‘Dido & Belinda’: Biographies
Ella Marchment (Director) Artistic director of Helios Collective, director of productions at Constella OperaBallet, and part of the steering committee for Operatic Mass Actions (Aarhus, Denmark), Ella has worked on over eighty opera and theatre productions throughout Europe and produced events that span opera, ballet, theatre, and more. Her directing credits include Alexander Goehr’s Tryptich at Mariinsky II, an opera–ballet production of Stravinsky’s Renard, and an acclaimed international tour of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’s Eight Songs For A Mad King—described by Opera Now as one of the best productions worldwide in 2014. Ella is also co-founder of Theatre N16.
Leo Geyer (Composer) is a 24-year-old London born composer and conductor. He studied Junior Trinity, Manchester University, The Royal Northern College of Music and The Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts. Leo has been awarded the RNCM Gold Medal Award, PRS / ESO Composition Competition and the Philip Bates Award. His opera The Mermaid of Zennor was hailed by The Times as “imaginative and beautifully shaped.” Leo is the Music Director for EMG Symphony Orchestra, conductor for Wimbledon Symphony Orchestra, and the founder and Artistic Director of Constella OperaBallet.
William Cole (Asst. Conductor) is Music Director of multi-genre club night Filthy Lucre and contemporary theatre collective Indomitable Productions, and has worked with Opera Lyrica, Opera and More, Melos Sinfonia, Gestalt Arts Collective, Goldsmiths Choral Union, Concanenda and Ensemble X.Y. William currently holds the position of Choral Director at London’s Youth Music Centre and was Graduate Musician in Residence at North London Collegiate School from 2013-2015. As a Yeoman of the Worshipful Company of Musicians, he frequently gives composition workshops in London schools. He read Music at Clare College, Cambridge, and is currently at the Royal Academy of Music.
Simeon John-Wake (Movement Director) trained at London Studio Centre, His choreographic credits include: Tamerlano (Movement Director, Buxton Opera House), Dracula (Movement Director, KBank Theatre Bangkok), The Sting (Choreographer, Wilton’s Music Hall), Dear Lupin (Choreographer, National Tour/Apollo Theatre), Murder in the Cathedral (Assistant Director, Temple Church), The Horror! The Final Curtain (Choreographer, Wilton’s Music Hall/Bedlam Theatre), The Dead Wait (Movement Director, Park Theatre), A Christmas Carol (Choreographer, Talkwood Productions) and A Day at Work (Director, Short Film).
Frances Bradshaw (Designer) designs for theatre include: Adding Machine (Finborough Theatre), Clickbait and A First World Problem (Theatre503), Barbarians (Young Vic – JMK Award 2015, Olivier Award Nominated) Grav (Torch Theatre, Wales), Stories from the Sea (Unity Theatre, Liverpool) Punk Rock (Actor’s Studio, Liverpool), A Picture of Dorian Gray and The Comedy of Errors (LIPA, Liverpool). Site-specific work includes co-designing: Karagula (STYX, Tottenham) and If Walls Could Talk: 100 Seel Street (Seel Street, Liverpool). She has worked as associate designer to Christopher Oram, and was a Linbury prize finalist in 2015 working with the Lyric Theatre, Belfast.
Rob Youngson (Lighting Designer) is a theatre lighting designer and unit stills publicity photographer. Rob trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and has worked across the UK, Iceland and Norway. Rob’s most recent projects include ‘Maria De Buenos Aires’ at The Arcola, ‘Barbarians’ for Tooting Arts Club and being publicity photographer for Lionsgate on feature film ‘My Name is Lenny’. Rob is excited to be working with Helios again after previous collaborations at the Bloomsbury Theatre and the Arcola. Rob can usually be found at the production desk or wherever there are chocolate hobknobs and coffee.
Daniel Leech-Wilkinson (Dramaturg) is Emeritus Professor of Music at King’s College London. His research deals with the implications of early recordings and the politics of classical music performance norms. Previous research projects have focused on expressivity in Schubert song performance and in recordings by the pianist Alfred Cortot. He has also led a project investigating music & shape. Books include The Modern Invention of Medieval Music (Cambridge, 2002), The Changing Sound of Music (CHARM, 2009), Music & Shape (Oxford, 2017), and Challenging Performance: Classical Music Performance Norms and How to Escape Them (2020).
Maggie Schroeder (Producer) With nearly seven years of international experience in theatre and arts management, Maggie has a strong background in producing and stage & company management for theatre and opera. She now runs her own business to help start-up arts companies develop long-term financial sustainability, MSP Theatre, which has worked with successful theatre companies around the EU. She has previously worked with companies including Sky and Apple, and aims to continue to be a force for major change and sustainability in the arts.
