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Robin Wilson presents pre show Gilbert & Sullivan talks
Our Singers
Mike Woodward - Tenor (Ko Ko - The Mikado)
Vanessa Woodward - Contralto (Katisha - The Mikado)
Amy Webber - Soprano
Myvanwy Bentall - Soprano (Yum Yum - The Mikado)
Paloma Bruce - Soprano (Yum Yum - The Mikado)
Sarah-Ann Cromwell - Soprano (Pitti Sing - The Mikado)
Christopher Jacklin - Baritone (Mikado & Pish-Tush)
Lawrence Olsworth-Peter - Tenor (Nanki-Poo - The Mikado)
Nikki Bagshaw - Soprano (Ensemble and Peep Bo - Mikado)
Sian Millett - Mezzo Soprano (Ensemble, Pitti Sing & Pooh Bah!- Mikado)
Edwin Pitt Mansfield - Baritone (Pish Tush & Mikado - The Mikado)
David Ireland - Bass (Pooh Bah - Mikado)
Katie Blackwell - Soprano (Peep Bo & Ensemble - The Mikado)
Mike Woodward - Tenor (Ko Ko - The Mikado)
Mike studies singing with Quentin Hayes and has also benefited from the wisdom and experience of experts in their field such as: Charles Corp; Lena Phillips; Henry Herford; Adrian Thompson; Robin Bowman; Richard Jackson; Prof Sue McCulloch; Catherine Wyn-Rogers and James Gillchrist. Mike particularly enjoys English Song, especially the music of Vaughan Williams, John Ireland, Finzi, Gurney and Milford, he has recently performed song recitals featuring Finzi's settings of Thomas Hardy poems. His Oratorio engagements have included Stainer's Crucifixion, Handel's Messiah, Mendelssohn's Elijah and Haydn's Nelson Mass.
Mike's opera roles include 'Kaspar' in 'Amahl and the night visitors' (Menotti); various Gilbert & Sullivan roles; 'Rinuccio' in 'Gianni Schicchi' (Puccini) and 'Camille in 'The Merry Widow' (Lehar) and regularly performs popular tenor repertoire in various corporate and private performances.
Since Opera Anywhere's feature on channel 4, Mike has been encouraged by the response to his more wackier ideas and concepts and now actively promotes and performs 'Flashmob opera' and 'pop up opera' at corporate and private events and also at a growing number of festivals.
Mike created 'Arias On Ice' and performed on live TV with his ice skates 'Nessun Dorma' alongside the celebrated English tenor, Alfi Boe. Mike has also appeared on ITV 'This Morning' recently performing soap opera scenes in an operatic style! Mike has appeared as a singing waiter, singing gardener, singing punter and a singing vicar and after investing and branding new bicycles recently is looking forward to an 'Opera on wheels' performance. Recent venues that have hosted Mike's concepts have been Somerset House, Canary Wharf Ice Rink, Oxford Castle, Oxford Train Station, The Ashmolean Museum, Debenhams, Sainsbury's, The Oxford Library, The Westgate Shopping Centre, Oxford Castle and Art In Action. Mike also created 'Proms On The Pond' which has now developed into a full blown music and arts festival in Sunningwell.
Vanessa Woodward - Contralto (Katisha - The Mikado)
Vanessa originally studied music at Colchester institute, and later gained an advance postgraduate diploma (voice) from Trinity College of Music, where she was awarded the 'Wilfred Greenhouse prize for Oratorio and Cantata', Vanessa now studies singing with Quentin Hayes. Vanessa's early professional career was as a singer / guitarist in rock and folk bands, she has now 'crossed over' and has resumed her classical singing career.
Vanessa is an experienced Oratorio soloist and has performed alto solos in most mainstream works and new works too such as Simon Speare's 'The Angels' performed at the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford. She has also premiered and recorded ‘A Passage Of Life’ by Anthony Gracie, for contralto and Orchestra. Vanessa also enjoys performing Lieder and 20th Century British Song recently performing songs featuring first world war poetry and composers. On the operatic stage Vanessa has performed the roles of the 'Princess' in Puccini's 'Sister Angelica' and 'Popova' in 'The Bear' by Walton which included an appearance on Sean Rafferty's 'In Tune' programme on BBC Radio Three, 'Baba' in Menotti's 'The Medium' and 'Miss Baggot' in Britten's 'The Little Sweep' and Ruth in ‘The Pirates of Penzance’. Vanessa has performed operatic arias in many unusual places with Opera Anywhere including on punts and ponds, in supermarkets and stations, on a bus and balancing on the roof of a Landrover. Vanessa is co-founder and director of Opera Anywhere and is the Artistic Director of the Sunningwell Music & Arts Festival.
