Flight
Flight by Jonathan Dove
Director: William Kerley
Conductor: Timothy Dean
Designer: Tom Rogers
Lighting Design: Mark Lovell
Production Manager: Davy O’Neill
Saturday 24, Monday 26, Wednesday 27
& Friday 30 June 2006, 7.15pm NEW ATHENAEUM THEATRE
2 intervals of 15 minutes.
Cast List
Refugee Reno Troilus
Flight Controller Carla Caramujo*/Elizabeth Traill**
Bill Chris Elliott*/Matthew Marriott**
Tina Helene Dahlberg*/Alexa Mason**
Older Woman Louise Collett
Steward Anders Östberg
Stewardess Susan Boyd
Minskman James Arthur*/Whitaker Mills**
Minskwoman Alexandra Cassidy
Immigration Officer Aaron McAuley
- Saturday 24 & Wednesday 28 June
- Monday 26 & Friday 30 June
Assistant Conductor: Michael Bawtree (conducting the performance on Wednesday 28 June)
From RSAMD YouthWorks Drama
Cabin Crew / Runway Staff
Harriet Heath
Fiona Holt-Guthrie
Aimee Mclean
Rebecca Murphy
Vicky Semple
Synopsis
ACT I
It is dawn. The controller sits in her tower. She is content: the airport is empty – except for the Refugee: he has nowhere else to go. People start to arrive, people for the Refugee to befriend. A married couple, Bill and Tina, are going on holiday in an attempt to rediscover romance. The Older Woman is meeting a young man whom she met in Mallorca, her fiancé; she would dearly like to remain inconspicuous, but…. The Steward and Stewardess go brightly about their business – some of the time. Another married couple arrive, almost late for their flight to Minsk: they are emigrating. The Minskwoman is heavily pregnant. At the last moment she refuses to board the plane and her husband leaves without her. She is left stranded, mortified. The Refugee offers her a magic stone to comfort her.
The Immigration Officer passes through the concourse: he is always a danger to the – illegal – Refugee. The latter, warned by the Controller, manages to avoid notice, this time. The travellers are preparing to depart when the Controller announces that, because of electrical storms, all flights are indefinitely delayed.
ACT II
Night has fallen and still the storm is raging. Worries beset those who are waiting. The storm has even upset the Controller’s equilibrium – she leaves her tower and wanders about outside. Everyone in the concourse tries fitfully to sleep, but, in pairs or alone, they secretly approach the Refugee, fascinated by his magic stone. He gives them all what they believe to be the unique stone, and they make wishes. Bill is still restless and seeks out the Stewardess. In the dark he makes a mistake and finds the Steward instead: they go off to explore the control tower. The women and the Refugee decide to get drunk, and, as they become more garrulous, the women discover that each of them has ‘the’ stone. They vent their anger, with dire consequences for the Refugee. The consequences of Bill and the Steward’s explorations are less dire but no less cataclysmic. The Controller remains outside as the storm rages yet more fiercely.
ACT III
Dawn breaks and the storm has abated. Flights are being resumed. But there are many surprises in store. The Minskman returns: he could not bear to be separated from his wife. Bill and the Steward have a surprise for the women. The Minskwoman has a surprise for everyone. The Immigration Officer returns to discover the Refugee, but when the Refugee tells his story, even the Officer has a surprising reaction. Flights are called; people leave; under the Controller’s watchful eye, the airport will return to normal … perhaps.
