Annual 15-day festival on the Essex / Suffolk borders, presenting
Principal Conductor, Royal Orchestral
Musical Director, Stanley Hall Opera 2000-6producing an annual production in English with full orchestra and chorus, plus additional concerts and recitals to a growing audience.
"a promising young cast ... what a pleasure to hear a performance that actually opens your ears to the music .. a brilliantly judged mixture of seriousness and play ... A place to watch." Robert Thicknesse, The Times, 2005
Responsibilities included
- long-term artistic planning and programming
- musical preparation and direction of all performances
- casting and choosing the whole company including director and orchestra
- commissioning new translation and editions
- financial planning and controlling budgets of 40K +
- management of the whole company, including education and outreach departments and administrative support staff.
Founded and ran Tête à Tête with Bill Bankes-Jones 1998 - 2001
commissioning and performing new work and chamber versions of well-known works. Working closely and collaboratively with living composers and librettists, and tackling funding issues. See reviews page and biography for further details.
Musical director, Kew SinfoniaConducting concerts, programming and choosing soloists and being involved with the strategies for developing the orchestra and stabilising finances. Programmes have included lesser-known works such as Delibes Le Roi s’Amuse, de Falla El Amor Brujo and Gounod’s 1st symphony, early symphonies by Schubert and Dvorak, three Sinfoniettas - by Poulenc, Prokofiev, and Berkeley - and other works by Searle, Tippett and Oldham.
Founder (while a student at Cambridge) and artistic director of Cambridge Strings 1990 – 1995 who performed on Radio 3 and in the UK and Italy.
An overview of my experience in key areas
Strategic planning and evaluationI was instrumental in developing Stanley Hall Opera from a small-scale operation with a budget of 20K to one with a budget of over 100K. I have recently been asked to write the strategy for Independent Opera’s new fellowship programme. I have written several project evaluations for various companies.
Building relationships
During my time at Stanley Hall Opera, I built relationships with all the relevant local organisations, and helped set up a collaboration with Iford Arts. I have been involved with a collaboration between the Irish Chamber Orchestra and Sinead O’Connor, and the Earthly Music Festival is already bringing together many different stakeholders.
Communications
I am a confident advocate both verbally and in writing. I have given radio, TV and newspaper interviews and I introduce and write programme notes for the concerts I conduct. I have persuaded individuals to give generously to the various companies I have been advocating. I have been a successful junior partner in the partnerships which created Tête a Tête and Stanley Hall Opera, communicating effectively between the producers on the one hand and the performers and administrative staff on the other.
Funding and managing budgets
I won core funding from the Arts Council as part of our funding strategy for Tête a Tête. I also wrote a successful application for local funding for Roman River Music, and was involved in raising substantial private backing for Stanley Hall. I have to date raised £25K for the English Chamber Orchestra Earthly Music festival. In the corporate sector, I have an ongoing relationship with Deutsche Bank having been awarded a substantial scholarship by them on leaving music college. I have managed many budgets for various organisations, including the Stanley Hall production budget which was over 40K, and am confident with this area.
