MEET THE CAST
Bronwen Stephens-Harding
Founder, Director and Scriptwriter
Mezzo-Soprano - Carmen
At the age of eight, Bronwen declared her wish to be an opera singer. After a varied career, combining corporate marketing with busking, choral singing, opera performance and singing studies, she is now pursuing her dream full-time. After achieving a Diploma in Opera & Performance from Associated Studios in London and working in the UK and Europe, Bronwen founded Rogue Opera in 2018 with a vision of bringing opera to new audiences and unconventional spaces. As well as singing the title role in Rogue Opera’s inaugural season of Bizet’s Carmen, Bronwen directed the production and saw it performed in a variety of venues.
Working with a dedicated troupe of musicians and seeing her concepts come to life on the stage have been a high point in her musical career, which continued with the company’s second season, presenting a vibrant, contemporary reimagining of Mozart’s Don Giovanni in 2019, which Bronwen directed. In the second revival tour she also performed the role of Donna Elvira. The challenges presented by Covid-19 in 2020 have taken Bronwen and Rogue Opera into new ventures, broadcasting over 45 livestream performances and building an archive over 100 video performances of arias and ensembles, providing creative work for Rogue Opera artists and introducing new audiences to opera. Delighted to be back to in-person events, Bronwen has created, written the English libretto and directed this new production 'A Modern Opera Love Story' for Fuller’s Opera in the Garden.
Guy Murgatroyd
Music Director
Pianist
British pianist Guy enjoys a modest reputation as one of a leading generation of pianists pliable to many musical roles.
Having worked with diverse musicians, including Leslie Howard, Elly Ameling and Andrew Lloyd Webber, along with contemporary composers including Rolf Hind, Edward Rushton and Nikolai Kapustin, Guy is no stranger to most corners of the repertoire. He had a scholarship at Birmingham Conservatoire in 2012 and recently completed postgraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Guy is also the founder and director of the London Art Song Collective which aims to further the performance of 20th century art song, an undervalued and untapped repertoire. The collective features over 50 singers, hand-chosen for various projects spanning over 450 composers and 25 languages.
Having assisted with Carmen in 2018, Guy took on full musical direction for Rogue Opera in 2019 and was integral to the company’s 2020/21 pandemic online program. Guy has the superhuman ability to fill in for a whole orchestra in Rogue Opera’s compact productions and is the essential fifth character in Fuller’s Opera in the Garden.
Philip Clieve
Tenor
Don Josė
British tenor Philip Clieve was born in Lancashire. He is a graduate of London's prestigious National Opera Studio and gained both his MMus and Bachelor degree from the Royal Northern College of Music.
Operatic roles include Max Der Freischütz, Alfred Die Fledermaus, Prince Philippe A Dinner Engagement, Gherardo Gianni Schicchi, Zorn Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Ralph H.M.S. Pinafore, The Defendant Trial by Jury, Mr Box Cox and Box and Colonel Fairfax Yeoman of the Guard. He has also performed many Oratorios, including Handel’s Messiah, the Mozart Requiem, Elijah Mendelssohn, Gloria Puccini, Petite messe solennelle Rossini, Magnificat J.S. Bach and The Crucifixion Stainer.
Philip enjoys a varied concert portfolio, having sung Strauss, Schubert and Schumann lieder, English song of the 19th and 20th century and the songs of Paolo Tosti.
Nick Dwyer
Baritone
Captain Moralès, Dancaïre and Escamillo
Nick is returning for his second Rogue Opera Fuller’s tour. Last year he played the title role in Sweeney Todd, a Victorian Melodrama for Opera Della Luna at Wilton’s, a show reviving this summer in Bath and Manchester. Prior to this he performed as the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance for Celebrate Voice Festival, where he previously sang the title role in Le Nozze di Figaro.
Nick is a graduate of Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and has since performed over 300 performances as Marcello in Opera Up Close's Olivier Award winning La Bohème. Elsewhere, roles include Flemish Deputy in Don Carlo at Grange Park Opera, where he previously performed as Zaretsky in Eugene Onegin whilst understudying the title role. Nick has ventured into music theatre as Javert in Les Misérables for Pimlico Opera Prisons Project, featuring the inmates of HMP Erlestoke. Nick has also worked in the film industry, where he performed a role in Holby City (drunk Santa Claus) and as a body double for Batman.
