Welcome
Missy Mazzoli (b. 1980)
Proving Up (2016) (UK Premiere)
Libretto by Royce Vavrek
Based on a story by Karen Russell
By arrangement with CHESTER MUSIC LTD trading as G SCHIRMER on behalf of G SCHIRMER INC
The performance duration is approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes with no interval.
This production contains scenes involving rough physical handling of a minor, as well as the use of theatrical haze, strobe lighting and flashing lights. There will be depictions of violence and alcoholism, and use of stage blood.
Synopsis
Proving Up is an opera about the American Dream, told through the story of Nebraskan homesteaders in the 1870s. A family dreams of ‘proving up’ and obtaining the deed to the land they’ve settled. They obsessively list the requirements of the Homestead Act: five years of harvest, a sod house dwelling and perhaps the most elusive element – a glass window. When their eldest son is discovered with injuries that cannot be explained, Ma and Pa Zegner send their youngest son, Miles, on a mission to share the valuable commodity with their distant neighbours who are expecting a visit from a government inspector. Miles mounts his horse, and with the window safely wrapped up and secured to the mare, gallops across the land. The elements, natural and otherwise, have other plans, and Miles comes face to face with a strange man who, driven mad by the requirements of ‘proving up’, is now cursed to wander these lands without rest or respite. The willowy figure knows all too well the cost of the American Dream, and the window soon becomes a broken mirror reflecting great tragedy.
Cast
Miles Zegner
Sebastian Hill
Mr Johannes ‘Pa’ Zegner
Twm Tegid
Mrs Johannes ‘Ma’ Zegner
Lowri Probert
Littler Daughter
Laura LeVoir
Taller Daughter
Miranda Kettlewell
The Sodbuster
Aidan O’Donnell
Peter Zegner
Kishore Walker^
^Guildhall School Alumni
Orchestra
Violin I
Elise Wiesinger
Violin II
Julie Piggott
Viola
Shane Quinn
Cello
William Lui
Double Bass
1 & 3 June:
Caetano Oliveira
5 & 8 June:
Fabián Galeana^
Flute, Piccolo & Harmonica
Laura Jastrzebska
Clarinet, Bass Clarinet
& Harmonica
Ben Adams
Bassoon, Contrabassoon
& Harmonica
Billy Harrold
Horn
Owen McClay
Trumpet & Harmonica
Nina Garvey
Percussion & Guitar
Callum Speirs
Harp
Grace Ng
Piano
1 & 3 June:
Daniel Greenway
5 & 8 June:
Alicia Hernández Huebra
^Guildhall School Alumni
Names and seating correct at time of publication.
Ensembles, Programming & Instrument Manager
Phil Sizer
Orchestra Librarian
Anthony Wilson
Music Stage, Logistics & Instrument Manager
Kevin Elwick
Music Stage Supervisors
Louis Baily
Benjamin Wakley
Production Team
Opera/Vocal Studies
Students and Fellows
Assistant Conductor
Jack Stone
Assistant Director
Oscar Simms
Repetiteurs
Alexander Dakin
Daniel Greenway
Alicia Hernández Huebra
Covers
Charlie Brocklebank
Hannah Hughes
Florian Panzieri^
Eva Stone-Barney
Georgia Tolson
Tokio Ueno
Production & Design Students
Production Manager
Finn Irving
Assistant Production Manager
Dan Quirke
Production Assistant
Ben Sharp
Deputy Stage Manager
Liam Cullen Allen
Assistant Stage Manager
(Book Cover)
AJ Murphy
Assistant Stage Managers
Alice Green
Scarlett Horsburgh
Production Electrician
James Broadhurst
Assistant Production Electrician
Liam Jenkins
Lighting Programmer
Iris Farquharson
Lighting Crew
Jack Rudd
Ben Sharp
Followspot Operators
Ben Sharp
Marvin Amrine
Edmond Rudland
Technical Manager
Joshua Essl
Technical Assistants/
Automation Operators
Katie Clarke
M. Mei Griffin
Props Coordinator
Christina Angus
Lead Prop Maker
Imogen Marinko
Prop Makers
Maisie Gamble
Harris Johnston
Izzy Lovelock
Mary Lwena
