Clonter’s 2017 Designer in the Spotlight
CLIVE TIMMS – MUSICAL DIRECTOR/COACH
Clive Timms studied at Birmingham University and the London Opera Centre. He joined the music staff of ENO after a season with WNO and was subsequently appointed Assistant Music Director of Opera North on the company’s inception in 1978. For these companies he conducted a large number of performances of a varied operatic repertoire. He retired from the Guidhall School of Music & Drama in 2012 after 22 years as Head of Opera Studies, where in 2007 he was awarded a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for his work in the Opera Department. He was responsible for many notable productions, often of unusual and stimulating repertoire, the majority of which he conducted, latterly Nicolai’s Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor and the European première of Ned Rorem’s Our Town – and he continues to coach aspiring singers at the Guildhall School. His association with Clonter dates back to 1989 but more recently he has conducted the productions of La cenerentola, Lucia di Lammermoor, Hansel and Gretel, Die Fledermaus, Faust, Così fan tutte. & La traviata.
STEPHEN MEDCALF – DIRECTOR
Director Stephen Medcalf’s productions include Le Nozze Di Figaro (Glyndebourne Festival/ DVD) Aida (Royal Albert Hall/ DVD) Pikovaya Dama (Teatro alla Scala) Manon Lescaut (Palau des Arts, Valencia/ Teatro Regio di Parma/Teatro di Bari), Falstaff (Teatro Farnese, Parma/ ROH Muscat/DVD) Die Zauberflöte (Teatro Regio di Parma/Teatro Lirico di Cagliari/DVD) Ariadne auf Naxos (Salzburg Festspielhaus). His international career has also taken him all over the world including Paris, Marseille, Melbourne, Brisbane, Bilbao, Bergen, Passau, Pisa, Palermo and Wexford. In 2005, he earned the coveted Premio Abbiati Italian critics’ Prize as Director of the Year and has won many other awards including the International Opera award for best opera rediscovery for Cristina Regina di Svezia at the Wexford festival 2013.
In the UK he has also directed for Opera North, and many productions for the Buxton Festival and Grange Park Opera. From 1991-1997 he was director of productions for English Touring Opera and from 1991-2004 he was the Resident Producer of the highly acclaimed Guildhall School of Music and Drama opera course.
NATE GIBSON – DESIGNER
Nate Gibson is designer for opera, theatre, and dance in the US and UK.
Graduated from Alfred University (NY) in Interdisciplinary Art, Nate then moved to the UK to complete the MA in Design for Performance at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (RWCMD). He has since been living and working primarily in London.