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Spring Opera Showcase
Sat 14 May, 7pm

There is just one month to go until Clonter’s annual Spring Opera Showcase, which offers a rich variety of semi-staged opera scenes and arias, set into context, to entertain opera novices of all ages and seasoned opera lovers in equal measure. In 2020 we conducted this programme online, and last year it took place behind closed doors, so this will make this year’s showcase doubly special, and we hope that we can gather a goodly sized audience for these fine emerging artists.

Clonter is also delighted to be welcoming director Giles Havergal, CBE and conductor Natalie Murray Beale this year, with Satoshi Kubo returning as répétiteur and accompanist.

The Spring Opera Showcase is the end product of a week’s work, and this year, in addition to opening the masterclasses themselves to the general public on Thursday 12th May, the Spring Opera Showcase will include, as part of the performance, a demonstration, affording the audience an insight into how the numbers are rehearsed, with the singers, répétiteur, director and conductor.
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The Company

Lluis Calvet I Pey – Baritone

Lluis Calvet I Pey began his studies at the Conservatori Professional de Sabadell with singing teacher, Elisenda Cabero. Soon after, he was given the opportunity to participate in music projects as a soloist, such as Handel’s The Messiah, Cimarosa’s Il Convito, and Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro and Requiem. In 2017 he was awarded the Young Promises Scholarship by the Fundació de Música Ferrer-Salat to study a singing degree at the Conservatori Superior del Liceu with singing teacher Maria Dolors Aldea, vocal coach Marta Pujol, and chamber teacher Alan Branch. In 2019, Lluís participated in projects with the MA Opera course at the Conservatori Superior del Liceu, playing the role of Belcore in Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amor, under the stage direction of Paco Azorín. After this, Lluís participated as a soloist in Camille Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalilah at the Festival Internacional de Teatro Clásico de Mérida. Here, he shared the stage with Noah Stewart, Alejandro Roy, Maria José Montiel, Simón Orfila and David Menéndez, under the musical direction of Alvaro Albiach and stage direction of Paco Azorín. In September 2020, Lluís moved to Cardiff, Wales, to begin his final year undergraduate studies at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. He is currently studying with singing teacher Adrian Thompson, and vocal coach Nicki Rose. Lluís was awarded a scholarship to complete his MA in Advanced Opera at the RWCMD. He has recently been awarded a scholarship by Opera Fuoco Project in Paris, which will blend with his studies in Cardiff.
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Rachel Duckett – Soprano

Rachel is a British soprano based between Paris, Nice and London. She is currently a young artist at the Centre d’Art Lyrique de la Méditerranée in Nice, France and is looking forward to singing the role of The Elements in Sergio Monterisi and Magali Thomas’ world premier of the opera Babel at Opera de Nice Côte d’Azure this summer. Rachel’s previous roles include Beketaten (Akhnaten) at l’Opéra de Nice, La Fee (Cendrillon VIARDOT) Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflöte) in Theatre du Petit Monde, Paris; Adele (Die Fledermaus) in Wilton’s Music Hall; Elisetta (Il Matrimonio Segreto) at Jackson’s Lane Theatre (HGO). She has also understudied the roles of Violetta (La Traviata) and Mabel (Pirates of Penzance) during recent tours to Sicily (Teatro Garibaldi), and Saudi Arabia (KAUST Auditorium – Merry Opera) respectively. Rachel is a soprano member of the Philharmonia Chorus in London.

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Rhydian Jenkins – Tenor

Welsh Tenor Rhydian Jenkins is completing his final year on the MA Opera Course at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama’s David Seligman Opera School and is taught by Adrian Thompson and John Fisher. Rhydian is a recipient of the Sybil Tutton Opera Award, The Countess of Munster Musical Award and Musicians’ Company Award (David Goldman Award) as well as the 2019 Bryn Terfel Scholarship. Recent awards include winning the 2021 MOCSA Young Welsh Singer of the Year Competition. Rhydian has performed roles including Don Ottavio Don Giovanni, Count Almaviva Il barbiere di Siviglia, Basilio Le Nozze di Figaro, Peter Quint The Turn of the Screw and Anthony Hope Sweeney Todd, and performed in the 2021 RWCMD Opera Gala conducted by Maestro Carlo Rizzi and accompanied by the WNO Orchestra, performing scenes as Nemorino L’Elisir d’Amore, Tom Rakewell The Rake’s Progress, Fenton Falstaff and Don Ramiro La Cenerentola. Upcoming engagements include performing as Alfred in RWCMD Summer Opera production of Die Fledermaus, and as Sergei in Welsh National Opera’s production of Cheryomushki in the Autumn.
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Hannah Morley – Mezzo-Soprano

