The Performers
Some of the performers we have been lucky enough to have at Opera in Oborne
STEPHEN ANTHONY BROWN, TENOR
Stephen studied at Trinity College, London and then at the Royal College of Music. His career as a tenor has led to engagements with most of the main UK companies including English National Opera, Scottish Opera, Almeida Opera, Carl Rosa Opera, Opera Della Luna, Buxton Festival and Glyndebourne and the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.
For Glyndebourne he has sung Pedro Betrothal in a Monastery, Peter Quint The Turn of the Screw, Lysander A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Remenado Carmen, Triquet Eugene Onegin. Other appearances include Belmonte Die Entführung aus dem Serail Opera de Baugè, Elder Hayes Susanna for English Touring Opera, Gamekeeper Rusalka and Spoletta Tosca Lyric Opera Dublin, Dick in Mascagni’s Guglielmo Ratcliff Wexford International Festival, Goro Madama Butterfly and Mr Erlanson A Little Night Music for Opera Project. Gabriel with Alison Balsom and Trevor Pinnock at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and Character Roles in Tansy Davies’s Between Worlds for English National Opera.
On the concert platform, Stephen has sung Geronius in Exeter Cathedral, Verdi’s Requiem at the Barbican, Handel's Messiah in Romania, Rossini's Stabat Mater in Norway, Stradella's San Giovanni Battista in Jerusalem, Beethoven's 9th Symphony in Spain and Bach's Matthäus Passion in Iceland and in London with Peter Schreier
ELEANOR ROSS, SOPRANO
ELEANOR ROSS, SOPRANO. Eleanor was an OperaWorks artist at English National Opera 2013-14, and now studies privately in London with Neil Baker.
Notable solo engagements include the Villa-Lobos ‘Bachianas Brasileiras No.5’ at Cadogan Hall, Vivaldi’s ‘Gloria’ at St John’s Smith Square, Brahms “Ein Deutsches Requiem’ at St Paul’s Knightsbridge, and ‘The Ultimate Opera Gala’ with Dame Kiri te Kanawa, Dennis O’Neill and the orchestra of Welsh National Opera.
Recent opera roles include Konstanze (Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, Mozart) on tour with Pop Up Opera, Lili (Carina, AnsdellEvans) in workshop with English National Opera, Juliette (Romeo et Juliette, Gounod) with Riverside Opera, and Cover Dalinda (Ariodante, Handel) for the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. Eleanor joined English Touring Opera for their Spring 2017 tour as an ensemble member in Gilbert & Sullivan’s ‘Patience’, Shepherd Boy in Puccini’s ‘Tosca’ and as Alona in their new education opera ‘Different’ by Llywelyn Ap Myrddin, which later toured to the Philharmonie Luxembourg.
2018 sees Eleanor sing her first Violetta Valery in Verdi’s La Traviata with Hampstead Garden Opera. Other engagements include Olympia/Giulietta in Les Contes d’Hoffmann in a return to Opera in Oborne, Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro) with Intermezzo Opera, and the Hong Kong International Operatic Singing Competition.
FLORIAN BONNEAU, BARITONE
French baritone, Florian Bonneau, studied at the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles (CMBV) and at the Conservatory of Amsterdam Netherlands, where he graduated in 2009 with a Master’s degree in opera at the Dutch National Opera Academy.
In 2008, Florian Bonneau received the “Young Talent” stipend from the region of Poitou-Charentes, France. His voice has been noted as “agile, as it is spontaneous - richly varied and evocative”. His operatic roles include Don Giovanni (Don Giovanni), Belcore and Dulcamara (L’Elisir d’Amore) the 4 Villains (Hoffmann’s Tales) and Pelléas (Pelléas et Mélisande).
Florian has been engaged by the National Reisopera, the Gelders Orchestra, the Concertgebouw Lunch Concert series in the Netherlands, Cornell University USA, Dartington UK and Summer Opera Bamberg in Germany.
As a concert singer, Florian Bonneau has performed “Diable!”, an operatic recital based on the infamous Devil characters of French repertoire, with pianist Mirsa Adami. In 2015/16 they were selected for the national concert series in Netherlands “New Masters on Tour”.
Florian Bonneau has worked with conductors such as Richard Egarr, Jac van Steen, Kenneth Montgomery, Diego Masson and Glen Wilson, amongst others. Since 2015, Florian Bonneau has become the artistic director of the Paris based opera company, Opéra in situ. Since 2018 Florian is associate professor at Ningbo University, China
MARIBETH DIGGLE, SOPRANO
The American soprano is quickly becoming recognised for her fiery vocal and dramatic interpretation, having performed in major venues around the world such as Sadler’s Wells, Het Concertgebouw, Théâtre de la Ville, Götteborg Opera, Opera North, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Ruhr Triennale, Mercat de les Flors, Seoul LG Arts Center, and Wien Tanzquartier, she continues to lure audiences with her honest artistry.
