MEET THE CAST
Bronwen Stephens-Harding
Founder, Director and Scriptwriter
Mezzo-Soprano
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 in 2021, Bronwen created, wrote the English libretto and directed a new production 'A Modern Opera Love Story' for Fuller’s Opera in the Garden. The association with Fuller's has continued with two further very successful summer tours, presenting an exciting and engaging gala program in a wide variety of pub gardens.
For the 2024 summer tour of Carmen Re-imagined, Bronwen wrote the English dialogue, directed and sang the title role of Carmen.
It is a great pleasure to join with pub audiences once again to present Rogue Opera's third Christmas show.
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 shows.
In 2024, his musical direction has helped create a stunning touring production of Rogue Opera's Carmen Re-imagined and he brings his talents once again to the company's third Christmas spectacular.
Claire Filer
Soprano
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.
Claire's most recent performance with Rogue Opera was as Micaëla and Frasquita in the 2024 summer tour of Carmen Re-imagined.
David Powton
Tenor
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.
David's most recent performance with Rogue Opera was as Don José in the 2024 summer tour of Carmen Re-imagined.
Sam Young
Baritone
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.
Sam's most recent performance with Rogue Opera was as Captain Moralès, Dancaïre and Escamillo in the 2024 summer tour of Carmen Re-imagined.