OPERA GALA

Arguably the most popular event in Clonter’s annual operatic calendar, the Opera Gala consists of a variety of well-loved opera arias, duets and ensembles, and some musical theatre numbers, in a well-established operatic prelude to Christmas, and is ideal for anyone who has not been to an opera before, but would like to dip their toe in the water, before committing to a full-blown one. Each item is set into context, so no prior knowledge is necessary.

The Company

Beth Lewin – Soprano

Soprano Beth Lewin is a 2026 graduate of the David Seligman Opera School at RWCMD, and is a graduate of the Vocal Studies Masters programme at RWCMD with distinction, under the tutelage of Gail Pearson. Whilst at the RWCMD, Beth was supported by Help Musicians Sybil Tutton Award & the Eileen Price McWilliam Award, and was delighted to win the Dolan Evans Lord Rowe Beddoe Prize, be a finalist in the Janet Price Opera Prize and Adelina Patti Prize, and a semi-finalist in the Sir Ian Stoutzker competition. Previous operatic roles include Morgana (Alcina), Eurydice (Orpheus in the Underworld), Frasquita (Carmen) and Zerlina (Don Giovanni), and she will perform Adele in Die Fledermaus with Bath Opera in February. Beth is also active as a concert soloist, most recently performing in ‘A Gilbert & Sullivan Gala’ with the Orpheus Sinfonia, Brahms’ Requiem (Warwickshire Singers) and Carmina Burana (Leamington Spa Bach Choir).

Phoebe Smith – Soprano

British soprano Phoebe Smith is a Royal Academy of Music graduate and a 2025 Opera Prelude Young Artist. This year Phoebe has been on tour with English Touring Opera playing the role of Gianetta in The Gondoliers. She also has toured with Rouge Opera playing the role of Violetta. This summer Phoebe has been singing the role of Josephine in HMS Pinafore with The National Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company. Last year, with the same company, she sang the eponymous role in Princess Ida, where she was praised for her “purity of voice and amazing breath control” (Seen and Heard). Other recent operatic highlights include covering the role of Adele in Die Fledermaus at The Grange Festival. The 2024 Autumn tour of The Snowmaiden with English Touring Opera 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.

Matthew Curtis – Tenor

British tenor Matthew Curtis was recently a semi-finalist in the Premier Opera Foundation Competition in New York, a finalist in the Belvedere Singing Competition, and a semi-finalist in the Paris Opera Competition. He is a Young Artist with Opera Prelude (2025–2026). He has performed with Glyndebourne (Don Giovanni, L’elisir d’amore), Nevill Holt Opera (La Cenerentola), IF Opera (Dido and Aeneas, La Rondine), Opera North (Silent Night), and at the Buxton International Festival (Eugene Onegin). Recent roles include Mirko in La Montagne Noire with The Opera Makers in London, Lensky (Eugene Onegin) at the Reform Club and with Hampstead Garden Opera (Offie Award-winning production), Fintan O’Riordan in Luke Byrne’s Bloody Murder, and Bill (Flight) for the Royal College of Music Opera Studio. He has also appeared as Interpreter, Usher, Mr By-Ends, and Second Shepherd in The Pilgrim’s Progress with British Youth Opera. He trained at the Royal College of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music.

Daniel Ott – Baritone

Daniel Ott is an Australian-born baritone who holds a Graduate Diploma from the Royal Northern College of Music, as well as a Bachelor of Music (Performance) and a Master of Music Studies (Opera Performance) from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. His operatic repertoire includes notable roles such as Schaunard (La Bohème), Hérisson (L’étoile), Gianni Schicchi (Gianni Schicchi), Nerone (L’incoronazione di Poppea), Belcore (The Elixir of Love), Erster Priester in (Die Zauberflöte), Le Fauteuil in (L’enfant et les Sortileges), and Dick Dead Eye in (H.M.S. Pinafore). In 2025 Daniel joined Glyndebourne opera chorus in performances of (Parsifal) and (Il Barbiere di Siviglia). Daniel has also performed as a soloist at prominent events, including Woolworths’ Carols in the Domain and as a guest soloist at the Zhejiang Conservatorium of Music located in Hangzhou China. In recognition of his talent, Daniel was awarded the audience prize at the Clonter Opera Competition in 2025. In 2024, Daniel made his operatic debut with Opera Australia, performing the role of Schaunard in (La Bohème) performing across Australia during their National Tour. He was also selected as a semi-finalist in the prestigious IFAC Handa Australian Singing Competition in both 2022 and 2023. Daniel has recently relocated to the UK thanks to the generosity of the Waverley Fund, Leverhulme Arts Scholarship and Wagner Society of NSW.

