Geraint Dodd ( Cavaradossi) Geraint Dodd was born in Penycae, North Wales and studied at the Royal Northern College of Music Manchester with Joseph Ward. Whilst there, he was awarded the Ricordi Prize for Opera and the Webster Booth Scholarship.
Roles include the Duke ( Rigoletto ) for Welsh National Opera and English Touring Opera; Rodolfo ( La Bohème ) for ETO; Don José ( Carmen ) for WNO, ETO, OHP and Mid Wales Opera; Cavaradossi ( Tosca ) for Scottish Opera, WNO, MWO; Pinkerton ( Madama Butterfly ) and Macduff ( Macbeth ) for WNO, MWO; Nadir ( Pearl Fishers ), Werther ( Werther ) and Florestan ( Fidelio ) for ETO; Osaka ( Iris ), Stiffelio ( Stiffelio ) and Gustavus ( Un Ballo in Maschera ) for Opera Holland Park; Calaf ( Turandot ) for Mid Wales Opera; Canio ( Pagliacci ) for Opera North; Turiddu ( Cavelleria Rusticana ) for Raymond Gubbay at the Royal Albert Hall; Pollione ( Norma ) for San Francisco Opera.
Geraint is a regular guest at the Royal Albert Hall in Gubbay's “Classical Spectacular” concerts. Recent engagements include reprising the role of Cavaradossi in Puccini's “Tosca” and an Opera Gala at the Theatre Amazonas in Manaus .
Eldrydd Cynan Jones ( Tosca)
Eldrydd Cynan Jones was born in Treorchy and studied at the Royal Northern College of Music where she was awarded scholarships from the Peter Moores Foundation and the Countess of Munster Fellowship. During this time she was also the winner of the W. Towyn Roberts Scholarship at the National Eisteddfod and, a finalist in the Kathleen Ferrier Competition at the Wigmore Hall.
In 1994 Eldrydd won the “Young Welsh Singer “ Competition and then went on to represent Wales in the prestigious “Cardiff Singer of the World” in 1995, where she was chosen by Dame Joan Sutherland as one of only two singers to participate in a Masterclass given by the legendary Soprano, which was later televised on BBC2.
Eldrydd's operatic repertoire includes the title role in “Madama Butterfly” at the RNCM and Singapore Lyric Opera; Sofronie ( Gli Equivoci ) at Battignano, Italy; Berta in ( Barber of Seville ) for Welsh National Opera; Michaela ( Carmen ) for Inter Opera; Donna Anna ( Don Giovanni ) for Opera North; Leonora ( Fidelio ) and Lady Macbeth ( Macbeth) for English Touring Opera; Amelia ( Un Ballo in Maschera ) for Opera Holland Park; Musetta ( La Bohème ) for Opera North and London City Opera at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London and concert performances of Santuzza ( Cavelleria Rusticana ) and Aida.
Recent engagements include a number of performances of Verdi's “Requiem” in Ljublijana, which was recorded for RTV Slovenia and an Opera Gala in the Theatre Amazonas in Manaus . Future engagements include reviving the role of Michaela ( Carmen ) in Reggio Emilia, Italy .
Paul Keohone ( Scarpia)
From Kilmarnock in Scotland , Paul has worked as a soloist with Scottish Opera, The Royal Opera Covent Garden and English National Opera. 2006 marked Paul's concert debut with The Northern Sinfonia at The Sage Gateshead singing Maxwell Davies' 8 Songs for a Mad King , and with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra singing Turnage's When I Woke in Manchester . He repeated his performance of Mark Anthony Turnage's Torn Fields with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic's Ensemble 10/10 at the RNCM and it was broadcast on ‘ Hear and Now' on BBC Radio 3 in November.
Future plans include 2008 debut in La Scala, Milan in Lorin Maazel's opera “ 1984 ”.
Edward Harper ( Angelotti/Gaolor)
Edward's love of singing began at the age of seven as a boy chorister in Tavistock, Devon . He studied with the Czech baritone Otakar Kraus in London , and currently studies with Ian Comboy in Bath . He has appeared in more than 80 opera productions : with Opera Holland Park, Bel Canto Opera, Cheltenham, Bristol and Bath Opera Companies and touring with the Opera Project. He has sung most of the major bass/baritone roles, including Zaccariah (Nabucco), Philip of Spain (Don Carlos), Dulcamara ( l'Elisir d'Amore ), Scarpia (Tosca), Escamillo (Carmen ), Ramphis (Aida), Bartolo ( Barber of Seville), Daland (Flying Dutchman) and Commendatore and Leporello (Don Giovanni) . Performances this year have included Sarastro (Magic Flute), Keç al (Bartered Bride) and Basilio (Barber of Seville ). Future engagements include Melitone (Forza del D estino) and the Count (Marriage of Figaro), both for White Horse Opera, Devizes.