Mezzo-Soprano Hannah Morley currently resides in Birmingham, where she is studying for a Masters degree in Vocal and Operatic Performance at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. Hannah studies under the vocal direction of Louise Crane and is generously supported by the Conservatoire with a scholarship. Prior to her studies in Birmingham, Hannah trained at the Morley Opera School, and at Bath Spa University where she gained her BA in Music. Full operatic roles include Madge Williams in Stephen Mcneff’s Banished, Miss. Forcible/Other Miss. Forcible in Turnage’s Coraline (For RBC), Dorcas in Arne’s Thomas and Sally (Bath International Festival), The Sorceress Dido and Aeneas, Juno Orpheus in the Underworld, and Marchellina The Marriage of Figaro (Bath Spa Opera). Hannah looks forward to portraying the role of Croûte-au-pot in RBC’s summer opera double bill, of Offenbach’s Mesdames de la Halle and Charpentier’s Les arts florissants. For opera scenes excerpts, Hannah has sung Serafina Il Campanello (Morley Opera), Orfeo Orfeo ed Euridice (RBC), Angelina La Cenerentola (RBC and Morley Opera), Baba The Rake’s Progress, Hermia A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Lucretia The Rape of Lucretia, and La Maestra delle Novizie Suor Angelica all for RBC. Hannah recently won first prize in the Ashleyan Opera Prize and the Edward Brooks Lieder Prize and third prize in the Edward Brooks English Song Prize. Hannah and her duo partner Michael Rose have been selected as Leeds Lieder Young Artists for the 2022 Leeds Lieder Festival.

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Gabrielle Sargent – Soprano

Gabrielle Sargent is a Maltese soprano currently studying for a Master of Music at the Royal Northern College of Music, under the tutelage of Jane Irwin. In 2020 she graduated from the Edinburgh Napier University with a First Class Honours in Music and awarded the University Medal. This year Gabrielle will be singing in the chorus for a semi-staged production of Madama Butterfly at the Bridgewater Hall with Sir Mark Elder and will also be performing as the guest soloist with the York Guildhall Orchestra with Simon Wright. In 2021, Gabrielle was invited to sing alongside internationally renowned tenor Joseph Calleja. Gabrielle made her opera debut in 2016 as Papagena in Mozart’s The Magic Flute. She has since performed solo roles as La Comtesse Cherubin, Elisetta Il Matrimonio Segreto, Despina Così fan tutte, Béatrice Béatrice et Bénédict (RNCM), Belinda Dido and Aeneas (ENU), Fairy Spirit Cendrillon (Fife Opera) and covered Tatyana Eugene Onegin (ESO). She has also performed as a soloist in an RNCM semi-staged production of Purcell’s The Fairy Queen.
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Giles Havergal – Director

Giles was a Director of the Citizens’ Theatre, Glasgow with Philip Prowse and Robert David MacDonald. He directed and acted with the Citizen’s Company. He also adapted many novels for the theatre and his version of Graham Greene’s TRAVELS WITH MY AUNT won an Olivier Award. He played his adaptation of Thomas Mann’s DEATH IN VENICE in Glasgow, New York and San Francisco. He has directed opera for among other companies Opera North, Welsh National Opera, Scottish Opera, Buxton Festival, Wexford Festival, Vancouver, Minneapolis, Manheim. He has worked regularly at RADA, National Opera Studio, Royal Conservatiore of Scotland, American Conservatory Theatre, San Francisco and with the Adler Fellows at San Francisco Opera.

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Natalie Murray Beale – Music Director

Natalie’s work encompasses opera, concert, and film and video game scores. She has been at the helm of several world premieres and has developed a reputation for her creative leadership. Natalie has performed as Guest Conductor with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Beethoven Orchester Bonn, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Malta Philharmonic, Britten Sinfonia, BBC Concert Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa, Presidential Orchestra of Turkey, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Symphony Nova Scotia, the Guildhall School Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra of London. She has also worked with the orchestra of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Luxembourg Philharmonic, the Royal Swedish Opera and Bergen Philharmonic.

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Satoshi Kubo – Répétiteur

Japanese-born pianist Satoshi Kubo began his initial training in Oita, Japan. He is a distinguished graduate of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris, studying with Itamar Golan, Jeff Cohen and Roger Muraro. He also discovered a passion for chamber music at the Festival Pablo Casals in Prades, where he worked as official class accompanist of its International Academy for several years. Kubo has been awarded numerous prizes, including the Prix de Duo Chant-Piano and the Rainier III de Monaco at the 6th Concours International de Chant-Piano Nadia et Lili Boulanger along with soprano Raquel Camarinha; and the Grand Prix at the Forum Musical International de Normandie, along with cellist Hee-Young Lim. Now based in London, Kubo works as a freelance pianist and opera répétiteur. He was a 2017-18 Young Artist at the National Opera Studio in London, generously supported by the Nomura Foundation during that time. He regularly collaborates with singers and works internationally for major and independent opera companies, including the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, the Royal Opera House, The Opera Story, and New Sussex Opera. Since 2018, he has worked as coach for the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme, Royal Opera House. His most recent work is researching the Takuboku songbook composed by Yasuji Kiyose, and the use of the Japanese language in art song performance.
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Refund Policy

With the continuing, and fluctuating, pandemic situation, Clonter would like to reassure bookers that should you need to cancel due to Covid, a full refund will be offered.
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Drink Arrangements

May we also take this opportunity to remind you that starting in May, the bar will be under new management, and all drink consumed inside the premises must be purchased from the bar.
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