Meet the Cast
Bronwen 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.
2025 saw the debut of Bronwen’s second Re-imagined work, in which she has set Mozart’s Così fan tutte in modern New York, where a desire for celebrity, status and money provides the background for the opera’s convoluted story of love, deceit and betrayal. In this production, Bronwen sang the role of Dorabella.
2026 is shaping up to be another busy year for Rogue Opera, with a number of gala performances, a revival of Carmen Re-imagined and the founding of the outreach arm of the company, Rogue Opera Outreach.
Bobbie-Jean Henning
Director and Scriptwriter
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 Re-imagined (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), Schrödingers 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.
Blanca Graciá Rodríguez
Music Director
Pianist
Spanish répétiteur Blanca Graciá Rodríguez has always been passionate about vocal repertoire. She graduated with honours from the Master’s programme in Collaborative Piano at the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp, where she studied with Jeanne-Minette Cilliers. She was a member of the 2023–24 Young Artist Programme at the National Opera Studio in London and most recently served as a Trainee Répétiteur for the 2025–26 season at the English National Opera.
Rodríguez has worked on numerous opera productions, including Ernani and Le nozze di Figaro with Opera Ballet Vlaanderen under the batons of Julia Jones and Marie Jacquot respectively. She has collaborated with conductors including Clelia Cafiero, Yi-Chen Li, Matthew Kofi Waldren and Kerem Hasan.
Alongside her operatic work, she is an active performer of chamber music and art song, having participated at festivals such as the Oxford Lieder Festival Young Artist Programme and SongEasel in London. She was a finalist in the II Certamen Internacional de Lied y Canción (Spain, 2018), the Galantes Talanti Competition (Latvia, 2022) and the Ashburnham English Song Awards(2025), and received third prize at the International Music Competition France in 2022.
Kathryn Forrest
Soprano
Soprano Kathryn Forrest studied at the David Seligman Opera School at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (RWCMD). She holds a distinction from their MMus Vocal Performance course and the Mabel Linwood Christopher Award. Her undergraduate training was completed at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Kathryn is a yoga enthusiast with a love for swimming and great coffee.
Performance Credits include:
Hurn Court Opera Chorus and cover Violetta, La Traviata, Verdi conducted by Lynton Atkinson
Grange Park Opera Chorus 2025, Mazeppa, Tchaikovsky conducted by Mark Shanahan
Grange Park Opera Chorus 2025, Simon Boccanegra, conducted by Gianluca Marciano
Grange Park Opera Chorus 2025, World premiere of Taj Mahal composed by Nishat Kha, conducted by George Jackson
Opera Blurgh lead soprano, Chickenshed Theatre Tales from the Shed and National Opera Studio
Donna Elvira, RWCMD, Cardiff Wales, conducted by James Southall
Gala Soloist with WNO Orchestra conducted by Maestro Xu Shanghai Opera (RWCMD)
Helena, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (RWCMD), Nella Gianni Schicchi, (RWCMD)
Cover Sita, Le Roi de Lahore, (Dorset Opera)
Dorothee, Cendrillion (Fife Opera).
Upcoming:
Kathryn is delighted to be a part of the Rogue Opera family, and she is excited to perform the role of Roselinde in Die Fledermaus with the Lyric Opera Studio in Weimar in August 2026.
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.
Phoebe Smith
Soprano
British soprano Phoebe Smith holds a Master of Arts with Distinction from The Royal Academy of Music (under the tutelage of Giles Underwood), to which she won a scholarship after growing up in Yorkshire.
In 2025 Phoebe sang the eponymous role in Princess Ida with The National Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company, where she was praised for her “purity of voice and amazing breath control” (Seen and Heard). She also covered the role of Adele in Die Fledermaus at The Grange Festival, as well as numerous engagements on the concert and recital platform.
Other recent operatic highlights include being an Opera Prelude Young Artist 2025. In the 2026 English Touring Opera Spring tour of Pagliacci and The Gondoliers, she covered the role of Gianetta and sang the role of Giulia. Other ETO engagements include The Snowmaiden and performing the role of Milly in The Wellies – an opera for Learning Disabled children on tour and at The Royal Opera House for their Family Sunday series.
She has performed numerous roles for the National Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company, including Josephine (HMS Pinafore), Edith (The Pirates of Penzance) and Kate (The Yeomen of the Guard). Other engagements include Associate Artist with Nevill Holt Opera, Barbarina (Le nozze di Figaro) with Hampstead Garden Opera and Pamina (The Magic Flute) with The Little Opera Group.
Phoebe is excited to reprise the role of Josephine in HMS Pinafore with The National Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company this summer. Saving Violetta is Phoebe’s first appearance with Rogue Opera.
Stephen Whitford
Baritone
Stephen Whitford is a dynamic baritone who excels in comic roles and contemporary music. He was a prize-winner in the Hurn Court Singer of the Year, Patricia Routledge Prize and Courtney Kenny Award, and a finalist/semi-finalist in the Wigmore Hall/Bollinger International Song Competition, the Royal Overseas League Competition, the John Kerr Award and the Charles Wood Song Competition. He was a Young Artist with Britten-Pears and Opera Prelude. He has performed on BBC Radio and TV and appeared on some fifteen CD releases.
Recent operatic highlights include Tarquinius in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia (Hampstead Garden Opera), Dandini in Rossini’s La Cenerentola (Hurn Court Opera) and Hawkins “Hawk” Fuller in the European premiere of Gregory Spears’ Fellow Travelers (UCOpera). He has appeared with the Grange Festival, Longborough Festival Opera, Hurn Court Opera, Opera Cameratina, Gothic Opera and Hampstead Garden Opera. Stephen has a special affinity for art song, with a busy programme of recitals across the country. He was invited by Gweneth Ann Rand and Simon Lepper to join them in a recital of French Song in the Aldeburgh Festival and sang a concert of Brahms and Schumann in Vienna’s Musikverein. On the oratorio platform, key repertoire includes Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Handel’s Messiah, Orff’s Carmina Burana and Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem. Saving Violetta is Stephen’s first tour with Rogue Opera.
Behind the Scenes
Our tour is supported by a great team operating behind the scenes and in the leadup to our shows
AUDIO ENGINEER
François-Xavier LaFleur
STAGE CREW
Philip Conlon
Kit Kenneth
TRANSLATIONS AND WEBSITE
Hilary Stephens
PRODUCTION AND FINANCE
Kevin Harding
WITH THANKS TO
Joanna Butterwick – Artist Accommodation
SDH Space, Forest Hill – Rehearsal Space
Cristina Schek – Photography
The Team at Fuller’s – Sian Timmermans