Emilie Cavallo – Elvira Puccini, Puccini’s Wife

French soprano Emilie Cavallo began her vocal studies at the Conservatoire de Toulon with Chantal Arnaud followed by a Bachelor in Music from the University of Aix en Provence. In 2017 she graduated with a Master of Arts (Distinction) from the prestigious Royal Academy of Music in London under the tutelage of Jennifer Dakin and Jonathan Papp. In November 2016, she won the Very Highly Commended Prize at the Isabel Jay Competition. The following year she gained a place at the Royal Academy Opera where she studied with Nuccia Focile and Ingrid Surgenor. Roles with RAO include Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Micaëla in Carmen, Iris in Semele and Brigitta in Iolanta. Roles on stage also include Agathe in Véronique by Messager with the Troupe Lyrique Méditerranéenne, Atala in Vent du Soir by Offenbach with L’Opéra au Village, Blanche in Les Mousquetaires au Couvent at the Opéra de Toulon and Clizia in Teseo at the London Handel Festival.​ She also sang Mélisande in Pelléas and Mélisande and Elle in La Voix Humaine with Opera on the Move at the Playground Theatre in London. On the concert platform, Emilie has performed in many concerts across Europe including the soprano solo in Schubert’s oratorio Mirjam’s Siegesgesang at theOpéra de Toulon, Mozart’s concert aria Bella mia fiamma at the Opéra de Toulon, La flûte enchantée from Shéhérazade and L’air de Lia from L’enfant prodigue in Budapest’s Vigadó Hall with the Zugló Philharmonic Orchestra and many concerts of French music including at the London’s Italian Cultural Institute​.​

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Olivia Carrell – Sybil Seligman, Society Hostess

Olivia is a london-based lyric soprano under the tutelage of Marie McLaughin. Recently, Olivia has enjoyed singing internationally. She’s worked closely with Emmanuelle Haïm’s Le Concert D’Astree in various productions touring around Western European cities in France, Belgium and Luxembourg. Olivia has spent the last few summers performing principle roles at the Buxton Festival – last summer she sang the role of Tamiri in Mozart’s Il Re Pastore directed by Jack Furness. Her roles include Blanche de la Force, Dialogues de Carmelites, Helena, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Dew Fairy, Hansel und Gretel and Maria Bertram, Mansfield Park. In 2023, she covered the role of Iris in Emannuel Haim’s production of Semele at the Opera de Lille, France. She will rejoin Haim’s cast again in early 2025 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris.

John Ieuan Jones – Giulio Ricordi, Publisher

Welsh baritone John Ieuan graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music in 2019, where he was the runner-up in the prestigious Elizabeth Harwood Memorial Prize. His recent operatic highlights include Maximillian in Candide with Welsh National Opera (WNO), Papageno in The Magic Flute with Wild Arts Opera, Bomley/Boyer Sheloga in Ivan the Terrible at Grange Park Opera, Guglielmo in Così fan tuttewith Opra Cymru, and Claudio in Beatrice & Benedict with Mid Wales Opera. Ieuan also works in theatre, making his National Theatre debut in 2022 in The Corn is Green. As a sought-after concert singer, Ieuan has traveled internationally as a guest soloist. Recent highlights include being a guest artist at the North America Festival of Wales at the Perelman Theatre in Philadelphia, singing the role of Jesus in Elgar’s The Apostles at St. Asaph Cathedral, and performing with the London Concertante in their West End Musicals Concert Tour. When he’s not singing, he enjoys exploring the Welsh mountain roads on his motorbike.

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Constantine Akritides – Puccini, Composer

Constantine Akritides is a Greek-born, London-based operatic Tenor with a deep musical sensitivity and a profound ardour for sharing his craft with his audience. He is currently studying at the Royal Academy of Music under Susan Waters and Iain Ledingham, and has been featured in recitals at various locations throughout Europe, such as Santa Lucia del Mela, San Paolo Fuori le Mura, the Thessaloniki Concert Hall, St John’s Fulham, Duomo di Messina, St Peter’s Basilica, and the Royal Academy of Music. While in Greece, he performed the tenor solo part in the first panhellenic performance of Saint-Saëns’s Requiem under the baton of Karolos Trikolidis. He is a choral scholar under Domenico Gioffre at St John’s Fulham, performing a range of choral and operatic repertoire. Constantine’s choral engagements have involved several tours in Italy; most notably, singing for a service in St Peter’s Basilica, winning an international choral competition organised by the International Choral Federation, and performing at the Pantheon in Rome. Recently, at the Royal Academy of Music, he performed a scene from Puccini’s La Bohème as Rodolfo in the Royal Academy of Music Opera Scenes, under the baton of Peter Robinson and the direction of Adam Torrance. He has also collaborated with Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, singing the tenor part in Messiaen’s “La mort du nombre” alongside Tom Poster and has performed the tenor solo part in Gounod’s Messe solennelle de Sainte Cécile under the direction of Ian Kennedy. Upcoming performances include Constantine’s participation in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony as the tenor soloist, under the baton of Nickolai Podvin, which is scheduled to take place in Duke’s Hall at the Royal Academy of Music in London. In the meantime, he is also participating in a masterclass with John Mark Ainsley, and will be touring Italy and Sicily for concerts during the summer period.