Scenic Art Coordinator
Katherine Byrne
Lead Scenic Artist
Em Mason
Scenic Artists
Tia Alexandrou
Emily Carden
Samuel Gilbert
Ellisia Paper
Costume Supervisor
Isabela Way
Wardrobe Manager
Tara Duffy
Costume Assistants
Blair Addison
Tommy Carroll
River Charteris-Wright
Summer Minnott
Costume Makers
Poppy Inglis
Freya Parnell
^Guildhall School Alumni
Freelance
Production Management Supervisor
Fiona Scott Lockyer
Stage Manager
Mal Roberts
Freelance Carpenter
Mark Feltham
Set Design Assistant
Bethan Wall
Wigs, Hair & Makeup Supervisors
Debbie Purkiss
Tom License
Additional Staff
Stage Management Assistant
Camilla Direk
Accent Coach
Paula Anglin
Stage Crew
working across our Opera and Drama productions this year:
CJ Avery
Naomi Bleazard
Charlotte Boother Dominguez
Autumn Star-Bragg
AJ Brandt
Isabella Brugnoli
Clara Clow
Thea Cook
Evangeline Cuthbert
Phoebe De Azevedo Gillham
Daisy Doughty
Robin Draper
Xuxu Elliott-Stuart
Alex Emmens
Ciara Falola Cook
El Green
Rina Grošelj
Jago Hannen
Lizzie Harrington
Quinn Henry
Matthew Hill
Linh Hoang
Ruby Hoffer
Daisy Hollies
Ciel Hook
Naomi Jansson
Izzy Johnson
Monty Johnston
Annabelle Jones
Tom Kirby
Codie Lockyer
Maddison Loyns
Hazel Lum
Angus MacDonald
Jack Masters
Katy Murray
Devesh Nandwani
Isaac Newman
Noah Philby
Hannah Phillips
Lacey Powers
Millie Roberts
Emily Rowe
Caspian Scrivens
Rebecca Seibert
Emily Short
Milo Thomas
Oscar Thomas
Matilda Thomas-Baruya
Megan Thurlby
Axel Toms
Elise Turner
Madi Watts
Ava Whittington
Creative Team
James Henshaw
conductor
Guildhall School alumnus James Henshaw is a recent winner of both First Prize and Orchestra Prize in the Kussewitzky competition. An Olivier-nominated opera, choral and orchestral conductor, and founder/principal conductor of The Outcry Ensemble, he is now based in Berlin. From 2016–19, James was Chorus Master at English National Opera, and during his tenure the Chorus won a 2016 Olivier Award for ‘Outstanding Achievement in Opera’ and ‘Best Chorus’ at the International Opera Awards.
Guildhall School productions Dido and Aeneas and Alcina.
Other operatic credits as conductor: Tosca (Staatstheater Freiburg); The Creation (Glyndebourne Touring Opera); The Mask of Orpheus, Paul Bunyan and The Magic Flute (English National Opera). As assistant conductor: Jenůfa (English National Opera); Il trittico (Hamburg State Opera); La bohème and Don Giovanni (Glyndebourne); Rigoletto (Opéra de Rouen); The Silver Tassie (BBC Singers/BBC Symphony Orchestra); Die Zauberflöte (Garsington Opera, Longborough Festival Opera); Flight (Scottish Opera); and Owen Wingrave (Aldeburgh Festival).
Orchestral and choral credits Schubert Symphony No 9 (Sinfonica di Sanremo); 100 years of Disney (King’s Singers/BBC Concert Orchestra); Beethoven Symphony No 5 (London Philharmonic Orchestra); Brahms Symphony Cycle and Beethoven Symphony Cycle (The Outcry Ensemble); and A Child of Our Time, The Dream of Gerontius and Elgar Symphony No 1 (BBC National Orchestra of Wales/BBC Proms).
Amy Lane
director
Amy is an opera director who has worked extensively in the UK with the Royal Ballet and Opera, Longborough Festival Opera, Welsh National Opera, English National Opera, Opera North and the Royal Albert Hall. Internationally, Amy has worked regularly with the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen, the Bregenz Festival in Austria and the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto. Amy was the Head Staff Director at the Royal Ballet and Opera for five years, and has been the Artistic Director of the Copenhagen Opera Festival since 2019. From September 2026, Amy will take on the role of Director of Opera for Opera Australia.