Orchestra
VIOLIN I Emily Carr
Willem Mathlener
Anna Kelemen
Katie Stone
Miriam McFadyen
Alan John
Gemma Grant
Catherine Robertson
VIOLIN II Shona Dysart
Anna Hansen
Elaine Sexton
Claire Poxton
Nicola Connell
Kay Stephen
VIOLA Emma Stevenson
Rebecca Gilbert
Emma Peebles
Joanne Miller
CELLO Ying-Ying Han
Johanna Stein
Abigail Hayward
Barbara Misiewicz
DOUBLE BASS
Ed Lucas
Christine Cooper
Lesley Ann Smith
FLUTE Catherine Coulter
Kia Bennett
OBOE Sarah Turner
Louisa MacPherson
CLARINET Ashley Bray
Nicola Turner
BASSOON Fraser Gordon
Eanna Monaghan
HORN Craig MacDonald
Samantha McShane
TRUMPET Andrew Petrie
Mandy Murphy
TROMBONE Kenneth Letham
Michael Owers
TUBA David Hamilton
TIMPANI Christopher Edwards
PERCUSSION
James Swan
Kenny Carlyle
Cairistiona Swainson
Louis Abbott
HARP Hannah Phillips
PIANOFORTE/CELESTE Ian Ryan
Student Production Team
Stage Manager Fiona Johnston
Deputy Stage Manager Johanna Farwer
Assistant Stage Managers Dan Birch, Graeme Mackie
Assistant Production Manager Liz Stark
Assistant Designer Caroline Stanton
Technical Stage Manager Roy Fairhead
Deputy Technical Stage Managers Ken Petrie, Elizabeth A Slucas
Stage Technicians Mhairi Begg, Laura Montgomery
Lighting Designer Mark Lovell
Production Electrician William Potts
Deputy Production Electrician Jennifer Earl
Assistant Electrician/Board Op Danielle Flecher Herd
Set Construction Ross McMillan
Elizabeth A Slucas
Alistair Arthur
Gallia Semach
Scenic Manager Kimberley Soep
Scenic Artists Alastair Law
Graham Fleming
Benjamin Owens
Shelley Scott
Assistant Scenic Artists Mark Carry
Props Makers Mika Handley
Benjamin Owens
Linsey Johnstone
Libby Nagle
Ashleigh Riley
Fiona Crawford
Assistant Props Makers Andrew Smart
Costume Maker Natasha Jiggins
Hector Daniel Bonarelli
Wardrobe Assistants Natasha Falconer
William Kerley Director
William is a freelance director of opera and theatre. For the RSAMD he has directed Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmelites and Massenet’s Manon.
Recent theatre work includes: the world premiere of The God Botherers by Richard Bean at The Bush Theatre, Exotic Matter by Judy Upton and Dan Morton-Smith at the Hampstead Theatre, Hanging Around and Letters of War - original devised theatre pieces for the National Youth Theatre. His award-winning first production of Gill Adams’ play Jump to Cow Heaven was First of the Fringe Firsts at the Edinburgh Festival.
Recent opera work includes the fiftieth anniversary production of Britten’s Gloriana at the Snape Maltings and a new production of Let’s Make an Opera at the Jubilee Hall for the Aldeburgh Festival, the world premiere of The Embalmer by Giorgio Battistelli starring Ian McDiarmid (an RSAMD alumnus) for Almeida Opera, Mozart’s La Finta Semplice at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and Mozart’s Il re Pastore for the Classical Opera Company at the Linbury Studio of the Royal Opera House and a UK tour.
He has worked as assistant and associate director for Scottish Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Opera North, Welsh National Opera, The Royal Opera House, the Royal Shakespeare Company, National Theatre and the Almeida Theatre assisting directors including Tim Albery, Bill Alexander, Jonathan Kent, Phllida Lloyd, Jonathan Miller, Graham Vick and Matthew Warchus.
William trained at Dartington, is co-founder of Actiontrack Performance Company, a registered charity which creates original music-theatre work with young offenders and in both mainstream and special-needs education. He is an associate director for the National Youth Theatre. He has written for The Guardian and Independent newspapers and is a regular ‘columnist’ on BBC Radio 4’s Home Truths programme.
Future engagements include Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin for British Youth Opera, The Dinner Engagement / The Long Christmas Dinner – a Berkeley/Hindemith double-bill for the GSMD and Flute and Broomstick, a newly commissioned children’s opera at The Wigmore Hall, London.