Claire Filer
Soprano
Micaëla, Frasquita
Soprano Claire Filer was born in New Zealand where she began a career that has involved studying and performing in the US, UK and Europe. Claire holds a MA (Distinction) from the Wales International Academy of Voice, a MMus from The Boston Conservatory in the US and a BMusHons (1st class) from The University of Auckland.
Operatic engagements include Micaëla Carmen (Arcadian Opera), Ortlinde Die Walküre (London Opera Company), Mimì La Bohème (Richmond Orchestra), Fiordiligi Così fan tutte (Auckland Opera Studio), Dido Dido & Aeneas (Armonico Consort, Kentish Opera), Charlotte (cover) Brontë the Opera (Keynote Opera), Lola Cavalleria Rusticana (Wedmore Opera), Livia The Italian Girl in London (Opera at Rannoch), Zweite Dame Die Zauberflöte (Woodhouse Opera), Annina La Traviata (London Festival Opera), Mother Hansel & Gretel (Opera Holloway), Cathleen Riders to the Sea (Cantata Singers), and Suor Dolcina Suor Angelica (Talent Unlimited).
Oratorio engagements include Handel Messiah, Beethoven 9th Symphony, Mozart Requiem, Mass in C Minor and Coronation Mass, Rossini Petite Messe Solennelle, Cecilia McDowall Magnificat, Pergolesi Stabat Mater, Bach Magnificat and St John Passion, Fauré Requiem, Dvořák Stabat Mater and Mass in D Major, Haydn Mass in Time of War, Lord Nelson Mass, Missa Cellensis in Honorem and Missa Sancti Nicolai.
www.clairefiler.com
Gemma Morsley
Mezzo-Soprano
Carmen
Gemma's operatic roles include Carmen (Opera South East), Grimgerde Die Walküre (Grange Park Opera), Amneris Aida (Guildford Opera), Flora La traviata (King’s Head), Maddalena Rigoletto (France and UK tour), Marcellina Le nozze di Figaro (Dartington International Festival), Dorabella Così fan tutte (Opera Chez Cartier & Jacksons Lane Theatre) La Ciesca and Zita Gianni Schicchi (Fulham Opera and Lunchbreak Opera respectively), Gertrude Romeo et Juliette (Arcadian Opera), Flowermaiden Parsifal (Elemental Opera), 2nd and 3rd Ladies Die Zauberflöte (Zeist Opera Festival, Netherlands, St John’s Smith Square & Riverside Studios) and ensemble in six tours of John Ramster’s staged Messiah. She has sung Larina Eugene Onegin for OperaUpClose for whom she also created the role of Mrs Bear in Peace at Last.
Gemma has recorded and performed several operas in concert with Opera Rara including Semiramide, Il proscritto and La princesse de Trébizonde under the batons of Sir Mark Elder, Carlo Rizzi and Paul Daniel respectively.
Music theatre roles include Mrs Sowerberry & Mrs Bedwin in Oliver! and Fruma-Sarah in Fiddler on the Roof (Grange Park Opera and BBC Proms), the White Witch in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Creation Theatre, Oxford) and numerous performances from the G&S canon.
David Powton
Tenor
Don Josė
David Powton gained his MA in Opera Performance from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, studying with Adrian Thompson and Nicki Rose, generously supported by the Leverhulme Foundation and the Manning Prize for Tenors. Roles include The Mayor (Albert Herring, Britten), Basilio (Le Nozze di Figaro, Mozart), Caius (Falstaff, Verdi) and Alfred (Die Fledermaus, Strauss).
David has performed as a soloist with Royal Northern Sinfonia. Concert performances include Seven Last Words from the Cross (MacMillan), A Child of Our Time (Tippett) and Verdi Requiem. Recent performances include Nemorino in L’Elisir d’amore (Donizetti) with Opera’r Ddraig, Basilio in Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart) with Random Opera and Marat/Dupont in Black, el payaso (Sorozàbal) with Cervantes Theatre.