Amy Webber - Soprano
Amy is currently in her 4th year of undergraduate at the RNCM, studying with Peter Wilson. Roles include: Dido in Dido and Aeneas, The Dew Fairy and Sand Man in Hansel and Gretel, Gherardina inGianni Schicchi, Novia in Suor Angelica, The Governess in The Little Sweep, Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance. She has won first prize in the Oxford Music Festival, Light Opera Category. Whilst at the RNCM, Amy has sung in the chorus for Die Fledermaus, Candide, La Belle Helene,La Clemenza di Tito and Carmen. In October 2009, Amy gave a solo recital in Gozo, Malta as part of the Festival Mediterranea. Later, in December she played the part of The Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors in the RNCM Concert Hall along side The Manchester Consort. Last year, Amy sung for BBC Radio 5 Live, improvising on live air to "Operatise" people's lives. She also sung for ITV's This Morning, putting the opera into the soaps by singing famous soap scenes to famous opera tunes. In December 2011, Amy sung the role of The Walker in the world premier of Leo Geyer's chamber opera The Mermaid of Zennor at RNCM. She will continue playing this role as the opera tours to the Tete a Tete opera festival in London this summer. Most recently Amy played the role of Elena in the world premier of Adam Gorb's Anya 17 with RLPO's 10/10 Ensemble, conducted by Clark Rundell. Next year Amy will continue her studies with Peter Wilson, whilst taking on the role of Student Union President.
Myvanwy Bentall - Soprano (Yum Yum - The Mikado)
Born in Yorkshire, Myvanwy gained her BMus (Hons) and MA in music from the University of Huddersfield. Whilst at University Myvanwy received the Music Department Prize for Contribution to Concert Life and in 2003 she was awarded the J. W. Pearce prize for Kirklees Young Musician of the Year.
Myvanwy continued her vocal studies at the Royal Academy of Music, graduating with distinction. Following this she studied on English National Opera’s Opera Works.
Myvanwy has performed the roles of Cupid in Orpheus in the Underworld (Kentish Opera), Adele in Die Fledermaus (Alternative Opera), Eurydice in Orpheus in the Underworld (Unexpected Opera), Musetta in La bohème (Co-Operative Opera Company), Helen in La belle Hélène (The Merry Opera Company), Bessie Throckmorton in Merrie England (Opera South) and covered the roles of Joesphine in H.M.S. Pinafore (Kentish Opera) and Yvette/Georgette in La rondine (Opera Holland Park). Future engagements include Mimì in La bohème (New London Opera Players).
Paloma Bruce - Soprano (Yum Yum - The Mikado)
Paloma Bruce is a lyric coloratura Soprano from New Zealand. She studied at the Royal College of Music in London and was a 2005 Emerging Artist with the New Zealand national opera company. This year, Paloma is covering the role of 'Violetta' in The Merry Opera Company's highly acclaimed touring production of Verdi's 'La Traviata'. Last year, Paloma performed the title role in Offenbach's 'La Belle Hélène' (Troy Boy) with The Merry Opera Company on their Autumn UK tour. Paloma also created the role of 'Julia Bertram' in Heritage Opera's world premiere touring production of Jonathan Dove's 'Mansfield Park'. Paloma's roles include 'Frasquita' in Bizet's 'Carmen', 'Mabel' in G&S's 'The Pirates of Penzance', 'The Queen of the Night' in Mozart's 'Die Zauberflöte', and 'Juliette' in Gounod's 'Roméo et Juliette'. Paloma is a dedicated teacher of singing.
Sarah-Ann Cromwell - Soprano (Pitti Sing - The Mikado)
Sarah-Ann undertook Birmingham Conservatories' Opera Course. She performed English Eccentrics by Malcolm Williamson (The Countess and Lady Jersey) and Jekylle and Hyde (Lady Beaconsfield) and sang in the opera scenes: Suor Angelica and Don Giovanni. After graduating she sang La Traviata with the Birmingham Opera Company at the NEC. Whilst working with the BOC she performed with director Graham Vick and Maestro Stephan Barlow in the critically acclaimed Othello which was recognised in the Classical Oscars, the RPS Awards and was aired on BBC2 in 2010. Sarah-Ann has performed Stravinsky's The Wedding with Birmingham Opera Company, Carmen and The Magic Flute with Co-Opera, Body/opera with Patrick Eakin Young's Opera Erratica, Suor Angelica (Suor Genovieffa) with Midland Opera and a concert performance of Dido and Aeneas (Belinda) with Ludlow Choral society. Other achievements include an audience with the Japanese embassy, performances alongside Thomas Trotter, Catherine Bott and Rhydian and international performances in Paris and Slovenia. Sarah-Ann’s diverse solo oratorio work with choral societies encompasses traditional: Handel (Messiah), Mendelssohn (Te Deum), Haydn (Missa Brevis) and contemporary performances: Larley’s In Praise of Music (composed specifically for Sarah-Ann’s voice), Panufnik’s Westminster Mass in Coventry Cathedral and the West Midlands premier of Sir Paul McCartney's Ecce Cor Meum in Birmingham's Town Hall in 2011. Future engagements include The Mikado (Pitti Sing) with Opera Anywhere, a conducting commitment in New York, USA in summer 2012 and a tour of her Diva Gigs: A week in the life of a Diva.
