MEET THE CAST
Bronwen Stephens-Harding
Founder, Director and Scriptwriter
Mezzo-Soprano - Dorabella
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.
Bobbie-Jean Henning
Director
Bobbie-Jean Henning(She/Her) is a writer/director working across stage and screen. Directing credits include staff director on Riders To The Sea (Opera UpClose - UK Tour), associate director for Carmen Reimagined (Rogue Opera - UK Tour) and assistant director on musicals Assassins (WAAPA) and A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum (Watch This). She's directed new work including Unbelievable (Edinburgh Fringe), Schrodingers Lesbians (The Glitch), Udderly Fabulous (Adelaide Fringe), MidLife (Sydney Fringe) and Beyond The Break (Belvoir St Theatre).
She was the 2022 recipient of WAAPA's Professional Mentorship for Directing and directed the short film, You, Me & Him which has been shown at film festivals internationally.
As a writer her solo shows have toured Australia and her online comedy series The Power of The Dream was nominated for an AWGIE. She was a recipient of ABC's Fresh Start Fund, a Martin Lysicrates Playwright Finalist and shortlisted for Red Stitch's Fresh Ink Award.
Philip Clieve
Tenor
Ferrando
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
Don Alfonso
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
Fiordilidgi
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
Caroline Kennedy
Soprano
Despina
Soprano, Caroline Kennedy was awarded a BA Hons in French and Drama from The University of Kent and graduated from The RCS Opera School.
She has sung and covered roles with companies such as ENO, Scottish Opera, Mid Wales Opera, Nevill Holt Opera, Grange Park Opera, Opera Holland Park, Buxton Opera, Bampton Classical Opera, Tête à Tête and Dorset Opera.
She has won critical acclaim singing Despina Cosi fan tutte, Musetta La Bohème The Kings Head Theatre; Nannetta Falstaff at Wilton’s Music Hall; Frasquita Carmen for both Dartmoor Prison Project and Oxford Opera; Eurydice Orpheus and Eurydice at the Bridewell Theatre; Josephine HMS Pinafore for The Gilbert& Sullivan International Opera Festival, Tobias Ragg/ Mrs Oakley Sweeney Todd The Lowry/ Theatre Royal Bath; and Adriana The boys from Syracuse Upstairs at the Gatehouse.
Caroline has written a cabaret show, Bumbleina, about the joys of online dating which she has performed at the Bridewell Theatre, The Chelsea Theatre, The Playground Theatre and Celebrate Voice.
She has worked with several dementia charities including Lost Chord, Care UK, Constella Music and Opera Helps. She currently leads weekly and monthly Singing for the Mind groups for people living with dementia and their carers.
Future engagements include The Lost Music of Auschwitz Bloomsbury Theatre and a revival of Fireball/ Alexis The Tales of Offenbach with Opera Della Luna in Newcastle.
Despina is Caroline's debut role with Rogue Opera.
Henry Wright
Baritone
Guglielmo
Australian baritone Henry Wright is a graduate of the Royal College of Music, where he was a Maria Björnson Memorial Fund Award Holder supported by the Audrey Sacher Award. During his studies he was also a Drake Calleja Trust Scholar. Recently, Henry performed the role of Dandini in La Cenerentola with Hamsptead Garden Opera. His other operatic roles include Speaker/2nd Armoured Man in The Magic Flute with Wild Arts, Der Steuermann in Tristan und Isolde with London Opera Company, First Priest in Die Zauberflöte with Royal College of Music Opera Studio, Pandolfe in Cendrillon and Nardo in La finta giardiniera, both with the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and Papageno in Die Zauberflöte with Lyric Opera Studio Weimar. He has appeared as a soloist in Handel’s Messiah with Nevill Holt Opera, Rossini’s Stabat Mater with Willoughby Symphony Orchestra and Bernstein’s Mass with the Sydney Conservatorium of Music at the Sydney Opera House.