession. Once nominated, David Bucknall Zürich (p.5) production of Poulenc’s La voix humaine Bill attended. Daniel Denton candidates submit a concept proposal and are interviewed. Clarinet Costume and set design Bill’s imagination was fi red by the anomaly between the Associate Lighting Designer Finalists direct a scene in front of a panel of internationally Joy Farrall & Programmer Jemima Robinson size of ambition and the budget, and with Alessandro, renowned directors. The process itself can be a positive Stephen Williams Marco Alba he determined to fi nd a way to use this as a model for Isabel Couch experience for candidates, and we believe this rigorous Stage Manager SPECIAL THANKS TO... supporting outstanding talent. Anna Gustafson joined approach allows us to engage the most promising talent. Bass clarinet Wendy Griffi n-Reid as General Manager, and IO launched its fi rst production Stephen Williams Richard Stokes for his early Assistant Stage Manager Isabel Couch translation of Biedermann – Rossini’s La Scala di Seta – at the London Oratory This year the search encompassed 26 nominations from Harriet Kennedy and the Arsonists for our School’s Arts Theatre. 30 opera directors, submissions of 22 concept proposals Trombone Props Supervisor workshop auditions Becky Smith and workshop auditions with 10 fi nalists. The Guy Rhodes IO needed a permanent home, and the following year Ruth Molins Stephen Medcalf for leading fi nalists included Richard Gerard Jones, Sophie Motley, formed a relationship with Sadler’s Wells, where it Joe Arnold Costume Supervisor the interview panel Pedro Ribeiro, Karolina Sofulak, Caroline Steinbeis, Estelle Butler presented three productions: Handel’s Orlando (2006); Tuba David Pountney for mentoring Rafael R Villalobos and Max Webster. Edd Leech Wardrobe Mistress of Max Hoehn and leading the a double bill of one-act operas by Elizabeth Maconchy, Celestine Healy workshop audition panel Percussion The Sofa and The Departure (2007); and a new chamber Opera director Stephen Medcalf led the interview panel Toby Kearney Hair & Makeup Artist Director Fellowship orchestration of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande (2008). for the 2015 and 2016 awards. The panel for the fi nalists’ Ben Fullbrook Osman Mos interview panellists workshop auditions comprised David Pountney, Chief Since 2007, Independent Opera’s programme of Hair & Makeup Assistant Stephen Medcalf Executive and Artistic Director, Welsh National Opera; Nicholas Payne Artist Support has provided fi nancial assistance and Imogen Rockley director and writer Martin Duncan; and Annilese Timothy Redmond Scenery and painting mentoring to artists at the outset of their careers. Dominic Wheeler Miskimmon, General Manager and Artistic Director, Set-up (Scenery) Ltd. Our list of supported artists appears on page 17. Director Fellowship Danish National Opera. Lighting workshop audition panellists White Light Max Hoehn is the 2015 Independent Opera Director Martin Duncan The most challenging phase in a young Fellow. The next Independent Opera production will take RÉPÉTITEUR Orchestra Manager Annilese Miskimmon director’s“ career is the transition from Hazel Terry David Pountney place in November 2016, directed by Polly Graham, the Charlotte Forrest Rehearsal Studios Natalie Murray Beale for doing your own shoestring productions, 2016 Independent Opera Director Fellow. 