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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.

Associate Director – Steve Elias

His recent directing credits include the European premiere of Mo Willams award winning musical Elephant and Piggie – We Are In A Play. Choreographic/Movement Director credits include; Our Dancing Town (BBC2 / Twenty Twenty – RTS Winner of Best Observational Documentary) Save the Cinema (Sky Cinema) Grandpa In My Pocket (BBC1  / Aadstra) Marcaroni and Dwylor Enfys (S4C / Ceidiog TV) Patience, The Yeoman of the Guard (BBC Proms -ENO) The Silly Kings (The National Theatre of Wales) Swansong (National Theatre Studios) La Maupin (The Lion and Unicorn – Offies, Winner of Best New Musical) Un Ballo in Maschera, La Traviata, La Rondine, Gioelli Della Madonna (Opera Holland Park) The Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado (Scottish Opera) Ariadne auf Naxos (Garsington Opera, Den Norske Opera) Mirandolina (Garsington Opera) The Original Chinese Conjuror (Almeida Opera) Dr Faustus (Chichester Festival Theatre) Orphee Aux Enfers – (Royal Academy Opera) The Beggers Opera (Linbury Theatre – ROH) The Pirates of Penzance, Iolanthe (Gielgud Theatre) The Merry Widow (Carl Rosa Opera). Directing credits include, Caitlin (UK Tour), Alice in Wonderland (Birmingham Old Rep) Cuckoo’s Nest (Stockwell Playhouse – Winner of Best New Musical) The Addams Family, Little Women, Urine Town, Drowsy Chaperone, 25^th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee (BOA) God of Carnage (Manchester -Immersive Theatre Festival)The Famous Farter (Millennium Centre, Cardiff) Peter Pan, Oliver, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Chichester Festival Theatre).

Jessica Staton – Set & Costume Designer

Jessica is a set and costume designer, graduating from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in 2016 with a First Class (Hons) degree in Design for Performance. Her design credits include: Tryst (as designer, nominated for an Off West End Set Design Award 2020, with the production winning the Standing Ovation Award for Outstanding Theatricality 2020 from the London Pub Theatre Awards), From Here (Chiswick Playhouse); Così fan tutte (Regents Opera); Fritz and Matlock (The Pleasance Downstairs, London; The Pleasance Attic, Edinburgh); As You Like It, Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth, Extra Yarn (nominated for The Stage Debut Design Award), King Lear, The Merchant Of Venice (The Orange Tree Theatre); The Kaspar Hauser Experiment (touring); A Woodland Opera, Puck’s Adventure (Clonter Opera Theatre); The Exonerated (Hope Mill Theatre); Little Echoes (The Hope Theatre); A Pupil (Park Theatre: P90); Neverland (Elan Frantoio, Fucecchio). Alongside her design work, Jessica is a puppet designer and maker, prop maker, model maker and scenic artist. She also leads many of the design workshops for local schools at Clonter.

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Steven Benson –Lighting Designer

For Steven, lighting is the ideal combination of science and the art.  His first job was as a design engineer for the BBC, installing and commissioning new TV and radio studios.  He then moved to become a staff producer and director, working on Carols from King’s, The Queen’s Golden Jubilee, The Election, and most recently coverage of the events following the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.  He has lit Outside Broadcasts for the BBC as well as produce and direct them. Steven has undertaken freelance lighting design at Clonter for many years and has recently lit several of their main productions including Don Giovanni, The Barber of Seville and Albert Herring. He also lights music theatre productions, recently Les Miserables, Billy Elliot, West Side Story and Chicago.  He is currently starting to plan the lighting of a local production of Ghost, and is half way through a longer term filming project: a documentary about the past and present of Choral Evensong. He is a member of the STLD (Society of Television Lighting & Design) and of the ALPD (Association for Lighting Production & Design).

Trigger Warning

This production includes references to suicide and infidelity, with a scene of physical violence and death (scenes from Tosca).

This production will also contain flashing lights.

Recommended for ages 13+

Performances

Thurs 18 July (Matinee) – Public Dress Rehearsal (Director’s Talk)

Never been to an opera before? Why not come to the public dress rehearsal of The Butterfly House, which includes a 20-minute pre-performance talk.

Tickets £25, FREE for 26-year-olds and under (ID may be required)
Doors Open 2pm
Director’s Talk 2.30pm
Performance Starts 3pm
Interval 30 minutes; Welcome to bring own picnic (tables are non-bookable for this performance)