Christopher Jacklin - Baritone (Mikado & Pish-Tush)
Christopher is a member of ENO’s Opera Works and graduate of the RCM. Studying with Justin Lavender, he is a winner of the Eve Myra Kisch Prize and prize-winner in the Joan Chissell Schumann and AESS Patricia Routledge National English Song Competitions. He also sings with ROSL-winners Cries of London.
Operatic credits include Marcello, La Bohème (Silent Opera, Old Vic Tunnels) Oreste, Iphigénie en Tauride (Euphonia, Somerset House), Orpheus, Orpheus in the Underworld (RCM, Britten Theatre), Grosvenor, Patience (RCM, Musée D’Orsay), and Onegin, Eugene Onegin, (OAB, Bearwood Theatre). He is also gaining recognition in contemporary opera, performing Peter Cowdrey’s The Lovely Ladies (Opera Unlimited, Buxton Festival), Luis Soldado’s Hotel Suite (Lisbon Contemporary Music Ensemble), Keith Burnstein’s Manifest Destiny (OperaUpClose), and multiple appearances at the Tête-a-Tête Festival. He has also sung at the Cardiff Music Festival alongside Denis O’Neill, Festivalensemble Stuttgart with the Internationale Bachakademie, and Spitalfields Festival with Cries of London.
Lawrence Olsworth-Peter - Tenor (Nanki-Poo - The Mikado)
Lawrence Olsworth-Peter recently completed an MA in vocal studies at the Royal Academy of Music and is rapidly establishing himself as a leggiero lyric tenor specialising in baroque and Bel Canto roles. In 2010 Lawrence made his Pesaro Rossini Opera Festival debut as Don Luigino in Il Viaggio a Reims under the direction of Alberto Zedda and in the same year played Don Ramiro Cinderella (La Cenerentola) for the Olivier award-winning OperaUpClose at the King’s Head, Islington. Recent operatic highlights include Acis Acis & Galatea (Opera’r Ddraig), Acante Acante et Cephise (UCOpera – UK premiere) and an extensive European tour of Rigoletto and La Fille du Regiment for Diva Opera. As a theology graduate Lawrence has a keen interest in Oratorio and is a founder member of the Dei Gratia baroque ensemble, regularly performing Bach’s sacred works. Future engagements include Count Almaviva The Barber of Seville (OperaUpClose UK tour).
Nikki Bagshaw - Soprano (Ensemble and Peep Bo - Mikado)
Nikki Bagshaw is from Oxford and studied voice at the Royal Welsh Conservatoire of Music and Drama with Janet Price and Eiddwen Harrhy. She has performed in many operas and operettas. Roles include; Pamina, 1st Lady, 1st Genie, Magic Flute, Susanna, Marriage of Figaro, Ludmilla, Bartered Bride, Adina, l'Elisir D'Amore, Yum Yum, Mikado. She is a versatile performer who has sung in numerous concerts, in and around Oxfordshire in a wide variety of venues, and in all weathers! Nikki sang with Opera Anywhere in there Carry on G&S Production, Too Hot to Handel, Curiousor and Curiousor and several others and (after a break) is delighted to be joining them again for this production of the Mikado.
Sian Millett - Mezzo Soprano (Ensemble, Pitti Sing & Pooh Bah!- Mikado)
Welsh Mezzo-Soprano Sian's love of singing and in particular Opera began at the age of nine where she appeared as a Gingerbread Child in Welsh National Opera's Hansel and Gretal. She began her lessons soon after at the junior department of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and continued her studies at the Royal Northern College of Music where she won several awards and appeared in numerous performances from recitals through to opera.