Recent credits L’Heure espagnole and La Voix humaine (Royal Danish Opera); Roméo et Juliette (Canadian Opera Company, Savonlinna Opera Festival, Malmö Opera); Faust and Gianni Schicchi (Canadian Opera Company); La Cenerentola (Bregenzer Festspiele); PLUM: Homage to Happiness (Wilton’s Music Hall with Sir Stephen Fry and Alexander Armstrong); The Ring Cycle (Longborough Festival Opera, 2019–2024); The Yellow Wallpaper (Opera Nova, Sadler’s Wells, Copenhagen Opera Festival); Brothers and La bohème (Copenhagen Festival Opera); and La bohème (Norwegian Opera & Ballet).
Credits as stage and video director Bryn Terfel at 50 (Royal Albert Hall); Tosca and Falstaff (Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Welsh National Opera and Abu Dhabi Festival with Sir Bryn Terfel); and War Horse in Concert with Michael Morpurgo, Simon Callow, Joanna Lumley and Juliet Stevenson (Royal Albert Hall, Usher Hall, Edinburgh and Leeds Town Hall).
Awards Best Future Project, Oper! Awards 2025 for the Copenhagen Opera Festival; Best New Opera Production, Copenhagen Culture Awards for La bohème; and Reumert Award for Best New Production 2019 for Drot og marsk, co-directed with Kasper Holten, Royal Danish Opera.
Anna Yates
designer
Opera credits Pimpinone (Royal Opera at Linbury Theatre); Le nozze di Figaro (Luzerner Theater); Gianni Schicchi (OperaUpClose); Die Zauberflöte, Idomeneo, L’étoile, The Medium and Three Decembers (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland); Orpheus in the Underworld, Les Illuminations, L’enfant prodigue and L’heure espagnole (Royal College of Music); Brundibár (Opera North Youth Company); and Riders to the Sea and Cupboard Love (Byre Opera).
Theatre credits Mass (Donmar Warehouse); The Forsyte Saga (Royal Shakespeare Company at Park Theatre); Arlington (Shotput at Tron Theatre and Scotland tour); Scenes from the Climate Era (The Gate); Abigail’s Party (Northern Stage and tour); Glee & Me (Royal Exchange Manchester); Totentanz (Shotput at Tramway, Glasgow and tour); Ferguson and Barton (Shotput at Cumbernauld Theatre and tour); and Berberian Sound Studio (Donmar, as Co-Designer).
Associate design credits Figures in Extinction 2.0 (Complicité/Nederlands Dans Theater); Rusalka (Royal Opera); La bohème (ENO Drive & Live); The Antipodes (National Theatre); and Duchess of Malfi (Almeida).
Anna trained at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University (MFA) and the University of Sydney (BA).
Toby Ison
lighting designer
BA (Hons) in Production Arts: Theatre Technology (third-year).
Guildhall School productions Associate Lighting Designer and Programmer Owen Wingrave, Lighting Designer Enron, Lighting Designer Spring Opera Scenes 2025, Assistant Production Electrician and Programmer Making It Festival 2025, Assistant Production Manager Orlando, Gaffer The Card and The Graduate Scheme, Assistant Stage Manager Autumn Opera Scenes 2024 and LX Programmer No Particular Order.
Lighting design credits Lighting Designer OV Theatre Makers Scratch Night (The Old Vic); The Musical Medea (Upstairs at the Gatehouse); The Nag’s Head (Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury); YOU 2.0 (Dorfman at the National Theatre); Sniff (Greenwich Theatre, Regional Tour); House Party (The Pleasance Theatre); 384 Days (The Cockpit Theatre); The Dream Machine (The Hope Theatre); Temps (Theatre503); Inside Cycles Album Launch (Rich Mix); and That’s A Bit of Sheer Luck (Old Red Lion Theatre).
Assistant lighting design credits A Christmas Carol (LD Hugh Vanstone, The Old Vic); Associate Programmer Martin Guerre Workshop (LD Hugh Vanstone, Rambert Studios); and The Hunchback of Notre Dame: In Concert (LD Jamie Platt, Prince Edward Theatre).
Toby is on the SLX Lighting Programme (2025/26) and was a nominee for the Profile Awards Student Virtual Lighting Design Competition.
Jonathan Waller
fight director
Guildhall School productions A Star Next to the Moon and numerous other productions during his over 30 years at Guildhall School.
