Creative Associates
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Jane Bruce
Jane worked at Longborough Festival Opera in the seasons 2007-11. With Barefoot Opera, she worked on ‘Clash’ for the 950th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings and L’Elisir d’Amore. She also paints, mostly portraits, and has exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery as part of the National Portrait Prize.
Since 2001, Jane has worked with Radiator Arts, both as artist and project manager, creating large-scale theatrical performances in England and France. Typically, these are experimental in nature and take place in unusual sites.
Jane has also worked with MSL Projects on several new media projects since 2013.
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Polly Graham
Polly was nominated in the category of Best Newcomer at the 2017 International Opera Awards. She read English Literature at Trinity College, Dublin, before doing an MA in Text and Performance at RADA. She spent two years as Genesis Assistant Director at Welsh National Opera, where she was mentored by David Pountney and assisted Mariusz Trelinski, David Pountney, Martin Constantine, Pierre Audi and Alessandro Talevi. Her directing work includes Le Vin Herbé (WNO) nominated for Best Achievement in Opera at the UK Theatre Awards, A Christmas Carol (Orchestra Haydn Opera 20.21 and WNO), Simplicius Simplicissimus (Independent Opera), Kommilitonen! winner of Best Opera at the Welsh Theatre Awards, and Unheard Voices: CREW (both at WNO), Mr Punch and Me (Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama), Nighthawks (Yellow Earth Theatre), and Alcina (Barefoot Opera).
Polly was the recipient of an INDEPENDENT OPERA Director Fellowship 2016.
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Monique Klongtruadroke
Monique is a coloratura soprano of Italian/Thai descent. A top graduate in Opera Singing from the Venice Conservatoire in Italy, she has a singing career spanning four continents.
She was invited to sing for the King of Thailand, and in several Thai Royal Command Performances. Praised by OPERA (UK) magazine for singing “her two showpiece arias with apparently effortless ease” as Queen of the Night in Mozart’s Magic Flute, she also created leading roles in various opera World Premieres in Australia and Thailand.
In addition to being Finalist of the Future Classic Women Award 2020 (opera category), she is also active as a classical crossover soprano, with her own singles and recording collaborations with various artists to be released shortly.
With extensive teaching experience at Thailand’s top universities in Classical Voice and Italian Diction, and as Italian Language Coach for various opera companies including Longborough Festival Opera, Monique has recently been appointed as Professor at the London Performing Academy of Music (LPMAM) in both the Opera and Crossover Departments.
Monique is a strong supporter of the Barefoot Opera pedagogy, collaborating regularly both as a performer and as Italian Language coach. After the successful Barber of Seville Tour in 2019 in which she sang the soprano version role of Rosina, she rejoined the Barefoot team as Italian Language coach and libretto translator for the production of Orfeo ed Euridice / Zanetto.
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Lucy Mulgan
Lucy Mulgan joined Barefoot Opera in 2014 as a double bassist and is part of the creative team for Bloom Britannia as a workshop leader and improviser.
In 2018 Lucy was commissioned by Jenny Miller to compose Red! an interactive opera for 8 – 10 year olds which will be premiered in four primary schools in Hastings in early 2020.
Lucy plays in a variety of music styles from opera to pop, from big band jazz to the avant garde. She has a PhD in Composition (University of York, UK 2003) and a Jazz Performance Diploma (Wellington Conservatorium of Music, NZ 1992).
Her music has been performed by the BBC Philharmonic, NZSO, Northern Sinfonia, juice vocal ensemble, London Gay Men’s Chorus and broadcast on BBC World (TV), BBC Radio 3 & 4, Radio NZ and Concert FM (NZ).
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Evelyn Nallen
Recorder player Evelyn Nallen has appeared on BBC TV and BBC Radios 1, 2, 3, and 4. Together with harpsichordist David Gordon, she formed the innovative early music/jazz group Respectable Groove their take on Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas integrates improvisation with written compositions. (‘If you like ground-breaking, cage-rattling recordings. this is for you.’ Early Music Today).
Evelyn devised a programme with Respectable Groove and the French baroque dancer Gilles Poirier called Dido’s Got the Blues (‘The whole performance was utterly compelling, a tour de force of baroque dance and jazz music’,Newbury Festival). For The Loves of Mars & Venus Evelyn studied the existing incidental music from the late 17th and early 18th century London stage and from this considerable repertoire, recreated the ballet score which underpins the play.
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Lysanne van Overbeek
Lysanne moved to the UK in 2010 to train in Musical Theatre at Trinity Laban, Conservatoire of Music and Dance. Since graduating Lysanne has been performing and directing all over Europe. Lysanne’s directing credits include The Tales of Hoffmann (Opera Integra), Rigoletto (Brent Opera), I Capuleti e I Montecchi (The Arcola Theatre), The Magic Flute (Opera Integra), Lady Of Stavoren (the Pond Productions), A Tune of Two Muses (The Arcola), 2022 (The Bunker Theatre), Pedestal (Hidden Theatre Company), Overcast (The Vaults), A Night Of Theatre, Classics for Parkinson’s, Music for Parkinson’s (Limitless PD)
As assistant director, her credits include: Il Barbiere Di Siviglia (Barefoot Opera), Das Rheingold (The Arcola), Anna Bolena (Longborough Festival Opera), Street Scene (Koln Opera), Carmen (UK tour, Barefoot Opera), The Rape Of Lucretia (The Arcola Theatre), Il Trionfo Del Tempo E Del Disinganno (Die Alte Munze Berlin, Kiez Oper), Measure for Measure (Bath Spa University), Edward II (Lazarus Theatre Company), Hansel & Gretel (Celebrate Voice), The Cunning Little Vixen (The Arcola), Max the Brave (Britten Sinfonia), Tosca (Celebrate Voice), Alcina (Longborough Festival Opera)
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Nicola Rose
Born in London into a musical family, Nicola began her musical training as one of the founding girl choristers at Salisbury Cathedral. She is a graduate of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and she continued working there as a Junior Fellow before completing her studies at the National Opera Studio in London.