Maribeth Diggle received her vocal education from the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, the Musik Hochschule Luzern, the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, and graduated cum laude from the Dutch National Opera Academy. Her repertoire has included the title role in Cherubini’s Médée, Die Frau (Erwartung), Cio cio san (Madama Butterfly), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Fiordiligi (Cosí fan tutte), Poppea (L’Incoronazione di Poppea), Mére Marie (Les Dialouge des Carmelites), and Tatjana (Eugene Onegin). Currently, she is engaged as a soprano soloist at the renowned Belgian ballet company Les Ballets C. de la B., and is preparing an international tour starting in 2018.
JOHN CUTHBERT, PIANO
John is an accomplished piano accompanist, repetiteur and orchestral pianist. He has studied with Simon Lepper, Roger Vignoles, Malcolm Martineau and Robin Bowman. This year he was offered a highly coveted place on the Samling masterclass week, earning the title, Samling Artist. As an accompanist he has performed in the Wigmore Hall, London with Katherine Crompton (Soprano), Fairfield Halls in Croydon, London with Edward Grint (Baritone) and the Elgar Room in the Royal Albert Hall with Emilie Renard (Mezzo-Soprano). He has also worked with the International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival Touring Company and Co-Opera Company. With members of both these companies, John has performed live on BBC radio 3’s In Tune. As an orchestral pianist, John has performed with CLS, LSO and LPO at the Royal Albert Hall, in Salzburg and Lucerne.
ZITA SYME, SOPRANO
Zita graduated from Royal Holloway University of London with First Class Honours in Music, continuing her studies in Florence and recently in Berlin with Cheryl Studer. In 2016 she was a Britten-Pears Young Artist and a finalist in the John Kerr Award for English Song. Last year she won the Emmy Destinn Young Singers Award for Czech music, giving recitals for the Britten-Pears Foundation, St James’s Piccadilly and The National Portrait Gallery.
For Opera in Oborne, Zita has sung the roles of Cherubino Le Nozze di Figaro, Zerlina Don Giovanni, Mimi La Bohème (Act 3) and Rosalinde Die Fledermaus (Act 1). Other companies for whom she has sung include Opera Holland Park, Opera Australia, Opera Della Luna and the Olivier Award winning company OperaUpClose in La Bohème, Madama Butterfly and Monteverdi’s I’incoronazione di Poppea.
Recent and forthcoming engagements include a season at Longborough Festival Opera in Verdi’s La Traviata and a John Kerr Company show Lizzy and Darcy, a show based on narrations and songs from the Jane Austen period.
ALISTAIR OLLERENSHAW, BARITONE
British baritone Alistair Ollerenshaw has been praised by Opera Magazine for his “resonant and scything baritone” and “athletic vocal presence”. The 2017 – 2018 season saw Mr Ollerenshaw perform the role of Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro and sing Haydn's Creation conducted by Jane Glover CBE at The Dartington International Festival. He has also covered Schaunard in La bohème with Stone Opera in Berlin and made his debut Le Baron de Montefiascone in Isouard’s Cendrillon for Bampton Classical Opera.
Highlights for previous seasons include his Cadogan Hall debut as Dr Bartolo in Rossini’s ll barbiere di Sivigilia with the Rossini Festival 2016, Sid Albert Herring (cover) The Grange Festival, Masetto Don Giovanni (cover) Garsington Opera, Marullo Rigoletto (cover) Longborough Festival Opera, Schaunard La bohème Woodhouse Opera. Additional roles include Leporello Don Giovanni with Intermezzo Opera, Nick Shadow The Rake’s Progress, Junius The Rape of Lucretia, Pandolfe Massenet Cendrillon and Betto Gianni Schicchi with the Royal Academy of Music.
On the concert / recital stage, he has performed Handel Messiah with the Manchester Camerata, Mendelssohn Elijah for the Amersham Music Festival, Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem with the Brandenburg Sinfonia in St Martin-in-the-Fields and Schubert Die Schöne Müllerin Saal am Palais, Weimar Germany. Other concert repertoire includes Rossini Stabat Mater, Dvorak Stabat Mater, Puccini Messa di Gloria, Vaughan Williams Five Mystical Songs, Bach Mass in B minor and Haydn Nelsonmesse.