Sam Young
Baritone
Captain Moralès, Dancaïre and Escamillo
British baritone Sam Young studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he was awarded the Chartered Surveyors Vocal Prize, and previously graduated from Bath Spa University. In 2023, he was recipient of the Young Artist Award in conjunction with the Strand International Festival of Song.
Sam has previously been a member of the chorus with companies including Glyndebourne Festival Opera/Tour and English National Opera. He will be making his debut with Longborough Festival Opera this summer as an Emerging Artist, in the role of Sergeant in their production of La bohème. Previous roles include the title role in Mozart’s Don Giovanni (Hurn Court Opera); Customs Officer cover in La bohème (Glyndebourne Tour); Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro (Heritage Opera); Guglielmo in Così fan tutte (St Bartholomew's Orchestra; Flat Pack Music); Le Comte Ludorf in La Nonne Sanglante (Gothic Opera, UK premiere, Off-West End Awards winner, Best Opera production 2022); Papageno in The Magic Flute, Captain Corcoran in HMS Pinafore, Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance, Mikado in The Mikado (Opera Anywhere, UK tour); Marcello cover in La bohème, Moralès in Carmen (Oxford Opera); Leporello in Don Giovanni (Rogue Opera);
Sam has appeared as a soloist in concerts across the UK and Europe. In 2019, he performed as part of Downton Abbey Live with the Chamber Orchestra of London at Highclere Castle, and again with the City Lights Symphony Orchestra at KKL Luzern, Switzerland. Other solo concert and oratorio credits include Orff’s Carmina Burana; Puccini’s Messa di Gloria, Brahms’s Ein Deutsches Requiem; Handel’s Messiah; Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Opera in the City Festival); Jesus in Bach’s St John’s Passion; Haman in Handel’s Esther.
https://www.samyoungbaritone.com/
BEHIND THE SCENES
Our tour is supported by a great team operating behind the scenes and in the leadup to our shows
TOUR CREW
Lauren Carr
Tamasin Cook
Scott Haxton
Marvin Fotso
François-Xavier Lafleur
Megan McArthur
TOUR AUDIO ENGINEERS
Bronwen Harding
Kevin Harding
Bobbie-Jean Henning
Assistant Director
Bobbie-Jean Henning is a performer, writer and director who works across theatre and screen. After graduating from WAAPA in Australia, she created two solo shows, Tales of a Time Travelling Songstress and All Hail Me: King Henry VIII which she performed nationally. With Alex Keddie she co-created the Screen Australia funded comedy, The Power of the Dream, for which they were nominated for an AWGIE. They were also recipients of ABC’s Fresh Start Fund to develop Spread Your Wings, a heart-warming comedy about a community musical theatre society. Currently, she is developing a queer, Australian gothic play with support from the City of Melbourne.
Bobbie-Jean has directed and dramaturged new works Udderly Fabulous for the Adelaide Fringe Festival, winning Best Newcomer Award, and MidLife for the Sydney Fringe, nominated for Best in Cabaret Award. She was the 2022 recipient of WAAPA’s Professional Mentorship for Directing and assistant directed Assassins at WAAPA. She was then invited to assistant direct Watch This, an all-female reimagining of A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum. She script edited and directed the short film, You, Me & Him which is set to debut in Poland at the LGBT+ Film Festival. She directed Beyond the Break in Belvoir Theatre’s 25a Season in 2023.
She is a founding member of Edgeware Forum Theatre Company and has been involved in a variety of developments for new works with Melbourne Theatre Company, Bondi Feast’s 24 Hour Play Party, Kings Cross Theatre, Griffin Theatre’s Scratch Night and The Lysicrates Prize.
Bobbie-Jean loves to collaborate and her work features a sense of theatricality, charm, feminism and hope.
bobbiejeanhenning.com
COSTUME DESIGNER AND MAKER
Hilary Stephens
WITH THANKS TO
Joanna Butterwick | Artist Accommodation
Fh Space, Forest Hill | Rehearsal Space
Sian Timmermans and Ed Fryer | The Team at Fuller’s