Opera Prize 2026 - Panel

Panel Members

Ann Murray DBE – International Mezzo-Soprano

Ann Murray was born in Dublin. She has close links with both the English National Opera, for whom she has sung the title roles in Handel Xerxes and Ariodante and Donizetti Maria Stuarda, and with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, where her roles have included Cherubino, Dorabella, Donna Elvira, Rosina, Octavian, new productions of L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, Ariadne auf Naxos, Idomeneo, Mitridate, Re di Ponto, Cosi fan Tutte, Mosé in Egitto, Alcina and Giulio Cesare. Her international operatic engagements have taken her to Hamburg, Dresden, Cologne, Berlin, Munich, Paris, Zurich, Brussels, Amsterdam, Milan, Vienna, Salzburg, the Chicago Lyric Opera, Los Angeles Opera and the Metropolitan Opera, New York. In concert, she has appeared with the world’s great orchestras and her recital appearances have taken her to Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Geneva, Dresden, Zurich, Frankfurt, Madrid, London, Dublin, the Aldeburgh, Edinburgh, Munich and Salzburg Festivals and both the Konzerthaus and Musikverein in Vienna. Her discography reflects not only her broad concert and recital repertoire but also many of her great operatic roles. In 1997 Ann Murray was made an Honorary Doctor of Music by the National University of Ireland, in 1998 she was made a Kammersängerin of the Bavarian State Opera and in 1999 an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music. In the 2002 Golden Jubilee Queen’s Birthday Honours she was appointed an honorary Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. In 2004 she was awarded the Bavarian Order of Merit.

Joan Rodgers CBE – International Soprano

Joan Rodgers is equally established in opera, concert and as a recitalist. She has appeared in concert with conductors including Solti, Barenboim, Mehta, Harnoncourt, Mackerras, Ashkenazy, Salonen, Rattle, Elder and Bolton. She has appeared in recitals and concerts throughout Europe and the USA. Operatic engagements have included performances at all the major UK opera houses as well as in Paris, Munich, Brussels, Amsterdam and Vienna and the Metropolitan Opera, New York. Her many recordings include albums of songs by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Wolf, Fauré and Mozart and the three Mozart Da Ponte operas with Daniel Barenboim and the Berlin Philharmonic. Joan Rodgers received the Royal Philharmonic Society award as Singer of the Year for 1997, the 1997 Evening Standard Award for outstanding performance in opera for her performance as The Governess in the Royal Opera’s production of The Turn of the Screw and an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Liverpool University in July 2005. Joan Rodgers was awarded the CBE in the 2001 New Year’s Honours List.

Amanda Roocroft – Professor of Vocal Studies, Royal College of Music & Royal Birmingham Conservatoire

Amanda Roocroft graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) in 1990 and quickly gained international acclaim as one of Britain’s most exciting singers. She has enjoyed a close relationship with the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Glyndebourne Festival, the English National Opera, the Welsh National Opera, and the Bayerische Staatsoper, performing leading roles ranging from Handel to Wagner. Amanda has also sung at The Metropolitan Opera House in New York, Houston, Amsterdam, Berlin, Salzburg, Madrid, Barcelona, and Paris. Amanda is a professor of vocal studies at the Royal College of Music and the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. She is passionate about teaching and believes in developing young singers into unique, well-rounded artists through solid technique and vivid imagination. She has conducted masterclasses at various esteemed institutions, including RNCM, RCM, GSMD, Pembroke College Cambridge, and the Royal Opera House for the Young Artist Programme. Amanda has also been a visiting tutor at the Sammling Foundation, Abbingdon summer school, Jackdaws, Leeds Lieder Festival, and the Mediterranean Opera Studio Festival. Amanda has received several prestigious awards, including The Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award for an operatic debut and a Silver Medal from the Worshipful Company of Musicians. In 2007, she was awarded the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera for her portrayal of Jenufa at the English National Opera.

David Gowland – Artistic Director, Jette Parker Artists Programme

Since studying at RCM and NOS, David has worked with Festivals of Glyndebourne, Wexford, Aix-en-Provence, Orange, Salzburg  also opera Houses in Amsterdam, Rome, Naples, Paris, Madrid , Copenhagen. He was Head of Music in Geneva 1989-96 and senior coach to Jeffrey Tate on “Der  Ring des Nibelungen” (1998). He founded the ROH Young Artists Programme in 2001, now known as Jette Parker Artists Programme. As its Artistic Director he regularly coaches artists at the UK conservatoires, is a jury member on many national and international competitions, also sourcing, nurturing and offering advice to aspiring talent worldwide through masterclasses and auditions, notably those who are overlooked due to ethnicity, lack of access, socio-economic circumstances, sexual orientation, etc. Masterclasses include Far-East Asia: (China, Japan, South Korea); Australasia (Tasmania, Australia, New Zealand); Latin-America (Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay), also South Africa, Sri Lanka, Turkey and many European cities. David is aware of the increasing demands on artists to prove their validity and relevance in an environment where we must all fight to defend the artform.

Helen Hogh – Director of Vocal Artists, Groves Artists

Since graduating from Southampton University with a BA Hons in Music and English, Helen has worked in various areas of Arts Administration including positions as PA to the General Director of English National Opera, Artist Manager at Harrison Parrott and Concerts Manager of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. She joined Ingpen and Williams as an Artist Manager in 1997 and became a Director of Groves Artists in September 2016.

Philip Sunderland – Music Director for Opera Productions

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 life 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.

Martin André – Music Director for Masterclasses 2022 & Opera Gala 2025

Conductor Martin André divides his work between opera and orchestra repertoire, and has performed in the concert halls and opera houses of over 30 countries during his long career, particularly enjoying the operas of Verdi and Janáček, and the symphonies of Tchaikovsky and Beethoven. He has worked extensively in the Netherlands, Germany and Portugal, further afield in Thailand, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa. In Lisbon, he was the CEO of the Portuguese National Opera Company and also the National Symphony Orchestra, managing a huge Company of 350 people. Martin is the Co-Founder of the Islington Festival of Music and Art, which has rapidly become one of London’s most prestigious and recognised festivals for chamber music.