Fight director credits theatre and opera productions at Shakespeare’s Globe, Cheek by Jowl, Chichester Festival Theatre, and Mischief Theatre; film and television drama, and documentaries, including for the BBC, History Channel and combat for puppeteers for The Dark Crystal (Netflix); commercials including Strongbow utilising his skills as a Master Archer. Recent film credits include Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet and Simon Stones’ Elsinore (in post-production).
Teaching experience London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, Rutgers University, The Drama Studio, Arts Ed, London Academy of Theatre, School of the Science of Acting and Guildhall School; Master Teacher for The Society of British Fight Directors, The British Academy of Dramatic Combat and founding member of The British Guild of Stage Combat; and numerous courses in Mexico, including the Centro Universitario de Teatro and University of Mexico. Jonathan was instrumental in founding the Escuela Mexicana de Combate Escénico, the first stage combat organization in Mexico, and is also involved in developing stage combat in Italy, having taught several teachers from the Accademia Nazionale d’Arte Drammatica and courses in Rome for actors, teachers, students and alumni of the Accademia.
Jonathan is a researcher in human Conflict Communication, in its cultural context, across different societies and time periods involving fighting and riding in different armours and historical clothing; and has worked with The Mary Rose Trust and The Royal Armouries Museums, who he represented at The Nikko Toshugo Shrine in Japan.
Jack Stone
assistant conductor
Guildhall School Opera Studies: Repetiteur (second-year) studying with Dominic Wheeler.
Scholarships Guildhall Scholarship.
Competitions Harold Darke Prize (Royal College of Music, 2016).
Credits Assistant Conductor & Chorus Master Opera Double Bill 2025, Assistant Conductor & Repetiteur Mansfield Park and Opera Makers 2025, and Repetiteur Autumn Opera Scenes 2024 and Spring Opera Scenes 2025 (Guildhall School); Repetiteur La straniera, Le roi d’Ys, Le villi, Un ballo in maschera and Orfeo ed Euridice (Chelsea Opera Group); Conductor The Messiah (The Merry Opera Company); Repetiteur & Chorus Master La bohème and Repetiteur & Orchestral Organ Suor Angelica (Opera Greenwich); Repetiteur & Assistant Conductor Così fan tutte and Repetiteur & Chorus Master La forza del destino (Regents Opera); Repetiteur Nabucco (Fulham Opera); and performances at St Paul’s Cathedral, Bristol Cathedral, Manchester Cathedral, Southwark Cathedral, St John’s Smith Square, Freemasons’ Hall (London), Temple Church and the Royal College of Music.
Jack is Director of Music at Catford Parish Church and The All Saints Festival Choir, Organist at the Catford Broadway Theatre, and Repetiteur for Lewisham Urban Opera and Chelsea Opera Group.
Future plans Conductor St John the Baptist (London Premiere) (SJB Orchestra & Chorus); Conductor/Keyboard Saul (All Saints Festival Choir and Orchestra); and Chorus Master Hamlet (Chelsea Opera).
Oscar Simms
assistant director
Guildhall School Junior Fellow.
Credits Assistant Director Opera Double Bill 2025 (Guildhall School); Director Opera For All (Thames Opera Company); Director The Magic Flute (Birmingham Repertory Theatre); Director Noye’s Fludde (Barnes Music Festival); Assistant Director La traviata (The Royal Opera); Assistant Director The Veil of the Temple (Edinburgh International Festival); Assistant Director Jane Eyre and Bluebeard’s Castle (Arcola Theatre); Associate Director Hamlet (Buxton International Festival); Assistant Director Itch (Opera Holland Park); Associate Director Mahler 8 (Southbank Centre/London Philharmonic Orchestra); Assistant Director Simon Boccanegra (Opera North); Assistant Director Tales of Apollo & Hercules (London Handel Festival); Assistant Director Hänsel und Gretel (Royal Academy of Music); Director Young Artist Gala and Assistant Director The Turn of the Screw (Waterperry Opera Festival); Director Noye’s Fludde (Pimlico Musical Foundation); and Director The Lost Life of Tilly MacLeod (Artled Productions).
Future plans Staff Director Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Glyndebourne); Director L’Orfeo (I Fagiolini); and Assistant Director Displaced (coalign).
Cast
Sebastian Hill
tenor
Guildhall School Opera Studies (first-year) studying with David Pollard.
Scholarships Girdlers’ Scholarship; Tobacco Pipe Makers’ Scholarship; The Humphrey Richardson Taylor Charitable Trust; and Drake Calleja Trust.