Tom Rogers Designer
Training: Motley, 2003-2004 Opera credits: Let’s Make An Opera/ The Little Sweep Aldeburgh, To The Edge The Steiner Theatre, Baker Street, La Finta Semplice, GSMD Theatre credits: The Chimes Southwark Playhouse, Death and The Maiden The New Wolsey, Ipswich, The Man Who The Orange Tree, Richmond, Phaedra’s Love, Sheppey and Protection Arts Ed, Chiswick, Letters Of War National Youth Theatre, Laughing Gas Theatre Royal Plymouth and South West tour, The Librarian’s Joke Pleasance London and National tour, Tale Of Two Cities GSMD Future plans: Eugene Onegin British Youth Opera (Sept 2006), The Long Christmas Dinner / The Dinner Engagement GSMD (Nov 2006) Tom was a finalist in the 2005 Linbury Biennial Prize for Stage Design and was shortlisted for the Jocelyn Herbert Award.
Caroline Stanton Assistant Designer
Caroline Stanton is a third year Technical and Production Arts mature student, graduating in July 2006. She came to the RSAMD from a varied background including prop and costume making for various theatres and performing arts groups, including The Royal Shakespeare Company and Tribe Dance Company Bristol. In the last three years as well as working full-time on Academy productions she has also worked for The National Theatre London, The Edinburgh Festival Theatre, and The Citizen’s Theatre Glasgow. On graduating Caroline hopes to forge a career as a Scenographer, and is currently working on a show for Tramway 1, and a project with the National Theatre of Scotland.
Mark Lovell Lighting Designer
Mark is a final year BA Technical & Production Arts student. During his time at the Academy, he has worked on many productions including Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, Handel’s Acis & Galatea, Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas, two pantomimes, Barker’s Bite of the Night and Liz Lochhead’s version of Molière’s Tartuffe. Recently Mark has enjoyed the challenges presented by Here Comes a Chopper in the Chandler Studio (Production Electrician), What the Butler Saw (Lighting Designer), Cendrillon (Technical Stage Manager) and Heritage (Sound Designer). Forthcoming projects include lighting design for RSAMD Youthworks’ Giacomo’s Circus of the Fantastic! Mark is an accomplished double bass player, and a keen photographer. He hopes to pursue a career in touring rep when he graduates.
Michael Bawtree Assistant Conductor
Michael was born in Devon and studied at Christ’s College, Cambridge University, graduating in 1997 with a degree in music; in the same year Michael became a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists, winning three prizes as a result of the examinations.
For five years Michael was Assistant Director of Music at St Edmundsbury Cathedral in Suffolk. With the Cathedral Choir he broadcast frequently on BBC Radio, toured to America and made three CD recordings. Whilst in Suffolk he was also active as a choral trainer, running two choirs and working with the Bury St Edmunds Festival Chorus and the Britten-Pears Chamber Choir. Solo organ recital engagements have taken Michael to over twenty British cathedrals as well as to New England, California, Bermuda and Switzerland. In March 2006 he undertook a five-concert tour to the USA which included a recital at Washington National Cathedral. He is also one half of the Busch-Bawtree piano duo, a collaboration born in 2000 with American composer Richard Busch which has included annual duet recitals both sides of the Atlantic.
In September 2004, Michael moved to Glasgow to take up a two-year postgraduate scholarship at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama studying orchestral conducting. In addition to his studies with Dr Alasdair Mitchell at the RSAMD, he has worked with Joseph Swensen, Christopher Adey, Lutz Köhler, Martyn Brabbins and Ilan Volkov. He has conducted the Suffolk Sinfonia, the Sinfonia of Birmingham, the Orchestra of Scottish Opera, orchestras at Cambridge, Glasgow and Edinburgh Universities and all the RSAMD orchestras. In addition to his work on Flight, he has been Assistant Conductor for Falstaff, Cendrillon and Judith Weir’s The Vanishing Bridegroom. In July 2005, he travelled to India for a month to work with the Calcutta Chamber Orchestra, a trip sponsored by the British Council. He has conducted a number of first performances this year: Julian Wagstaff’s Symphony for Chamber Orchestra with the Edinburgh University Chamber Orchestra, Gareth Williams’s one-act opera Love in the Blue Corner and most recently Dominic Floyd’s Three Cloud pieces with the Edinburgh University String Orchestra in Orkney. He is currently Music Director of the Glasgow Chamber Choir and Chorus Director of the Edinburgh Royal Choral Union. Future plans include work with Scottish Ballet this autumn and directing Albert Herring with Edinburgh Studio Opera next year.