Sian's versatility as a singer means that her recently performed Operatic Roles span many genres of music, from the earlier works of Andronico (Tamerlano) and Polinesso (Ariodante) through to Mere Marie (Dialogues du Carmelites), Magdalena (Meistersingers), Beatrice (Le Donne Curiose), Meg (Falstaff), Emilia (Otello), Carmen (Carmen) and Melanie (Die Fledermaus). She also loves the challenge of newer roles such as Kate (Owen Wingrave) and Betty (Threepenny Opera) and through her work with Sawn-Off Opera had the opportunity to create and premiere two roles at the Tete-a-Tete Festival. Since graduating, Sian has been a regular performer in Recitals, Oratorios and Opera Galas in the UK and Europe.
Having moved to Oxfordshire in 2011, Sian was very quick to get involved in the rich diversity of the arts that the county had to offer and appeared as the title role in Carmen at the Oxford Playhouse in November 2011. She is thrilled to be involved with Opera Anywhere and is greatly looking forward to the exciting opportunities that it will offer. For more information, news and reviews visit www.sianmillett.co.uk
Edwin Pitt Mansfield - Baritone (Pish Tush & Mikado - The Mikado)
Edwin Pitt Mansfield trained at Trinity College of Music with Omar Ebrahim and Helen Yorke, currently he studies with David Barrell. Recent operatic credits have included Aeneas : Dido and Aeneas, L’Hortage Comtois and Le Noir Chat – L'enfant et les sortilèges (Iris Theatre), Starvling – A Midsummers Night’s Dream (Concert Performance), Araldo, Sicario and Domesticio – Macbeth (English Opera Singers), Le Dancaire – Carmen (Opera de Bauge & Meantime Opera), The Baritone – The Four Note Opera (East End Opera), Apollo – L’Orfeo (Trinity College of Music). Chorus work has included Carmen at the O2 (Raymond Gubbay), Rigoletto, Don Giovanni (Opera Holland Park), Rigoletto, Giulius Cesare in Eggito, Die Zauberflote, Le Pecheurs de Perles, Martha and Rodelinda (Opera de Bauge), Il Trovatore (English Opera Singers), Our Man in Havanna, The Saint of Bleeker Street (Trinity College of Music).
Edwin is also regularly in demand as an Oratorio soloist with the following recent engagements; Rossini Petite Messe Solenelle (Shoreham Oratorio Choir), Haydn Nelson Mass, Mozart’s Requiem and Dvorjak Stabat Mater (Bromley Oecumenical Singers), Carmina Burana (Bedworth Singers), Scarlatti Miserere (Oxford University Press Choir). Other recent choral engagements included performances of the Armonico Consorts tour of Supersize Polyphony.
Outside of performance Edwin is a passionate teacher working both privately and with many theatre schools and is regularly asked to write for Rhinegold Publishing’s magazines and journals. Edwin is delighted to be joining Opera Anywhere for his Gilbert and Sullivan debut.
David Ireland - Bass (Pooh Bah - Mikado)
David showed a love for singing from a very early age and was a regular soloist with the chamber and college choirs at school, but it was with the National Youth Choir of Great Britain and at University that he discovered a flair and passion for solo performance. He has performed at the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall and Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles and has recorded with the Chamber Choir of Eltham College, the National Youth Choir of Great Britain and Laudibus.
As a member of the University of Nottingham’s Opera Society, David performed the roles of Sarastro (The Magic Flute), Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) and Sergeant of the Police (Pirates of Penzance). Whilst in Nottingham, he was also a choral scholar at St. Barnabas’ Cathedral. David has also become a highly praised recitalist. In recognition of this, up-and-coming composer, Alex Patterson, wrote the song cycle Among the Streams for him in February 2011. Future plans include a series of recitals with Soprano Rebecca Briggs and postgraduate vocal studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, next year. www.davidirelandsings.com
Katie Blackwell - Soprano (Peep Bo & Ensemble - The Mikado)
Katie is 18 years old, and is involved in many musical activities as well as sitting her A Levels. She is at St Helen’s and St Katharine’s and has been studying singing for seven years with Penny Grant. She also plays flute and piano, both at Grade 8. Katie has played several roles in local productions such as Ruth in The Railway Children, Charlotte in Charlotte’s Web, Martha in The Secret Garden, and in 2011 she played the Sorceress in her school’s first operatic production: Dido and Aeneas. Recently she won the Recital Class at her school’s Music Festival, and has also won both the Helen Goodworth Bowl and the Helen Robson Award for her performances in the Oxford Music Festival. She has also been awarded a Frances Kitching scholarship this year, which is presented to young musicians based in Abingdon. Katie is the Head Chorister at her school, and hopes to take a Gap Year before reading Music at University. Katie has worked with Opera Anywhere on Pirates of Penzance in 2010, and will be taking the role of Peep Bo in their 2012 production of The Mikado.