Camilla Bull (Dido) – From the Isle of Wight, Camilla moved to London initially for her BMus at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, under Annette Thompson. She continues to study with Robert Dean and work across the UK and Europe. During her time on Opera Works, Camilla enjoyed working with leading conductors and directors while performing on the ENO stage and with Grange Park Opera. In the last year, roles have included Isabella in Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri (Pop Up Opera), Mercedes and cover Carmen (Opera Up Close), and Dorabella in Cosi fan Tutte (Opera Vera).
Isolde Roxby (Belinda) – Graduated with MMUS Vocal Studies from Guildhall School of Music and Drama under Marilyn Rees. She performed in the City of London Festival and Song in the City, and has taken the following roles: Madame Herz (Mozart’s Schauspieldirektor), Clorinda (Rossini’s Cenerentola), Magda (Menotti’s The Consul), Vitellia in (Mozart’s Clemenza di Tito), Rosmene (Handel’s Imeneo), The Governess (Britten’s Turn of the Screw), Elizabeth I (Britten’s Gloriana) and Frau Fluth (Nikolai’s Merry Wives of Windsor). Isolde will be singing with Formations this November, and has an upcoming role as Eorran in a new opera.
Samuel Pantcheff (Aeneas) – Studied at Royal Academy of Opera and awarded the Blythe- Buesst Prize. Experience includes The King (Eight Songs for a Mad King, Russian premiere), Papageno (Pavilion Opera), Baron Zeta (Ryedale Festival Opera), Guglielmo (Pop-Up Opera), Aeneas (RAO), Masino (La vera costanza, RAO), and L’horloge comtoise/ Le chat (L’enfant et les sortileges, Barbican). Sang the baritone roles in Tryptich (Mariinsky Theatre), Nouvelles Aventures, & Aventures (Saint Petersburg Philharmonia). Recent roles include Morales/Dancairo (Pitch Perfect Opera), Benedick (Much Ado About Nothing, Northern Opera Group), Pirate King (Opera Anywhere), and Fiorello (Il barbiere di Siviglia, Cadogan Hall).
Sophie Gallagher (2nd Woman) – third year BMus student at The Royal College of Music under David Rendall, Christopher Glynn & Caroline Dowdle. Work includes Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate (Dorset Chamber Orchestra), Haydn’s The Creation, Handel’s Messiah (Bristol Old Vic, National Portrait Gallery), Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Mozart’s C Minor Mass, Chilcott’s Requiem (Three Choirs Festival), Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle (Poole Lighthouse), Schutz’s Christmas Oratorio (St. John’s Smith Square) and recitals in Milan and Hong Kong. Recently played Emmie (Albert Herring, Teatro Pergola), Oberto (Alcina, Ryedale Opera), and First Witch (Dartington Festival) and worked with Kneehigh Theatre Company, Prague Young Artists Programme, Prague’s Estates Theatre and Lichenstein Palace.
Lilly Papaioannou (Sorceress) – Lilly Papaioannou was educated at Chetham’s School of Music, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with Patricia MacMohon, the Royal Academy of Music and Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Performances include include “Ottone” (Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea), Baba the Turk (The Rake’s Progress, British Youth Orchestra), Aeneas (Dido and Aeneas, Bury Court), Princess Nicolette (For the Love of Three Oranges, Grange Park Opera), Maddalena (Rigoletto, Bury Court Barn), Xiu (Circus Tricks, Tete a Tete), 3rd Lady (Magic Flute, Garsington), Meg Page (Falstaff, Opera de Berbiguieres), The Fairy Queen (Bury Court), and Carmen (Opera UpClose and Opera Brava).
Charlotte North (1st Witch) – Studied Singing MMus and Advanced Postgraduate Diploma course under Sarah Rhodes at Royal NorthernCollege of Music. She received theDame Eva Turner Award, the Contemporary Music Performance Prize and was a finalist for the Frederic Cox Award. Roles include Drusilla (L’incoronazione di Poppea, Longborough Festival), Adina (L’Elisir d’Amore) and Frasquita (Carmen) for Barefoot Opera Young Artists, Governess (Turn of the Screw, Manchester Opera Ensemble), Musetta (cover, Woodhouse Opera Festival), 1st Boy (Die Zauberflöte, Berlin Opera Academy), and Greta Fiorentino (Streetscene, RNCM Opera). Charlotte has been a soloist in Harrison Birtwistle’s The Woman and the Hare, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Haydn’s Creation and Haydn’s Maria Theresa Mass.
Catrin Woodruff (2nd Witch) – Catrin trained at the University of York and the Royal Northern College of Music, and now studies with Louise Winter. Recent highlights include a touring production of Rossini’s L ‘Italiana in Algeri (Elvira) with Popup Opera, Stanford’s Much Ado About Nothing (Beatrice) with the Northern Opera Group, Le Nozze di Figaro (Susanna) at Berwick Opera Festival and the Edinburgh Fringe, Madama Butterfly (Kate Pinkerton and chorus) and D on Giovanni (chorus) with Bergen Nasjonale Opera, and the title role in Dido and Aeneas with the Brighton Early Music Festival Community Chorus.