Ptolemy Christie, Director

Our director Ptolemy Christie has many years of experience working in opera and has directed Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Cosi fan tutte, La traviata (Nevill Holt /Pimlico Opera), ‘The Tales of Hoffmann’ (Nationale Reisopera), La traviata (Winslow Hall Opera) and Sondheim’s Assassins in two British prisons using a cast of inmates (Pimlico Opera). Assistant Director credits include Die Walküre, Götterdämmerung (Tiroler Festspiele), Pelléas et Mélisande (Glyndebourne Festival Opera), Jenůfa (Opera Zuid / Hannover), and he has assisted John Cox on numerous productions including Rake’s Progress (Glyndebourne, San Francisco and Opera Australia), Die Frau ohne Schatten (Royal Opera House and Melbourne Festival) Capriccio and Albert Herring (Opera Australia).

Nina Dunn, Designer

Nina Dunn runs her own studio as a Video and Projection designer. Her theatrical work includes projection design for Glyndebourne Festival’s Hippolyte et Aricie and Faust at the Mariinsky Theatre, working with Ian Galloway; Puccini’s La Bohème (WNO), Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman (ENO); Lloyd Webber’s Phantom Of The Opera (UK Tour); Aida (Raymond Gubbay, RAH); Cleopatra (Northern Ballet), Ibsen’s Emperor and Galilean in a new version by Ben Power (National Theatre) and the Mariinsky Theatre’s recent production of Britten’s opera, A Midummer Night's Dream, which won the Zolotoy Sofit award for Best Opera and was shortlisted for 7 Golden Mask Awards.

Leah Sams, Designer
Leah Sams is a Set and Costume Designer from Malaysia, based in London. Current Design Work includes; Piper of Hamelin (NYMT tour), Broadway Showtunes (Bournemouth Pavilion). Design Productions includes; Moments (The Drayton Arms Theatre), Trash (Rosemary Branch Theatre), Broadway Showtunes 2015 (Bournemouth Pavilion), Piper of Hamelin (NYMT 2015 tour), Chip Shop Elvis (Upstairs At The Gatehouse), Creditors (Brockley Jack Studios), After Liverpool (Rosemary Branch Theatre), Edges (Tabard Theatre), An Ideal Husband (Tabard Theatre), Handbag (Courtyard Theatre), Missalliance (Tabard Theatre). Associate Design Productions includes; To Kill A Canary (Kenton Theatre). Assistant Design Productions includes; Cirque Berserk – costume (Peacock Theatre), Cinderella and The Beanstalk (Theatre503), Hairspray (Macau), Cirque Berserk – costume (National Tour 2015). Scenic Artist Credits includes; Teddy (Southward Playhouse), American Idiot (The Arts Theatre), Gods and Monsters (Southward Playhouse), Evita – paintcall (Oxford New Theatre), 12 Angry Men – paintcall (Garrick Theatre).
For more information, please visit www.leahsams.co.uk

Kelvin Lim, Music Director
Kelvin trained at the Royal College of Music and English National Opera, studied under Philip Thomas, and has worked as repetiteur for English National Opera, ROH2, Glyndebourne, Opera Holland Park, English Touring Opera, Longborough, Mid-Wales Opera, Northern Ireland Opera, Aldeburgh, Tete-a-Tete, Opera Project, and at Royal Academy of Music. Kelvin is Co-Director of Postgraduate Opera at Trinity College of Music. He has coached for Jette Parker Young Artists ROH, was chorus master for Opera Holland Park, and was a Senior Coach at Morley College Opera. Kelvin is musical director for his own company, Opera Forge, which performed semi staged scenes from Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Royal Festival Hall Clore Ballroom as part of the Wagner 200 Festival and at St John’s Smith Square. He has regularly broadcast on Radio 3, and accompanied Sir John Tomlinson both on In Tune, and in recital. Kelvin is a CREAR Scholar, Bayreuth Bursary Prize winner, and the official accompanist for the Wagner Society.

Oliver Martin-Smith, Ferrando

In October 2014 Oliver graduated from The Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he studied under the tuition of Theresa Goble. In the summer of 2013 he was selected to join Opera North’s chorus for Aldeburgh Festival’s production of Peter Grimes on the beach, and also played the role of Mayor in GSMD’s Albert Herring. In 2014 he was part of the Chorus for GSMD’s Francesca di Foix by Donizetti and Pinocchio by Jonathan Dove. He also worked on various solo roles for the school’s opera scenes, which include Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann and Mozart’s The Magic Flute. In the last year he has played the role of Acis in St.Albans chamber opera’s production of Handels’ Acis and Galetea, and has played chorus roles in Cosi Fan Tutte with Echoris ensemble in Oxford and La traviata with Winslow Hall Opera. Oliver is thrilled to be given the opportunity and challenge of mastering such a great role as Ferrando.