James Arthur (Minksman)
James was born in Essex and was awarded a music scholarship to Ampleforth College in 1993 where he studied singing under Richard Hill. During a gap year he sang as a choral scholar at Guildford Cathedral before reading music at Durham University. Whilst at Durham he was a cathedral choral scholar and was also awarded the Sir Thomas Beecham scholarship for performance. Since 2002 he has been studying with Peter Alexander Wilson at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD). He has completed a Postgraduate Diploma and a Masters in Performance and is currently on the MMus Opera course.
Whilst at the RSAMD James has sung the roles of Antonio in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, the Doctor and Policeman in Judith Weir’s The Vanishing Bridegroom and Pandolfe in Massenet’s Cendrillon, which was performed with the Orchestra of Scottish Opera. He has performed in an opera gala with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and last year appeared in Britten’s Curlew River at the Edinburgh International Festival. He has also been awarded the Florence Veitch Ibler prize for Oratorio. James is in regular demand throughout the UK as a concert soloist and sings a wide range of repertoire from Bach to music of the present day.
Susan Boyd (Stewardess)
Susan is from Northern Ireland and is currently in her first year of the opera course at the RSAMD. She has been under the tutelage of Peter Wilson for five years. Most recently Susan undertook the title role in Massenet’s Cendrillon for the RSAMD, performing with Scottish Opera Orchestra at Glasgow’s Theatre Royal and the Edinburgh Festival Theatre. Highlights of Susan’s concert performances include an Opera gala with the RSNO, May 2006 and a BBC lunchtime recital in Belfast, May 2006. Susan was the winner of the RSAMD’s Ye Cronies Opera Prize in June 2006. In August 2006 Susan is due to take part in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Edinburgh Festival. Susan’s studies to date have been most generously supported by the Peter Moores Foundation, the Musicians Benevolent Fund and the Belfast Classical Musical Bursary.
Carla Caramujo (Flight Controller)
Carla completed her Bachelor and Masters at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Her final studies on the opera course at the RSAMD, have been supported by the RSAMD International Scholarship, Chevron Excellence Award 2005 and the Dewar Awards. She studied with Laura Sarti, Patricia MacMahon and currently with Patricia Hay. Carla won first prizes at the Croydon Symphony Orchestra Soloist Award (London, 2002), Luisa Todi Singing Competition (Lisbon, 2005) and at the Musikförderpreis der Hans-Sachs-Loge (Nünberg, 2006). Operatic roles include: Queen of the Night, Die Zauberflöte, She in Douglas Templeton’s Night Square première; Usignuolo and Fata Azzurra in Respighi’s La bella dormente nel bosco, Valetto, L’incoronazione di Poppea by Monteverdi and Armida, Rinaldo by Handel. She also sang Norina, Don Pasquale, Violetta La Traviata, Lucia Lucia di Lammermoor, Konstanze Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Adina Elisir d’Amore in part. Concert performances include: Bach’s Magnificat, Handel’s Messiah, Mozart C minor Mass, Beethoven Mass in C, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Carmina Burana, Opera Galas and Song Recitals in venues such as the Fairfield Hall and St. Martin’s Smith Square (London), Teatro Nacional de S. Carlos (Lisbon), Moldavian Orchestra Hall (Czech Republic), Oporto’s Coliseum, Heidenheim Concert Hall, International Music Festivals in Portugal and International Arts Festival of Mérida (Mexico). Future engagements include: Madame Herz, Der Schauspieldirektor by Mozart, Fiordilidgi, Cosi Fan Tutte by Mozart, Frasquita, Carmen (Teatro Comunale di Bologna and Oporto’s Coliseum) and a concert at the International Arts Festival of Merida (Mexico).
