DIRECTOR

Ruth is an international opera director who specialises in adapting opera for unusual places and spaces. Recently, her concert staging of Britten’s Gloriana at the London Coliseum received 5 stars in the Guardian, and Opera magazine described it as “an exemplary semi-staging, meticulously rehearsed in detail and drama”. Her recent revival of Peter Konwitschny’s La Traviata, also for English National Opera, was similarly well received by the national press. Upcoming productions include a new commission, The Sandman and the Dew Fairy for the Royal Opera, and a semi-staged Edgar for Opera Holland Park. Alongside her work for Outland Opera, Ruth is the stage director for Adam Dickson’s London-based artistic collective, Salon Opera. She has a background working for educational charities, including for the Royal Opera House’s Learning and Participation Department, and has a keen interest in engaging new audiences with classical music.

COMPOSER

Tom Floyd is a composer, conductor and producer who works in a variety of music environments. Most associated with writing for voice and the stage, Tom’s recent opera commissions include Veritable Michael (Shadow Opera), The Day Dawns (Royal Opera House Youth Opera Company), and Snow (The Opera Story), described by The Guardian as “strong and absorbing”. Beyond opera, Tom’s major commissions include Ulalume (St John’s Hyde Park, English Heritage Lottery), an organ concerto written for the internationally renowned organist, James O’Donnell. As a conductor Tom has led projects with the Britten Sinfonia, Britten Sinfonia Academy, Into Opera, Royal Opera House Youth Opera Company, and Shadow Opera. He is also the Musical Director of the Royal Greenwich and Blackheath Halls Youth Choir. Tom works extensively in music education, leading the Royal Opera House’s engagement work in opera.

WRITER

Anna has lived, walked and swum in Dorset for twenty years, absorbing its history and stories, observing its landscape and nature. Studying early Celtic literature at Cambridge enhanced a fascination with myth, legend and oral tradition and she has taken part in live storytelling events with among others Narativ and Bridport Women’s Creative Collective. She has performed her poetry live and it has been published by Dark Mountain. At 18 (as Anna Wheatley) she was a winner of the Observer/Royal Court Young Writers’ Festival - in which her play Covehithe was performed. She went on to have 11 plays produced including Water and the Source (BBC radio), Tasting of Earth (directed by Sam Mendes), and Water Hunters, a blend of music, dance and spoken word. Much of her work is informed by the climate crisis and the loss of nature and species. She is an environmental activist and speaker/educator for Extinction Rebellion. She is currently working on a book, Outshift, a fusion of memoir and nature writing.

DESIGNER

Originally from Derbyshire, Jennifer Gregory is a London based designer. After graduating from Wimbledon College of Art and receiving the Ann Holloway Prize for Costume Design she has worked on a wide range of projects including dance, musical theatre and opera. Her recent credits include: ‘Acis and Galatea’ and ‘Dido and Aeneas’ for Waterperry Opera this past summer, design assistant on Welsh National Opera’s ‘Magic Flute’ this spring and design associate for ‘Once Upon a One More Time’ on Broadway. Next year she is designing the world premiere of John Joubert’s opera of ‘Jane Eyre’ for Green Opera.

CONNIE

Coco is 12 and following an early run of nursery and school nativity successes, she is now finding her feet as a more mature performer. Credits include ‘Cendrillon’ in A Kiss for Cinderella with the National Youth Music Theatre and ‘Prospero’ in The Tempest for Shakespeare Schools Festival. Coco has been learning piano for three years, and was promised a puppy when she reached Grade 8. Peggy, a Havanese from Cheselbourne will be coming to live with us in January 2024.

THE RAMBLING COMBER

Tim Laycock is a folk musician, actor and storyteller with a particular interest in the works of Thomas Hardy, William Barnes and all things Dorset. He has worked at National Theatre and at the RSC, and was formerly a member of The New Scorpion Band and the Melstock Band. This year Tim was musical director for Spinning the Moon, the seventh Dorchester Community Play and SALT, the Poole community play at the Lighthouse Arts Centre. He is currently directing Six Men of Dorset [ the Tolpuddle Play] for the New Hardy Players.

SALLY

Welsh soprano Alys Mererid Roberts’s roles include Chocholka/The Cunning Little Vixen, Ethel/ Pirates of Penzance, Tweedledee/Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Tiny Tim/A Christmas Carol (Opera Holland Park); The Princess/Puss in Boots, Polly Peachum/The Beggar’s Opera (Mid Wales Opera); Yum Yum/ The Mikado and Josephine/H.M.S. Pinafore (Charles Court Opera); Euridice/Orphée aux enfers, Amore & Damigella/L’incoronazione di Poppea (Royal Academy Opera). Alys created the role of Muse in the opera-film Hedd Wyn by Stephen McNeff with Welsh National Opera, which has recently been released on CD by Tŷ Cerdd Records. Recently, she appeared as Flora in a critically acclaimed new film of The Turn of the Screw, released on DVD by Chandos, as the title role in Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Golden Cockerel for English Touring Opera, Gretel/Hänsel und Gretel, and the role of Rachel in one of three new monologues as part of the Dunedin Consort’s Out of Her Mouth project.

ST CATHERINE

Nathan Mercieca’s operatic roles include cover Peisander, Monteverdi The Return of Ulysses (ROH); “JL”, Handel Messiah (Merry Opera); Arsamene, Cavalli Xerse (Ensemble OrQuesta/Grimeborn); and Sorceress/Spirit, Purcell Dido and Aeneas (Armonico). A keen exponent of contemporary opera, he originated all male roles in Elton/Palmer These Wondering Stones (Barbican Centre/Museum of London); CJ, Warboy & Stewart Fierce Love (Tête-à–Tête); Daryl/the Devil, Muelas+Ward A&E (Tête-à–Tête); Jack, Bowler and Mattey Little England; and workshopped Yoël in Na’ama Zisser MAMZER/Bastard (ROH). He has appeared as a soloist at Wigmore Hall, the Aldeburgh Festival, St John’s Smith Square, LSO St Luke’s, and the London Handel Festival, as well as at the Concertgebouw Bruges and the Thüringer Bachwochen. Much in demand as an ensemble singer, he sings with Solomon’s Knot, the Irish Baroque Orchestra, Sestina, Siglo de Oro, and le Concert d’Astrée.