Competitions First Prize, London Bach Society Competition (2024); and First Prize, Patricia Routledge English Song Competition (2023).
Previous roles scenes from Don Giovanni, La Favorita and Così fan tutte (Guildhall School); and Itch Itch (Opera Holland Park Young Artist).
Future plans Gastone La traviata (Verbier Festival); Tancredi Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda (Bayerische Staatsoper); Amante Amelia al ballo (Guildhall School’s Autumn 2026 Double Bill); and Gernando L’isola disabitata (Guildhall School’s 2027 Spring Opera).
Miranda Kettlewell
mezzo-soprano
Guildhall School Vocal Studies (first-year) studying with David Pollard.
Scholarships Roderick Williams/Christopher Wood Scholarship.
Competitions Second Prize, Peter Hulsen Orchestral Song Award (2026); Second Prize, Schubert Club Student Scholarship Competition, Voice III (2025); Winner, Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, MN District (2024); Encouragement Award, Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, MN District (2023); and Winner, Schubert Club Student Scholarship Competition, Voice II (2023).
Previous roles La Voce (cover) Lucrezia (Guildhall School); Chorus/Soloist Turandot (Minnesota Orchestra); Chorus/Deity One The Many Deaths of Laila Starr (workshop) and Gertrude (cover) Roméo et Juliette (Minnesota Opera); Meg Page Falstaff (Opera Reading Project); Barbara Stewart Requiem for Frankie Silver (Orpheus Music Project); Cinderella Into the Woods and Valletto L’incoronazione di Poppea (University of Wisconsin-Madison).
Future plans Winner’s Concert for the Peter Hulsen Orchestral Song Award; and Chorus Carmen (Lakes Area Music Festival).
Laura LeVoir
soprano
Guildhall School Opera Studies (first-year) studying with Samantha Malk.
Scholarships C & P Young Scholarship; and Gita Furber de la Fuente Prize.
Previous roles scenes from Pagliacci, Cendrillon, Roméo et Juliette, Don Giovanni, Les pêcheurs de perles and Così fan tutte (Guildhall School); Title Role Patience (The Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company); Weïrd Sister Macbeth (Theater Latté Da); and Alice Ford Falstaff (Opera Reading Project).
Future plans Guildhall School Opera Makers 2026; Amelia Amelia al ballo (Guildhall School’s Autumn 2026 Double Bill) and Silvia L’isola disabitata (Guildhall School’s 2027 Spring Opera).
Aidan O’Donnell
bass-baritone
Guildhall School Vocal Studies (first-year) studying with John Evans.
Scholarships Leverhulme Arts Scholarship.
Previous roles Erste Jäger Der Wald (Guildhall School); Figaro Le nozze di Figaro and Leporello Don Giovanni (Prague Summer Nights); Bartolo Le nozze di Figaro and Frank Die Fledermaus (Pacific Opera Studio); Seneca L’incoronazione di Poppea (Sydney Conservatorium of Music); and Sarastro/Sprecher/2nd armed man Die Zauberflöte (Berlin Opera Academy).
Lowri Probert
soprano
Guildhall School Opera Studies (second-year) studying with Janice Chapman and Marie Vassiliou.
Scholarships Baroness de Turckheim Scholarship; Walter Hyde Memorial Prize; The Hywel Davies Trust for Young Musicians; and Brecon Girls Grammar School Trust.
Competitions Semi-finalist, Kathleen Ferrier Awards (2026).
Previous roles Miss Wingrave Owen Wingrave, Title Role Lucrezia, Margaret Gef!, Aunt Norris (cover) Mansfield Park, Ida Die Fledermaus and La fata verde (cover) La bella dormente nel bosco (Guildhall School); Soloist for Richard Strauss’ Vier Lieder, Op 27 (London Schools Symphony Orchestra); Seconda Sorella Cercatrice Suor Angelica (West Green House Opera); and Masha Cherry Town, Moscow (Welsh National Opera Youth Opera).
Future plans Second Lady The Magic Flute (West Green House Opera); and Nella Gianni Schicchi (Mid Wales Opera).
Twm Tegid
baritone
Guildhall School Opera Studies (first-year) studying with John Evans.
Scholarships The Scouloudi Foundation Scholarship.
Competitions First Prize, Dunraven Welsh Young Singer of the Year Competition (2025); First Prize, Colin Jones Scholarship (2023); First Prize, Kathleen Ferrier Society Bursary for Young Singers (2021); and Finalist, W. Towyn Roberts Scholarship (2024).