3 Mills Studios, auditioning and mentoring and working as an assistant for established Toynbee Studios COVERS Independent Opera singers directors, to being trusted by opera companies Transport Biedermann Les Jones Transport INDEPENDENT OPERA with a full production of your own. Anthony Flaum AT SADLER’S WELLS Schmitz PUBLIC RELATIONS This is where Independent Opera at Sadler’s Adam Green Chief Executive Wells off ers a unique opportunity, as it Eisenring Macbeth Media Relations Anna Gustafson provides an unparalleled level of support Mark Le Brocq, Max Hoehn, Raphaela Papadakis and Joseph Padfi eld General Manager Alinka Kozári in rehearsal Anna, Babette PROGRAMME BOOK Chrissy Jay for young directors to create high-quality Katherine Crompton CREDITS Artistic Advisor productions in a central London venue. I can Natalie Murray Beale Programme Editor trace some of the off ers I receive now to the Artistic Consultants Inge Kjemtrup Stephen Medcalf work I did at IO in 2007 and 2008, and say Programme Design Dominic Wheeler Silk Pearce that it gave me the confi dence and skills to Casting Consultant know I could tackle anything. Sarah Playfair ” Administrative Assistant Alessandro Talevi, recipient of Independent Opera Grace Cook Artistic Director Fellowship 2005-2009 and a Co-Founder of Independent Opera

  Messages from music colleges Artist Support: Scholarships, Fellowships and Grants

The Guildhall School of Music & Drama and Independent Opera at Sadler’s Wells Independent Opera’s programme of scholarships, fellowships, partnerships have been partners in developing and training the next generation of opera singers and grants grew out of the experience of working with young performers, and for many years. The School is tremendously grateful to Independent Opera for the need for a broad and long-term system of support. In tandem with IO its long-standing commitment to our students. Training an opera singer can take productions at Sadler’s Wells’ Lilian Baylis Studio, the programme now totals up to eight years of intense study. Scholarships ensure that students are able to over £2,000,000, and marks IO out as a serious contributor to the operatic undertake training programmes without the worry of excessive fi nancial burdens. fi eld. We are proud to present a list of the artists we have supported. This is only made possible by generous supporters such as Independent Opera, to whom we would like to express our great thanks and appreciation. 2007 2009 2011 2014 Artistic Director Fellowship Designer Fellowship Voice Fellowship Voice Fellowship Barry Ife CBE, Principal, Guildhall School of Music & Drama Alessandro Talevi Tom Oldham Koji Terada (GSMD) Raphaela Papadakis (GSMD) (2005–2009) Voice Fellowship Jimmy Holliday (NOS) Tom Verney (GSMD) Choreographer Fellowship Anna Devin (GSMD) Oliver Dunn (NOS) Tereza Gevorgyan (RAM) The Royal Academy of Music is a proud benefi ciary of Independent Opera’s Vena Ramphal Nicholas Lester (NOS) Rosie Aldridge (RCM) Anna Rajah (RCM) generous strategy to support talented young singers. Conservatoires are increasingly Designer Fellowship Charlotte Stephenson (RAM) Voice Scholarship Soraya Mafi (RCM) dependent on inspirational partners who identify with the particular challenges of Madeleine Boyd Anna Huntley (RCM) Victor Sicard (GSMD) Louise Kemény (RCS) ensuring that, between us, we offer the foundation for sustainable and successful Voice Fellowship Jung Soo Yun (RCS) Anthony Gregory (NOS) Kang Wang (RNCM) opera careers. The importance of Independent Opera at Sadler’s Wells has resonated Alinka Kozári John Pierce (RNCM) Nathalie Chalkley (RAM) Voice Scholarship for a few years now and we are deeply grateful for its ongoing activities. We extend Christopher Ainslie Voice Scholarship Emilie Renard (RCM) Meili Li (GSMD) our very best wishes for its creative and supportive endeavours. Katherine Manley Duncan Rock (GSMD) Mikhail Pavlov (RCS) Cathy-Di Zhang (RAM) Rebecca Ryan Gerard Collett (NOS) Andrea Tweedale (RNCM) Gyula Rab (RCM) Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, Principal, Royal Academy of Music Sponsored Artist Fellowship Meeta Raval (NOS) Wigmore Hall / IO Eirlys Myfanwy Davies (RCS) Christopher Ainslie Laurence Meikle (RAM) Voice Fellowship Joanna Norman (RNCM) Wigmore Hall / IO Monica Bancos (RCM) Anna Huntley 2015 The Royal College of Music is proud to be associated with Independent Opera at Voice Fellowship