Edward this year has sung the Mozart and Fauré Requiem s , Haydn's Harmonie Mass and Mozart's Coronation Mass , Handel's Acis and Galatea and the role of Jesus in Bach's St John Passion in Bristol Cathedral.
Edward's television appearances include singing Leporello's Catalogue Aria in a Channel 4 broadcast on the life of Mozart, and opera arias on the streets of Bath for BBC Points West as a ‘warm up' to the acclaimed Three Tenors visit to the city.
Terry Thomas ( Sacristan)
Terry read History at Cardiff University and then worked as a lecturer and rugby coach – firstly in London and then Devon . He studied with Wynna Evans and now studies with Eric Garrett.
Terry first sang with societies and groups across the south west, before turning to a professional opera career. He has since with many UK companies, including ENO, Opera Holland Park as Scarpia ( Tosca) and Amonasro ( Aida), Dublin Grand Opera and First Act Opera Inernational Major roles have included the title roles in Falstaff and Macbeth, Germont Père ( La Traviata) , Mephistopheles ( Faust) , Escamillo ( Carmen) , Dulcamara ( L'Elisir d'Amore) , Dr Bartolo ( The Barber of Seville) and Pagageno (The Magic Flute).
Christopher Ball ( Spoletta)
Christopher comes from Somerset . His opera roles have included Albert ( Albert Herring), Vašek ( Bartered Bride ), Basilio ( Marriage of Figaro) , as well as roles in musical theatre. Christopher also conducts and teaches piano and keyboard.
Shepherd Boy ( Pádraig Goodall)
Pádraig is in his final year as a chorister of Exeter Cathedral and is also a member of the Jackie Palmer Agency in High Wycombe . Pádraig has been working professionally since the age of seven. His work includes Kolya in Tom Stoppard's Coast of Utopia at the National Theatre in London . He played the role of the son in the Duchess of Malfi which played at the National Theatre before going on tour. He has played Eli in the feature film Eli produced by a Belgium film company. He was a support artist in Jericho , a T.V. series for the B.B.C. He also played Matthew (son) in the Life of Peter Sellers which was a T.V. Pilot. Pádraig has also done several T.V. adverts. As well as singing, Pádraig plays the piano and the cello.
Director ( Martyn Harrison )
Martyn Harrison combines his career as a professional opera singer with that of Stage Director. After taking his degree in Applied Biology, Martyn first specialised in Parasitology at the Natural History Museum. His professional singing career began with Glyndebourne and, since then, he has sung with all the major UK opera companies (Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Kent Opera and the New D'Oyly Carte) as well as in major houses across Europe .
He has directed over 120 productions, ranging from opera through to pantomime, both for professional and community theatre companies.
He was Artistic Director of CAMEO Opera Group [Essex] and is about to embark on another County based project – Music Theatre Works with Composer John Trent Wallace.
He is also a regular Speaker on Musical Theatre for many organisations including Universities, Colleges, University of the Third Age, ABTA, the Freemasons, Probus and other professional bodies.
He has directed the previous summer operas for NDO and is delighted to return again for this exciting project.
Conductor: (Dr Paul Foster)
Paul read music at the University of London (Master of Music) and then followed vocal studies at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. He studied composition with Edward Gregson and Philip Grange and conducting with Sir Arthur Davison. He has a PhD in Musical Composition from the University of Manchester .
During his seventeen years in London , Paul conducted many orchestras, opera and musicals, as well as working on a variety of musical projects – including some at the Royal Opera House, Queen Elizabeth Hall and with the London Sinfonietta.
His work as a pianist has ranged from playing for the Sir Peter Maxwell Davies birthday celebrations at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, to accompanying Ruth Henshall in concert.
As a composer, many of Paul's works have been inspired by Cornwall and Dartmoor and they have been performed on the South Bank, at the Royal Colleges of Music and, abroad. One of his recent works, Inverted Cathedrals , a tone poem based on the cliff-edge mines in Cornwall , has won him a coveted place on the promotional shortlist for the Society for the Promotion of New Music.
Paul is also a published poet.
Joyce Clarke : Accompanist ( High Wycombe ) and repetiteur
Joyce Clarke studied piano with Alan Richardson and Alexander Kelly of the Royal Academy of Music, where she gained her LRAM diploma with distinction. In addition to her work as a soloist, she quickly developed as a skilled accompanist, repetiteur and opera coach.
As a concert pianist, Joyce has played concerti by Mozart and Beethoven and, in recital, her work is drawn from a wide and extensive repertoire. In 1992, she formed the “Harewood Duo” with flautist Ian Clarke and in 2007 became the pianist with The Beacon Trio . The Duo enjoys a busy schedule of recitals, educational seminars, workshops and corporate entertainment. As an accompanist, she works regularly with solo singers, instrumentalists and choral groups. Joyce has a repertoire of more than fifty opera, for some twenty of which she has provided the accompaniment in productions with opera groups and touring companies. As a repetiteur and opera coach, Joyce works with a number of companies and is a member of the staff at The Canford Summer School of Music. |