David Fletcher, Guglielmo

David read music at the University of York, where he enjoyed a busy performing schedule. David now studies with Gary Coward. Roles have included Figaro Le nozze di Figaro, Schaunard La bohème, Yakusidé Madama Butterfly, Montano (cover) Otello and Moralès (cover) Carmen, Fiorello The Barber of Seville, Cox Cox and Box, The Page Amahl and the Night Visitors, Strephon Iolanthe, and Giuseppe The Gondoliers. David has recently sung in the chorus with Winlsow Hall Opera, the Nederlandse Reisopera and Opera Holland Park. David is also a regular concert performer, having recently given recitals featuring Schubert's Die Schöne Müllerin, Schumann’s Dichterliebe, Beethoven’s An die ferne Geliebte, and Vaughan Williams’ Songs of Travel.

James Williams, Don Alfonso

James Williams was born in London and studied at the Royal Academy of Music under Glenville Hargreaves and Jonathan Papp. Since graduating, he has been active in opera, recitals and on the concert platform. Throughout last year James played Il Conte Le nozze di Figaro with Opera Seria and will be reappearing with the Manchester-based company in the title roles of their productions of Don Giovanni and Il barbiere di Siviglia in 2016. Previous roles of his include Schaunard La bohème (Focus Opera and Midsomer Opera); and Showman and Sergeant Hugh the Drover (Hampstead Garden Opera). Recital work has included Die schöne Müllerin for the Blackheath Concert Series and recent oratorio repertoire comprises Messiah and Weihnachtsoratorium. James has been a prizewinner and finalist at both the John Kerr Award for English Song and the Association of English Singers and Speakers Courtney Kenny Prize respectively. He was previously selected for the Georg Solti Accademia, which included working with Richard Bonynge on the study of bel canto arias.

Loretta Hopkins, Fiordiligi

Loretta Hopkins studied music at The University of Edinburgh and Birmingham Conservatoire, where she gained a postgraduate diploma, generously supported by The South Square Trust, and continues to train with Mary Plazas. In competition, Loretta was a finalist in Birmingham Conservatoire’s Mario Lanza Prize and Vienna Conservatoire's Internationale Sommerakademie opera prize. Opera roles include Lisa The Queen of Spades (Park Opera); Adina, L’Elisir d’Amore (Midland Opera); Micaëla, Carmen (Opera at Bearwood); Kate Pinkerton, Madama Butterfly (Lambeth Orchestra); Greta Fiorentino, Street Scene and cover Fox, The Cunning Little Vixen, (Birmingham Conservatoire); a Sprite Fantastic Mr Fox and The Aunt Madama Butterfly (Opera Holland Park). For Dulwich Opera Company, Mimi La bohème and Countess Le nozze di Figaro.

Phillipa Thomas, Dorabella

Phillipa Thomas gained her MA at the University of York continuing her training at Birmingham Conservatoire where she was a prizewinner in the Edward Brooks English Song Competition and winner of the Birmingham Conservatoire Singing Prize. In 2014, she was a finalist at the John Kerr Award for English Song.

In 2015 Phillipa covered the role of Carmen for Nevill Holt Opera and sang Olga (Eugene Onegin) in concert with Aylesbury Opera. Previous roles include Sorceress (Dido and Aeneas, Opera Up Close), Carmen (Carmen, Guildford Opera and Opera at Bearwood), Ino (Semele, Jackdaws Young Artists), Dido (Dido and Aeneas, Operamus), Marcellina (Le nozze di Figaro, Opera Seria), and Emma Jones (Street Scene, Birmingham Conservatoire).

Recent solo engagements include Mahler’s Symphony No.2 (Kings College Cambridge under Stephen Cleobury), Mozart’s Requiem and Vesperae solennes de confessore (Aberdeen Bach Choir), Handel’s Dixit Dominus (Dorking Choral Society), and Handel’s Messiah (Newark Choral Society).

Claudia Haussmann, Despina

Claudia is an English Literature graduate of Queen Mary University of London and studies singing under the tutelage of Patricia Rozario OBE. She will begin her Masters in Vocal Studies at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland from September 2016, generously supported by the RCS Trust. Principal roles include: Musetta (cover) La bohème (Dulwich Opera Company), Poussette Manon (OperaCoast) and Saffi The Gipsy Baron(Southgate Opera). Scenes include: Frasquita Carmen (Associated Studios) and Laoula L'étoile (AIMS).
 
Claudia held the John Ireland Choral Scholarship 2014-2015 at Sloane Square Choral Society, with whom she performed Dvořák's Mass in D, Haydn's Nelson Mass and Bach's Weihnachts-Oratorium. She received the Les Aldrich Music prize at the North London Music Festival in addition to the gold medal in the competition's Operatic class and silver medal in the Lieder/Mélodie class. She has sung in masterclasses with, among others, Graeme Danby and Timothy Redmond.