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, 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.
James Schouten
Tenor
Canadian-born tenor James Schouten is studying at the Alexander Gibson Opera School at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland under the tutelage of Stephen Robertson. James switched from high baritone to tenor in 2019 after graduating from the Royal College of Music. His performed operatic roles include: Don Jose Carmen (Opera in Oborne), Laca Jenufa (Fulham Opera), Isepo La Gioconda (Grange Park Opera), Eisenstein Die Fledermaus (Opera Gold), Parpignol La bohème (Opera UpClose), Starveling A Midsummer Nights’ Dream (RCMIOS), Bartolo Il barbiere di siviglia (PopUp Opera), Silvio I Pagliacci (Hampstead Garden Opera) and Harlekin Ariadne auf Naxos (Queens’ Opera).
Recent contemporary projects include Tony West Side Story, Animus/Pianist in Simone Spagnolo’s Even you, lights, cannot hear me (Opera in the City Festival), Nebuchadnezzar in Joseph Cabons’ To Himself, Alone, Jawad in Orlando Gough’s Weather The Storm (Garsington Opera/Rosetta Life), Scarpia/Musical Director/Keys Rock Tosca, and Jon/Composer/Musical Director of lockdown micro-opera Threshold for OperaVision’s 2020 competition Opera Harmony. Future roles include Prince Charmant Cendrillon (RCS Opera) and Idomeneo Idomeneo (RCS Opera). James is generously supported by ABRSM and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Trust.
Eleri Gwilym
Soprano
Welsh Soprano Eleri Gwilym graduated from Cardiff Law School before training at the Royal Academy of Music. Eleri has sung in the chorus of Trouble in Tahiti (Bloomsbury Opera), Hedd Wyn (WNO), Der Freischütz under the baton of Sir Mark Elder (OAE), May Night (RAO), The Threepenny Opera (RAO), Dido and Aeneas (Royal Academy Early Music) and in the world premiere of Wythnos yng Nghymru fydd (OpraCymru) as well as singing the roles of Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro (Opera Cocktail), First Witch in Macbeth, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni (OpraCymru) and Prima Cercatrice in Suor Angelica (Berlin Opera Academy).
Eleri has sung in the chorus at Buxton International Festival (Eugene Onegin) where she also covered the role of Papira in Lucio Papirio Dittatore and more recently in the Chorus of Opera Holland Park (La Traviata, Carmen, Hänsel und Gretel, Rigoletto). Upcoming roles include Queen of the Night at Rhosygilwen and featuring in the Opera-Movie Un nos Ola Leuad (OpraCymru/Channel 4/S4C) which will be released next year.
Nick Dwyer
Baritone
Nick Dwyer is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Nick recently played the title role in Sweeney Todd, a Victorian Melodrama for Opera Della Luna at Wilton's, before which he performed as Pirate King in Pirates of Penzance for Celebrate Voice Festival, where he previously sang the title role in Le Nozze di Figaro.
Nick has 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 also works in the film industry, where he performed a role in Holby City (drunk Santa Claus) and as a body double for Batman.