Described as ‘bold’, ‘colourful’ (The Times), and ‘inventive’ (Financial Times) British-Canadian composer and conductor Michael Betteridge has an eclectic output in which his music draws on the stories of people and places, past and present, animating everything from concert halls and opera stages to slate mines and market squares!

Antosh Wojcik is a writer, drummer, sound designer and facilitator. The Community Sirens are a group of writers/poets from the Solent Region. Led by Antosh Wojcik and including Harley Truslove, Ri Baroche, Eve Wright, and Carrie Myshkin, the Community Sirens use their writing to address environmental issues and the climate emergency and act as sirens to encourage behavioural change.

Matthew Fairclough is a composer and sound designer based in the Northwest of England. He is Professor of Music at The University of Liverpool where he is the director of the Music and Technology degree programme. As a sound designer Matthew has enjoyed collaborations with a diverse range of composers and instrumentalists. For many years, he has performed regularly with the pianist Joanna MacGregor, the percussionist Joby Burgess and more recently in many compositions of Laura Bowler. As a composer, Matthew specialises in music for acoustic instruments with live-electronics and multimedia. His compositions have been performed by Powerplant, Smith Quartet, Ensemble 10/10, Berg Orchestra, and the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra.

Bobbie-Jean Henning is a creative who works across stage and screen. Most recently she was associate director on the UK tour of Carmen Reimagined. She's directed shows for Edinburgh, Adelaide and Sydney Fringe Festival, and was the 2022 recipient of WAAPA's Professional Mentorship for Directing. She also directed the short film, You, Me & Him which has been shown at film festivals internationally.  

As a writer her solo shows have toured nationally, her online comedy series The Power of The Dream was nominated for an AWGIE and she was a recipient of ABC's Fresh Start Fund.

Bobbie-Jean is particularly passionate about new work that speaks to our current social landscape and provides a sense of hope.

Cheng Keng is a scenographer, lighting and video designer based in London. He trained at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, completing an MFA in Scenography.  

Director. Flora is a highly experienced and respected performer, facilitator and producer with a passion for reinvention and co-creation. Following a long association with OperaUpClose singing multiple roles to great critical acclaim, Flora became Artistic Director in 2022 and is thrilled to be leading the organisation through its next stage of evolution.

Robin is a costume designer and maker based in London. Originally from Germany, he trained as an intern in the costume department of Schauspielhaus Bochum before moving to the UK to study on the BA Costume for Performance course at London College of Fashion, graduating with First Class Honours. His work spans across theatre, film, dance, and wearable art, and is concerned with exploring the bodily and socio-cultural human experience. He is looking to push boundaries on contemporary aesthetics within performance design, and question established traditions and expectations.

Virginie Taylor is a London based theatre video and creative captions designer, with a background in lighting design and fine art.

Video and lighting design credits include: « Pajoma Collective » Bernie Grant Arts Centre, « Vagina Rex and the Gas Oven » London Performance Studios and « Hummingbird » Vaults Festival.

Video design: « Bright Places » The Rep Birmingham, « Windrush the Journey », « Roman Fever » and « the Human Voice » by Pegasus Opera, « The Odyssey » Unicorn Theatre, « Wendy: A Peter Pan Story » The Egg (creative captions only), « Press » Park Theatre, « Charlie Russell Aims To Please » EdFringe/The Other Palace and « No Place Like Home » EdFringe/Camden People’s Theatre.

Aaron John West is a writer and filmmaker exploring deep psychological themes through visual storytelling. With a background in film, photography, and production, he pushes creative boundaries across  various media. As Head of Production at City Eye, he fosters the growth of filmmaking, supporting emerging and established talent to achieve their filmmaking goals. 

Indian-Scottish Neil Balfour is an award-winning British Baritone and Voiceover Artist. He started musical life as a pianist, punkrocker and conductor, before falling in lovewith all-things-voice to tell stories. A former Britten-Pears, Samling, Momentum and Concordia artist, he is the first opera singer to be booked by the Glastonbury Festival in the Astrolabe Tent and the first to beatbox in an opera a Longborough Festival Opera.

Susie's work as a singer traverses many genres, from opera to music theatre, with a keen interest in new writing. They have sung roles with companies including Opera North, Opera Holland Park, Mahogany Opera Group and British Youth Opera. Susie is an advocate of music in education and has enjoyed working with Vache Baroque as an "Agent of Sound" this season. Outside of music, Susie is a fan of contemporary art and enjoys listening to the "Talk Art" podcast and visiting London's galleries. They love the work of Anselm Kiefer and Tracey Emin. 

Tom Lilburn is an English countertenor based in Windsor. He is currently working with Opera Settecento, singing Arsete on in a reconstructed version of Handel’s Titus L’empereur. He is also a Lay Clerk at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, and in April 2021 he was one of four singers at the funeral of His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh.

English-Japanese soprano Julia Mariko was born in the North East of England, and is now based in London. In 2023 she recorded Musetta in a new feature of Robin Norton-Hale’s Olivier award-winning production of La bohème and performed Virtue, covering Poppea/Drusilla, The Coronation of Poppea (English Touring Opera) and Shirley and Stella, covering Vera, The Land of Might Have Been (Buxton International Festival). In 2024 she covered Anne Truelove The Rake’s Progress and performed Lamplighter Manon Lescaut for ETO, alongside Learning and Participation projects for ETO, ENO and Opera North.

Bryony Middleton is a professional oboist, pianist and teacher, based on the South coast. She freelances on the oboe and cor anglais with some of the best orchestras in the country, appearing most regularly with her local; the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. She held a full-time job as an oboist and cor anglais player in Lisbon for 5 years, returning home to trials with two BBC orchestras, the English National Ballet and Scottish Opera. She has also played in pop music festivals, recorded CDs, DVDs and livestreams, appeared as the soloist in concertos and in the Royal Albert Hall at the BBC Proms. She also performs as a pianist and accompanist, and is a experienced chamber musician in both piano and oboe.

lona Suomalainen performs as a freelance accordionist across the UK. She has worked with orchestras including the Philharmonia, Aurora Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and London Sinfonietta. A diverse performer, Ilona recently played in the West End production of Fiddler on the Roof, Much Ado About Nothing at the Shakespeare's Globe, and featured in a UK tour with singer 'Irit' supporting Lisa Stansfield. Originally from Finland, Ilona studied at the Sibelius-Academy in Helsinki, before moving to London to study at the Royal Academy of Music.

Emily graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music with Distinction in 2016. During her studies Emily won the RNCM Gilbert-Fell prize for contemporary solo performance, a music at Beaulieu award and third prize in the Virovitica international clarinet competition. She has played principal clarinet for contemporary music group Divertimento Ensemble in Milan, and also in a contemporary Britten-Pears ensemble led by Jessica Cottis, creating new music with young composers for the 2022 Aldeburgh Festival.

Scottish mezzo-soprano and former music teacher, Lauren Young studied at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and Mascarade Opera Studio in Florence. She is a former Britten Pears Young Artist, Independent Opera Scholar and Fellow, and was a semi-finalist in the 42nd Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition. Recent highlights include Tisbe La Cenerentola and Baba the Turk The Rake’s Progress (English Touring Opera); Daughter 6 Akhnaten (English National Opera); and an ensemble cast member in Ted Huffman and Philip Venables’ The F*ggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions (Ruhrtriennale). Later this season she performs Rosina Il barbiere di Siviglia (Longborough Festival Opera).