Rebecca Afonwy-Jones (RCS) Dominik Köninger Sadler’s Wells in its 10th anniversary year. The scholarships they provide enable Matthew Rose Helen Sherman (RNCM) BBC Singer of the World grants Director Fellowship – 100th award talented singers to study at the RCM International Opera School with world-class 2008 Wigmore Hall / IO Meeta Raval Max Hoehn tuition in fi tting surroundings. Such support at this critical stage in the development Voice Fellowship John Pierce Pelléas Voice Fellowship Voice Fellowship of their careers is essential. Furthermore, many of our singers have performed in Gaëlle Arquez Anna Leese Andrew Foster-Williams Clara Mouriz Helen Sherman Meili Li (GSMD) previous productions by Independent Opera at Sadler’s Wells, and we are delighted Thorbjørn Gulbrandsøy Cathy-Di Zhang (RAM) 2010 2012 that the RCM is represented in the cast again this year. Voice Fellowship Gyula Rab (RCM) Clara Mouriz Voice Fellowship Voice Scholarship Timothy Nelson (RCM) Colin Lawson, Director, Royal College of Music Eliana Pretorian Leslie Davis (RAM) James Platt (GSMD) Arshak Kuzikyan (RCS) Nathan Vale Peter Brathwaite (RCM) Luis Gomes (NOS) Benjamin Lewis (RNCM) The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland would like to take this opportunity to express Adrian Ward (GSMD) Monica Bancos (RCM) Nicholas Crawley (RAM) Emyr Wyn Jones (RWCMD) Benedict Nelson (GSMD) Michel de Souza (RCS) Katherine Crompton (RCM) Voice Scholarship its gratitude to Independent Opera at Sadler’s Wells for their generous Scholarship Patricia Orr (NOS) Producer Fellowship Raoni Hübner (RCS) Milan Siljanov (GSMD) awards, ongoing since 2008, to advanced singers on our Opera course. Their Hyung tae Kim (RAM) Chrissy Jay Daniel Shelvey (RNCM) Katherine Aitken (RAM) support is invaluable during the long and demanding training period required of Vojt ˇech Šafaˇrík (RCM) Voice Scholarship 2013 Galina Averina (RCM) singers. Once such highly trained students embark on their successful international Kirstin Sharpin (RCS) Natalya Romaniw (GSMD) Grace Durham (RCS) careers, the cultural life of our society benefi ts hugely. Philip Smith (RNCM) Nathan Vale (NOS) Voice Fellowship John Holland-Avery (RNCM) Voice Scholarship Laura Kelly (RAM) Magdalena Molendowska Conductor Grant Jeffrey Sharkey, Principal, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Anna Devin (GSMD) Anthony Gregory (RCM) (GSMD) Natalie Murray Beale Raphaela Papadakis (GSMD) Ben Johnson (NOS) Natalie Montakhab (RCS) 2016 Meeta Raval (RAM) Sipho Fubesi (RNCM) Gareth Brynmor John (RAM) The Royal Northern College of Music would like to congratulate Independent Opera at James Oldfi eld (RCM) Louise Alder (RCM) Director Fellowship Sadler’s Wells on the occasion of its 10th anniversary. Independent Opera’s extensive Louise Collett (RCS) Catriona Morison (RCS) Polly Graham scholarship programme invests in supporting exciting new operatic talent and sends Nadine Livingston (RNCM) Andrea Tweedale (RNCM) INSTRUMENT LOANS a hugely positive message of confi dence and encouragement to young singers as they Voice Scholarship Tom Verney (GSMD) Piano Loan embark on their careers. We are extremely grateful for the support and guidance given Anna Rajah (RAM) Igor Levit to our vocal students throughout this long and fruitful association. The commitment Rosalind Coad (RCM) Violin Loan and energy of the organisation gives our young artists a fi ne example to follow. Louise Kemény (RCS) Ivo Stankov Linda Merrick, Principal, Royal Northern College of Music Thomas Hopkinson (RNCM)

Guildhall School of Music & Drama (GSMD) • National Opera Studio (NOS) • Royal Academy of Music (RAM) • Royal College of Music (RCM)  Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS) • Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) • Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (RWCMD) www.independentopera.com Registered Charity no. 1162432