As a repetiteur, Nicola has worked with Welsh National Opera, Music Theatre Wales and Barefoot Opera as well as with the education and community departments of The Royal Opera House, Garsington Opera, English National Opera and Opera Holland Park.
Nicola recently received notable critical acclaim for her work as music director of Welsh National Opera’s Rhondda Rips it up! – a newly commissioned work by Elena Langer about the suffragette movement in Wales.
Nicola has a wealth of experience in extending performances outside the mainstream theatres and concert halls, as an alumna of Yehudi Menuhin’s Live Music Now scheme, a current member of Lost Chord and a pianist and conductor of the Forget-me-not Chorus. She has worked as a vocal coach and repetiteur on the Italian Opera Summer School in Southern Italy, at Zurich Opera Studio and at the Indemini Music Festival in Switzerland. She is currently a pianist and vocal coach at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and enjoys working throughout the UK with instrumentalists and singers alike.
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Andrew Sparling
Clarinettist Andrew Sparling is a member of the new music group Lontano, and has played as guest in many others including the London Sinfonietta at the opening of Tate Modern and in Carnegie Hall. He played for Almeida Opera for 14 years, and also for The Opera Group, on tour and in several departments of Selfridge’s. On classical and baroque period instruments he has been guest-principal of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment at Glyndebourne and Covent Garden, and on the BBC TV series “The Genius of Mozart” in which he also acted the role of Mozart’s friend and fellow Freemason Anton Stadler.
Previously for Barefoot Opera he has sung Morales / Zuniga, Dr Dulcamara, Schaunard, and Giove in La Calisto; for other companies roles include Alfio / Tonio, Don Alfonso, Geronte, Talbot, Sir Thomas Bertram and Gianni Schicchi.
[Credit for photo: Lester Barnes]
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Michael Spenceley
Michael trained at the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance, where he won a Wayne Sleep scholarship.
As Movement Director, Michael’s credits include La Forza Del Destino (Teatro Nacional de Sao Carlos), I Capuleti E I Montecchi (The Arcola Theatre), Un Ballo in Maschera, La Forza Del Destino (WNO), Max The Brave (Britten Sinfonia), Simplicius Simplicissimus (Independent Opera), Anna Bolena, Ariadne auf Naxos, Alcina, Tannhauser and Xerxes (Longborough Festival Opera), Lady of Stavoren (Over the Pond Productions), Forbidden Love (London tour) and BBC’s Cash in the Attic. He was Dance Captain and part of the creative team for the opening of the Paralympic Games 2012.
As a dancer, Michael’s credits include We had a black dog (Red Oak Theatre), The Loves of Mars and Venus (Weaver Dance Company), La Serva Padrona (Barefoot Opera), Trapped (Experiential Theatre), The National Battle of Somme Commemoration (Somme 100), The Happiness, The Crutch (Karla Shacklock Dance Company), Mapping the Territory (Time Won’t Wait), Haining Dreaming, The Great Train Dance, 5 Soldiers (Rosie Kay Dance Company), Meeting Mr Book (Darren Ellis Dance), Close Distance (Helen Parlor Dance), Wings of Desire, Home (DanceXchange), Dear Body, Happy Together, Ducky Nights (Protein Dance Company)
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Chiara Vinci
Shortlisted in 2017 for Best Female Opera Singer by the Wales Theatre Awards, French-italian Soprano Chiara Vinci’s career highlights include singing the role of Sophie Scholl in Polly Graham’s award-winning production of Kommilitonen! by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. Chiara received praise in The Guardian for her performance with the Welsh National Youth Opera. ” It was Chiara Vinci’s Sophie that stood out, incredibly moving, naturally poised and with a lovely bloom to the voice”.
Chiara recently made her West End debut in the world premiere of TriOperas at The Peacock Theatre, Sadler’s Wells. Her recent roles include Gretel/Hänsel und Gretel; Carolina/Il Matrimonio Segreto; (Pop Up Opera); Bubikopf/Der Kaiser von Atlantis (Loud Crowd); Flora/The Turn of the Screw (Aylesbury Opera); Adina/L’Elisir d’amore (WOW Opera); Serpina/La Serva Padrona (Barefoot Opera); Psyche & Sister (Hanbury & Groves) at Tête à Tête Opera Festival; Unsung Heroes of The Planet at Green Man Festival (Gestalt Arts).
Chiara trained at the Rambert School and the Actors Temple before training in classical singing with Jenny Miller and working intensively with the Barefoot Opera coaches. Chiara’s multidisciplinary background in the arts has steered her career towards operas that focus on devising and creating new roles. Chiara’s future engagements include singing the role of Calisto in La Calisto with the Longborough Festival Opera, touring as Galatea in The Loves of Pygmalion with The Weaver Ensemble and making her Grimeborn Festival debut cast as Giulietta in Bellini’s I Capuleti e I Montecchi.