Alistair studied at the Hochschule für Musik, Weimar and Royal Northern College of Music. He subsequently graduated from the Royal Academy of Music Opera Course where he was a finalist in the prestigious Richard Lewis / Jean Shanks Prize, was awarded 2nd Prize in the Ludmilla Andrew Song Prize. His studies were generously supported by the Josephine Baker Trust, Norman McCann Scholarship, Philip Tattey Scholarship and Toba Mann Award.
VIVIEN CONACHER, MEZZO-SOPRANO
Sydney-born mezzo-soprano Vivien Conacher has received critical acclaim for her “titillatingly sassy” charactarisations and “vocal panache". Recent roles include Dorabella Cosi fan Tutte (St Paul’s Opera, London), Little Buttercup HMS Pinafore (Charles Court Opera), Giovanna Rigoletto (Wexford Festival Opera), and Fidalma Il Matrimonio Segreto (UK tour PopUp Opera). Other roles have included Penelope Il Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria (cover Iford Arts Festival), Rivka Fiddler on the Roof (Grange Park Opera / BBC Proms), Filippyevna Eugene Onegin, and Sorceress Dido and Aenaes.
Vivien’s recent concert highlights include song recitals at St-Martin-in-the-Fields and St James’s Church Piccadilly, a soiree of French chamber music at the National Portrait Gallery, Mozart’s Litanae Laurentanae and Solemn Vespers for Battle Choral Society, and singing Schwertleite Die Walküre for the Tait Memorial Trust’s Wagner gala concert with Stuart Skelton at St Paul’s Knightsbridge.
Vivien completed her training with ENO OperaWorks and on the Masters Progamme at the Royal College of Music. She was a Britten-Pears Young Artist, a Concordia Foundation Artist, and a Tait Memorial Trust Awardee. Vivien also runs a dementia-friendly concert series in London called Songhaven.
PAULS PUTNINS, BASS-BARITONE
Latvian born Pauls Putnins’ appearances in opera include La bohème (ENO, Opéra de Nancy), Lucia di Lammermoor (Opera Colorado, Denver and Russian National Orchestra, Moscow), Carmen (New Zealand Opera, Blackheath Opera), Don Giovanni, Le nozze di Figaro (Latvian National Opera, Teatru Manoel, Valletta, Malta), Boulevard Solitude (Teatro Carlo Felice, Genoa and Gran Teatr del Liceu, Barcelona), The Rape of Lucretia (St Petersburg and Riga), Tannhäuser (Barcelona), I Capuleti e i Montecchi (Moscow Philharmonic). Opera appearances in UK include Idomeneo and Die Zauberflöte (Glyndebourne Festival Opera), Idomeneo and Tosca (ENO), Fidelio (Garsington), Madama Butterfly and Aida (Royal Albert Hall), Flavio (Early Opera Company), Ariadne and La traviata (Birmingham Opera Company).
Pauls also has an international concert career and has sung with orchestras including the Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Israel, Moscow and Bucharest Philharmonics and Russian National Orchestra ranging in a wide repertoire including all Bach Passions, Mendelsohn’s Elija, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. His audio recording include Ferrondo in Mercadante’s Maria Stuarda regina di Scozia, Ricardo in Meyerbeer's Margherita D'Anjou (Opera Rara), Everyman in Walford Davies’ Everyman (Duton) as well as DVDs of Jonathan Miller’s production of La bohème at ENO (Warner Classics) and Lehnhoff’s production of Henze’s Boulevard Solitude at the Liceu, Barcellona (Euroarts).
WILLIAM MORGAN, TENOR
William Morgan trained at the National Opera Studio and the Royal College of Music. His work includes both established repertoire and several world premieres.
Recent opera credits: PHAETON in The Day After (Jonathan Dove), YOUNGER MAN in Tansy Davies' Between Worlds, directed by Deborah Warner (Barbican Theatre), and cover FLORIZEL Ryan Wigglesworth’s The Winter’s Tale - all for English National Opera; Lliam Paterson’s The 8th Door for Scottish Opera, PASTORE/SPIRITO in Monteverdi's L'Orfeo conducted by Ivor Bolton at Bayerische Staatsoper; ANTHONY Sweeney Todd for Longborough Festival and Hippolyte et Aricie conducted by William Christie at Glyndebourne.
An avid chamber musician, William has performed many Lieder and song recitals, including at the Oxford Lieder Festival, Royal Albert Hall's Elgar Room, and the Royal Overseas League, with repertoire including the major song cycles of Schubert, Schumann and Britten. He performs regularly in concert, and has sung at the Royal Festival Hall, The Barbican, St John's Smith Square, Canterbury Cathedral and Snape Maltings, and has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
William's musical training began at a young age as a violinist, with the excellent local youth music groups and orchestras in Kent playing a huge part in his development. He read Mathematics and Chemistry at Durham University before deciding to train professionally as a singer.