Jordan Harding – Compère

British baritone Jordan Harding studied Music at the University of Manchester before completing a Master’s in Vocal Performance at the Royal Northern College of Music. He has since performed across the UK and Europe, including as a member of the Opera Studio at the Nationaltheater Mannheim, where his roles have included Moralès (Carmen), Barone Duophol (La Traviata), Aeneas (Dido and Aeneas), Gasparo (Rita), and Roman Cycowski in the theatre’s acclaimed production of Comedian Harmonists. In the UK, Jordan has appeared with companies including Clonter Opera, singing Papageno (The Magic Flute) and Mr. Gedge (Albert Herring). Alongside his work in opera, he is an active concert and recital singer with a particular passion for English song and the Great American Songbook. Jordan enjoys sharing his love of music and its history and is delighted to return to Clonter as compère for OperaFest. Later this year, he will make his debut at Theater Bonn before returning to Comedian Harmonists in Mannheim in 2027.

Robin Humphreys – Accompanist

Robin Humphreys is a graduate of the University of Birmingham and a holder of the prestigious Diploma in Professional Performance from the Royal Northern College of Music, where he studied piano accompaniment with David Lloyd. Appearing in concert for over 40 years, he enjoys a successful career as an accompanist and répétiteur (praised as “world-class” by Louise Flind for “Opera Today”), the breadth of his repertoire being reflected in television and radio broadcasts ranging from BBC Radio 3 to Emmerdale! A Principal Lecturer at the RNCM, Robin is a senior music coach within the School of Vocal Studies and Opera, for whom he was also chief répétiteur on the majority of college opera productions from the late 1990s until 2013. He has appeared with the Manchester Camerata in the world première of “A Feast of Fables” by Paul Reade, has been Musical Director for Feelgood Theatre Productions and, from 1990-2000, Opera & Concert Productions (Worldwide) Ltd with whom he toured throughout the Gulf, the Indian sub-continent and the Far East. Robin has a particularly close association with Clonter Opera Theatre in Cheshire, where he regularly works as Assistant Musical Director and Accompanist. For 35 years he was an accompanist member of the British & International Federation of Festivals.

Philip Sunderland – Music Director

Philip was born in Norwich and educated at the Cathedral School. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music and the National Opera Studio, Philip began his professional like as a repetiteur, working for all the major opera companies in the UK. This led to many conducting opportunities, first with English Touring Opera, for whom he conducted Marriage of Figaro, Cenerentola, Pearl Fishers, Daughter of the Regiment and Cosi fan tutte. In 1999, having worked as an assistant conductor at Opera North, Philip was appointed Chorus Master, a role he performed for five years. Whilst working for Opera North he conducted La traviata and the company’s acclaimed production of Sweeney Todd, as well as numerous concerts including the Brahms’ Requiem in York Minster. Philip has continued to conduct for ETO, winning an Olivier Award for Paul Bunyan in 2015 and returned the following year with Tales of Hoffman. He was music director to Swansea City Opera and W11 Opera for Young People and Chorus Master at the Bregenzer Festspiele. In 2014 he was commissioned by the Saffron Hall to write an opera for over 200 schoolchildren, professional singers and orchestra. The Glass Knight was first performed in the Saffron Hall, Saffron Walden in March 2015. Advent Calendar, a setting of biblical texts and a poem by Ronan Williams, was premiered in St Mary’s church, Saffron Walden in 2018. Philip is delighted to return to Clonter Opera, having conducted Rigoletto in 2009, a particularly exciting time as his son was born prematurely during the final stage and orchestra rehearsals! Philip is currently Head of Preparatory and Vocal Faculty Opera at the Royal Academy of Music, for whom he conducted Cunning Little Vixen in 2019.

Jeanne Pansard Besson – Director

Jeanne Pansard-Besson is an opera director, dramaturge and librettist. She was a finalist in the ninth European Opera-directing Prize and a semi-finalist in the Ring Award. Productions include Don Pasquale (NOF-Neue Oper Freiburg), La Descente d’Orphée aux Enfers (VBF/Buxton International Festival), La Tragédie de Carmen (Royal Academy of Music), Hänsel und Gretel (Hampstead Garden Opera), Die Fledermaus (Berlin Opera Academy), L’Amico Fritz (Gattières/Opéra de Nice) and Penelope’s Web, a new opera written and developed in collaboration with composer Cheryl Frances-Hoad (with support from the National Opera Studio, King’s College London and the University of Oxford). Her book, based on her PhD from the University of Cambridge, The Imagination of Rome’s Foundation Myths, will be published by Routledge this year. Her film, The Shadows of Kok Thlok, was selected for several international festivals.