Alexandra Cassidy (Minkswoman)
Alexandra is on the Post Graduate diploma course and is studying with Stephen Robertson and Helen Lawson. Alexandra has performed as a soloist with the BBCSSO, the Hebrides Ensemble, Royal Philharmonic, Viva, The St Cecilia Orchestra, RSAMD Chamber Orchestra and The Paragon Ensemble. Most recently she performed a selection of Mahler Lieder in the prelude concert to the RSNO at the Glasgow City Halls and Kindertotenlieder with the Hebrides Ensemble and will sing as one of the “Lehrbuben” in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Edinburgh Festival. Next year she hopes to attend the Opera course at the Alexander Gibson Opera School.
Louise Collett (Older Woman)
Louise has just completed her four year undergraduate course at the RSAMD, gaining a first class honours degree. She will be staying here next year to do the Post-Graduate Diploma, Concert Singing Course and will continue to study with Kathleen McKellar-Ferguson.
Helene Dahlberg (Tina)
Soprano Helene was born in Stockholm, Sweden. After musical training in Stockholm she completed her BMus (Hons) degree at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London in 2001. Currently, she is studying with Peter Wilson on the MOpera course at the RSAMD. While at the RSAMD Helene has performed the roles of Almirena, Rinaldo, 2006, Noémie, Cendrillon, 2006; Drusilla, L’Incoronazione di Poppea, 2005; Second Woman, Dido and Aeneas, 2004; First Bridesmaid, Le Nozze di Figaro, 2004. Helene is also an experienced concert singer and is currently supported by the Thomas Sievewright Catto Trust.
Chris Elliott (Bill)
Northumbrian tenor Chris first sang as a boy chorister at Durham, read English at the University of Glasgow and worked internationally as a headhunter before coming to the RSAMD Opera School. He studies with Peter Alexander Wilson and Nicolai Gedda. In addition to a broad oratorio repertoire, Chris’ opera chorus work includes Curlew River at the Edinburgh Festival under Gary Walker. Roles include Youngest Son in Judith Weir’s The Vanishing Bridegroom, and excerpts roles include Don Basilio, Lenski, Male Chorus, Nadir, Nemorino, Pang, Rudolfo and Tom Rakewell. In 2004 Chris was presented with a Gavin Boyd Memorial Award by James McMillan, on behalf of the Friends of Scottish Opera. This summer he will appear as an Apprentice in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Edinburgh Festival.
Aaron Alphonsus McAuley (Immigration Officer)
Aaron is currently in his fourth year (BMus) at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama studying under the direction of Alan Watt and Peter Alexander Wilson. He began his singing career as a treble in the Glasgow Youth Choir at the age of five. Then joined the National Youth Choir of Scotland where he gained experience of choir dynamics and learned to relish the technical challenges of singing in a choir. Aaron’s solo career has taken him around the country performing such works as Handel’s Israel in Egypt, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the RSAMD, and Berlioz’ L’Enfance du Christ (Polydorus). He has toured the Scottish Isles performing for Herriot Watt University. Other performanecs include the Shetiff in Flotow’s Martha, the Bride’s Father in Weir’s The Vanishing Bridegroom. Understudies include Verdi’s Falstaff (Pistola) and Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande (Arkel) and Massenet’s Cendrillon (le Roi) for the RSAMD. Aaron performed The Schoolmaster by Telemann with members of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, to raise funds for the development of Glasgow’s Art Gallery. Future engagements include singing as soloist for Cullman Singers and the Bridge of Weir Choral Society.
Matthew Marriott (Bill)
Matthew studied at the Royal Academy of Music and Guildhall School of Music and Drama, receiving an entrance scholarship on both occasions. Matthew graduated with a LGSM with distinction and a BMus Hons. Recent performances have included Beethoven’s Messe Sollenelle with Sir Colin Davies at the Barbican Centre London, Britten’s St Nicholas at Bath Abbey, Dvorák’s Stabat matar at Wells Cathedral and Messiah with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and was recently tenor soloist in Berlioz’ Te Deum in Glasgow’s new City Halls with the BBCSSO. Opera performances include L’ormindo, Cavalli for the William Walton Trust, Ischia, Italy, Leodes, Penelope, Runnuccio, Gianni Schichi and Ernesto, Il giovedi di grasso, Gofreddo, Rinaldo, Don Ramiro, la Cenerentola at the Barbican Centre. Matthew is in the first year of the RSAMD’s opera course with a scholarship from the Uberhyme Trust.