Previous roles Achilla Giulio Cesare and scenes from Don Giovanni, Roberto Devereux, Les pêcheurs de perles, Cendrillon, Pagliacci and Eugene Onegin (Guildhall School); Poseidon Medusa (world premiere) (Guildhall student production); Johannes Brahms’ Requiem (Shropshire Choral Society); and A Shropshire Lad (Bromley Choral Association).
Future plans Sam Trouble in Tahiti and Marito Amelia al ballo (Guildhall School’s Autumn 2026 Double Bill); and Enrico L’isola disabitata (Guildhall School’s 2027 Spring Opera).
Kishore Walker
actor
Guildhall School MA Acting (2022 graduate), also read English Literature at Durham University.
Guildhall School productions Dennis of Penge, Bull, Pilgrims, Urinetown: The Musical, Anna Karenina, Julius Caesar, Twelfth Night, Oedipus, A View from the Bridge, Sweat, The Cherry Orchard, An Intervention and The Mystery Plays.
Theatre credits Easy Virtue (Cambridge Arts Theatre); Translations (Dunlewey Centre); Summer 1954: Table Number 7 & The Browning Version (Theatre Royal Bath/Chichester Festival Theatre/Oxford Playhouse); Foam (Finborough Theatre); Passing (Park Theatre); The Boys Are Kissing (Theatre503); and The Events (Curve Theatre, Leicester).
Television credits Queenie (Channel 4/Hulu); and Doctors (BBC One).
Awards Winner, Spotlight Most Promising Actor Award (2018).
Music Staff
Alexander Dakin
repetiteur
Guildhall School Opera Studies: Repetiteur (first-year).
Scholarships Margery & Frederick Stephen Wright Eisinger Award; and Sybil Tutton Opera Award Holder.
Repetiteur credits Owen Wingrave and Autumn Opera Scenes 2025 (Guildhall School).
Future plans Guildhall School’s Opera Makers 2026.
Daniel Greenway
repetiteur
Guildhall School Opera Studies: Repetiteur (first-year) studying with Elizabeth Rowe.
Scholarships Jack Irons Repetiteur Scholarship.
Competitions Winner of Worshipful Company of Musicians’ Silver Medal (2024).
Repetiteur credits Spring Opera Scenes 2026 and Opera Double Bill 2025 (Guildhall School); and Dido and Aeneas and Acis and Galatea (Keble Early Music Festival).
Future plans Guildhall School’s Opera Makers 2026.
Alicia Hernández Huebra
repetiteur
Guildhall School Opera Studies: Repetiteur (first-year) studying with Elizabeth Rowe and Liz Marcus.
Scholarships Wolfgang Bruckner Scholarship.
Competitions Second Prize, Jubilee Piano Accompaniment Prize (Guildhall School, 2025).
Credits Repetiteur Owen Wingrave and Autumn Opera Scenes 2025 (Guildhall School); Repetiteur and Music Director Le nozze di Figaro and Winter Opera Scenes (Goodenough Opera); Repetiteur Le nozze di Figaro (Berlin Opera Academy); and Repetiteur Amahl and the Night Visitors (Teatro Real).
Future plans Guildhall School’s Opera Makers 2026; and joining the National Opera Studio as a repetiteur for the 2026/27 season.
Guildhall School Production & Design Department
Director of Production & Design
Hansjörg Schmidt
Programme Leader, BA Performance Design
Dr Susannah Henry
Programme Leader, BA Digital Design & Production
Pete Wallace
Programme Leader, MA Collaborative Theatre Production & Design
Dr Emily Orley
Head of Costume
Rachel Young
Head of Design Realisation
Vanessa Cass
Head of Stage Management
Helen Barratt
Head of Theatre Technology
Mark Hartley
Associate Producer
Stuart Calder
Outreach Manager (Production & Design)
Jon Hare
A full list of Production & Design teaching staff and technicians can be found on our website.
Guildhall School
Opera Department
Head of Opera Studies
Dominic Wheeler
Resident Producer
Martin Lloyd-Evans
Opera Department Manager
Steven Gietzen
Visiting Music Coaches
Lionel Friend
Kate Golla
Alexander Ingram
Tony Legge
Michael Lloyd
Elizabeth Marcus
Jonathan Papp
Linnhe Robertson
Peter Robinson
Elizabeth Rowe
Susanna Stranders
Drama Coaches
Martin Lloyd-Evans
Victoria Newlyn
Movement Coaches
Victoria Newlyn
Combat Coach
Jonathan Leverett
Language Coaches
Florence Daguerre de Hureaux
Johanna Mayr
Emma Abbate
Lada Valešová
In conversation with Missy Mazzoli
This is the UK premiere of Proving Up, how does it feel to be sharing this opera with a new audience in a new country?
While Proving Up is set in America and is preoccupied with the myths and realities of the American dream, its broader themes are more universal. This is a story about the immigrant experience; the sacrifice and hard work that sometimes extends beyond reason, hopes that are sometimes as fragile as glass, and the dark ways in which those hopes can be weaponised by those in power. I’m thrilled that this opera resonates outside of America, particularly in the UK, and I hope that it will lead to even deeper interpretations of the work.
Proving Up is inspired by Karen Russell’s short story. Could you tell us what originally drew you to this story and made you want to turn it into an opera?
Karen’s work is a fantastic blend of the real and surreal, a blend that I feel works well in a medium where everyone is singing their thoughts and stepping outside of the everyday world. She is also able to address issues that could be taken straight out of the news: the fragility of the American dream, the opioid crisis, environmental devastation, but she does this through surprising images and delightfully surreal scenarios that somehow get right to the heart of every issue.
Photo © Marylene Mey
Forthcoming Events
Making It Festival
8–26 June 2026
Silk Street Theatre & Milton Court
Join us for the 2026 Making It Festival: a celebration of new, original work made by Guildhall School’s vibrant and multi-skilled community.
Tickets: start at just £5 and most events are free.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
10 June 2026
Barbican Cinema
Guildhall School presents this annual series of short films curated by professional writers for the returning screen project.
Tickets: £5
Opera Makers
19, 20, 22 & 23 June 2026
Milton Court Studio Theatre
Guildhall School’s annual Opera Makers presents an evening of new music theatre, showcasing original short operas by emerging composers and librettists.
Tickets: £15 (£8 concessions)
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Photo © David Monteith-Hodge
Guildhall School Scholarship Fund
Each year the Scholarships Fund enables talented young actors, musicians, production artists and theatre technicians to take up their places or continue their studies at Guildhall School. We are extremely grateful to the many trusts, foundations, businesses, City livery companies and individuals who make annual donations to the Scholarships Fund, and to those people who make provision for legacy donations in support of the School in their wills. Opera, Vocal and Production & Design students involved in this production who have received support from this year’s Scholarships Fund and from external donors are as follows:
Opera/Vocal Studies Students & Fellows:
Alexander Dakin Margery & Frederick Stephen Wright Eisinger Award
Daniel Greenway Jack Irons Repetiteur Scholarship
Alicia Hernández Huebra Wolfgang Bruckner Scholarship
Sebastian Hill Girdlers’ Scholarship; Tobacco Pipe Makers’ Scholarship
Miranda Kettlewell Roderick Williams/Christopher Wood Scholarship
Laura LeVoir Gita Furber de la Fuente Prize; C & P Young Scholarship
Aidan O’Donnell Leverhulme Arts Scholarship
Lowri Probert Baroness de Turckheim Scholarship; Walter Hyde Memorial Prize
Jack Stone Guildhall Scholarship
Twm Tegid The Scouloudi Foundation Scholarship
Production & Design Students:
Blair Addison Guildhall Scholarship
Tia Alexandrou Guildhall Scholarship
Christina Angus Guildhall Scholarship
Emily Carden Guildhall Scholarship
Tommy Carroll B&T Scholarship
River Charteris-Wright Guildhall Scholarship
Maisie Gamble Guildhall Scholarship
Samuel Gilbert Guildhall Scholarship
Alice Green B&T Scholarship
Scarlett Horsburgh Guildhall Scholarship
Finn Irving Guildhall Scholarship
Liam Jenkins Guildhall Scholarship
Izzy Lovelock Guildhall Scholarship
Mary Lwena Guildhall Scholarship
Em Mason Guildhall Scholarship
Summer Minnott City of London Scholarship
AJ Murphy Guildhall Scholarship
Ellisia Paper Guildhall Scholarship
Jack Rudd Guildhall Scholarship
Edmond Rudland Guildhall Scholarship
To find out more about the difference you would make by donating to the Guildhall School Scholarship Fund, please contact Meg Ryan at meg.ryan@gsmd.ac.uk / 020 3834 1561.