Alexa Mason (Tina)
Cumbrian soprano Alexa is presently in the first year of the RSAMD opera course and studies with Pat Hay. This is her second full role at the RSAMD following Damigella in L’Incoronazione di Poppea in 2005. A keen performer of new music, she received critical acclaim for her premiere performance of a song cycle for soprano and bassoon quartet in May 2006, (in which she also played the kazoo) and recently premiered a short opera by Martin Dixon at Glasgow University Concert Hall as part of their ‘Musica Nova’ series. Alexa does not play the tuba. Alexa is tremendously grateful for the generous support towards her studies from the Thomas Sievewright Catto trust, Jennie Gordon and Walter and Fe Wolfe.
Elizabeth Traill (Flight Controller)
Elizabeth read Music at the University of Durham before studying vocal performance within English National Opera’s Baylis Programme. Currently studying with Patricia Hay within the final year of the Alexander Gibson Opera School at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, she is supported by a number of scholarships and has recently won the Hampshire Singer of the Year Competition and Second Prize in the intercollegiate Clonter Opera Competition. Operatic roles include Le Fèe, Cendrillon, Le Feu and Le Rossignol, L’enfant et les sortileges (cover), Damon, Acis and Galatea (cover) all for the RSAMD, and Harriet the Irrascible Lunatic, On Thee We Feed (Richard Chew) with the ENO Baylis Programme. Future plans include a recital in the Winchester Festival, concerts with the City of Southampton Orchestra and Southern Sinfonia and the role of Queen of Night, The Magic Flute at Dartington International Summer School this August.
Reno Troilus (The Refugee)
Reno was born in Glasgow and is currently a student at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. He studies with Patricia Hay and Michael Chance. His wide ranging repertoire includes music of the Baroque period to that of the 20th Century, and engagements to date include Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine, JS Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, St Matthew Passion, St John Passion, and B minor Mass, Handel’s Messiah, Jephtha, Semele, Saul, and Israel in Egypt, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater and Salve Regina, Vivaldi’s Dixit Dominus, Stabat Mater and Salve Regina, German Lied, French Melodies, Orff’s Carmina Burana and Britten’s Abraham and Isaac, Rejoice in the Lamb, and The Journey of the Magi. Reno sang Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the Alexander Gibson Opera School of the RSAMD. Reno has also recorded Simon Wright’s arrangement of Daquin’s Les Douze Noels for Linn Records and is due to make a solo recording of music for voice, trumpet and organ later this year. The works will then form part of a UK tour and will be broadcast by the BBC. Engagements in the 2004/05 season included Sebaste in JC Bach’s Temistocle in Leipzig and Toulouse conducted by Christoph Rousset, Israel in Egypt in York Minster, Bach’s St John Passion in Paisley Abbey, and a recital with Mark O’Keefe at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. This season engagements include Britten’s Canticles at St Johns Smith Square, London, and Messiah with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Future plans include covering the title role of Tamerlano with Scottish Opera and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in Ripon Cathedral.
Anders Östberg (Steward)
Swedish baritone Anders is in his second year on the opera course, where he studies with Peter Alexander Wilson and George Gordon. Major operatic roles include Argante in Handel’s Rinaldo for the RSAMD, Onegin in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin for New Youth Opera and Giove in La Calisto at Birmingham Conservatoire. Recent engagements include Eldest Son in Judith Weir’s The Vanishing Bridegroom and chorus for the Edinburgh International Festival’s acclaimed production of Britten’s Curlew River. Concert and oratorio appearances this year have included Mozart’s Requiem and Coronation Mass, Gounod’s Petite Messe de Sainte Cecilé and concerts at Drumlanrig Castle and The Palace of Holyroodhouse.
Daniel Hector Bonarelli (Costume Maker)
Having worked in a creative environment in his home country of Argentina, for a dance theatre company, with no formal training, once in Glasgow Daniel decided to apply to study at the RSAMD. Now in his second year, he specialises in prop making, costume, scenic art and design.
Johanna Farwer (Deputy Stage Manager)
Specialising in Stage Management, Johanna worked mainly on operas at the RSAMD. She found them to be an interesting alternative to the experience she had already gained back home in Germany, which includes musical productions such as Disney’s Lion King and the Bee Gee’s Saturday Night Fever. Johanna graduates this summer and looks forward to what the future holds.
Natasha Jiggins (Costume Maker)
Having done a degree in Product Design Engineering, Natasha decided her crazy ideas were best suited to the theatre. She is now in the second year of the Technical and Production Arts course and loving it. She is specializing in costume, props making and design. She has also done design and props work for RSAMD Youthworks Drama.
Fiona Johnston (Stage Manager)
In her time at the RSAMD, Fiona has specialized in stage management and sound design. Outside of the Academy, she has been Production/Stage Manager for a Youthworks production of Pendragon, and Stage Manager/Sound Designer for the season at Frinton Summer Theatre, amongst other things. Upon graduation, she will return to Essex for the Frinton season, and then embark upon an MSc Sound Design at the University of Edinburgh.
Will Potts (Production Electrician)
Wil has enjoyed working within the technical and production arts team and is ready to work in the industry. Senior production roles in shows within the Academy include Assistant Electrician for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Deputy Technical Stage Manager for The Vanishing Bridegroom, Technical Stage Manager for Beauty and the Beast and Lighting Designer for a production of Nicola McCartney’s Heritage. Will’s main interest lies in sound and light but throughout his time at the Academy he has developed a love for the technical challenges involved in rigging a show. This sparked him to do his final year project on ‘The Technical and Creative Challenges Involved in Flying People in Performance.’
Liz Stark (Assistant Production Manager)
Liz has chosen the challenging role of Assistant Production Manager for her last show at the RSAMD. Immediately after graduating Liz starts a new job as an ASM at The Byre Theatre, St Andrews. She is looking forward to the new challenges in her career in stage management. Liz has worked on: The Last Supper and Flight for the RSAMD; Golf the Musical, Loot and The Marsh King’s Daughter for the Byre Theatre; Three Thousand Troubled Threads for the Byre Theatre & Stellar Quines.
Kimberley Soep (Scenic Manager)
As it was Kimberley’s first managerial role within the Academy, a large-scale opera such as Flight appeared a little daunting. However, Kimberley found it very beneficial to her work at the RSAMD and looks forward to seeing the finished product in its ‘soepesque’ beauty.
School of Music Staff
Head of Opera Timothy Dean
Assistant Head of Opera Duncan Williams
Acting Head of Vocal Studies Stephen Robertson
Orchestral Co-ordinator / Head of Brass Bryan Allen
Distinguished Fellow in Percussion and Timpani Kurt Hans Goedicke
Head of Keyboard Studies Philip Jenkins
Head of Strings Peter Lissauer
Acting Head of Woodwind Heather Nicoll
Assistants to the Head of Orchestral Studies Amanda Galasso, Susan Johnston
Secretary to the Opera School Anita Dick
Principal Repetiteur Ian Ryan*
Repetiteur Maki Yoneta
- Ian is the recipient of the MBF Repetiteur Fellowship, shared between Scottish Opera and the RSAMD.
The RSAMD would like to thank the following individuals and companies for their support:
Eye-2-Eye Opticians
The Sunglass Hut
Alastair Lynas
Phil at BMI
Steve at BT
Fabio at Virgin Airlines
Rococo
Dunnes Stores
RSAMD Youthworks
And from the Metropolitan College:
Kevin Byrne
Iain Mclaughlin
Mark Purdie
Brian Brooks
Graham Irvine
Sean Cruickshank
Stephen Loan
Martyn English
Supporting Opera at the RSAMD
If you would like to support opera at the RSAMD further you can become an Alexander Gibson Opera School Patron. As an AGOS Patron you would receive the opportunity to be uniquely involved with the first purpose-built opera school in Britain, supporting students with bursaries, assisting with the production costs and witnessing the evolution of students into some of the most talented opera singers.
For more information, contact the Patrons Administrator on 0141 270 8283 or [development@rsamd.ac.uk development] or visit support us