Our supporters
Guildhall School is grateful for the generous support of the following individuals, trusts and foundations, City livery companies and businesses, as well as those who wish to remain anonymous.
Exceptional Giving
City of London Corporation
Estate of John Donnelly
The Guildhall School Trust
The Leverhulme Trust
Estate of Evelyn Morrison
John Murray Young Artists’ Fund
Leadership Giving
Foyle Foundation
The Garek Trust
Estate of Brian Hartley
Estate of Eric Pattison
National Philanthropic Trust UK
Principal Benefactors
Amar-Franses & Foster-Jenkins Trust
Foundation for Young Musicians
Estate of Beris Hudson
Christina and Ray McGrath Scholarship
Purposeful Ventures
Nicky Spence Scholarship
Estate of Harold Tillek
Jessie Wakefield Bursary
Garfield Weston Foundation
Estate of Anne Wyburd
Estate of Jane Manning
Major Benefactors
City of London Corporation Education Board
Daniel Craig Scholarships
Dominus and the Ahluwalia Family
Fishmongers’ Company
Leathersellers’ Company
London Symphony Orchestra
Sidney Perry Foundation
Barbara Reynold Award
Rosemary Thayer Scholarship
Wolfson Foundation
Professor Christopher Wood MD FRCSEd
FLSW HonLMRCO
Henry Wood Accommodation Trust
C and P Young MBE HonFGS
Benefactors
Jane Ades Ingenuity Scholarship
Carrie Andrews
Brendan Barns
David Bartley Award
Behrens Foundation
Binks Trust
Timothy Brennan KC
Derek Butler Scholarship
Dow Clewer Foundation
Liz Codd
Sally Cohen Opera Scholarship
Brian George Coker Scholarship
The Cole Bequest
Ian Crewe
Stella Currie Award
D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust
Professor Sir Barry Ife CBE FKC
and Dr Trudi Darby
Elmira Darvarova
David Family Foundation
Drapers’ Company
Margaret Easton Scholarships
Amy and John Ford HonFGS
Lillian and Victor Ford Scholarships for Drama
Bishop Fox’s Educational Foundation
Albert and Eugenie Frost Music Trust CIO
Gita de la Fuente Scholarship
Mortimer Furber Scholarship
Girdlers’ Company Charitable Trust
Dr Jacqueline Glomski
Ralph Goode Award
Haberdashers’ Company
Faye Hamilton
The Hearn Foundation
Sarah Holford
Huddersfield 1980 Scholarship
Elaine Hugh-Jones Scholarship
Cosman Keller Art and Music Trust
Damian Lewis CBE FGS
Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation
Alfred Molina FGS
Anne Page
Jane Manning and Anthony Payne Award
Ron Peet Scholarship
David and Margaret Phillips Bursary
Reed Foundation
Ripple Awards
Lady Victoria Robey CBE
Scouloudi Foundation
Skinners’ Company
South Square Trust
Steel Charitable Trust
Hugh Vanstone HonFGS and George Stiles
Barbara Stringer Scholarship
Tobacco Pipe Makers and Tobacco Trade
Benevolent Fund
Frederic William Trevena Award
Edith Vogel Bursary
Wallis Award
Roderick Williams / Christopher
Wood Scholarship
Worshipful Company of Carpenters
Worshipful Company of Chartered Surveyors
Worshipful Company of Grocers
Worshipful Company of Innholders
Worshipful Company of Skinners
Worshipful Company of Tallow Chandlers
Worshipful Company of Weavers
Supporters
Margaret B Adams Award
Adelaide E Alexander Memorial Scholarship
Alexander Technique Fund
Anglo-Swedish Society
Athena Scholarship
George and Charlotte Balfour Award
Alison Balsom Scholarship
Peter Barkworth Scholarship
Maria Bjӧrnson Memorial Fund
Board of Governors’ Scholarship
Ann Bradley
William Brake Foundation
Sir Nicolas Bratza
John S Cohen Foundation
Noël Coward Foundation
Diana Devlin Award
Robert Easton Scholarship
Gwyn Ellis Award
Adam Fabulous Scholarship
Carey Foley Acting Scholarship
Iris Galley Award
James Gibb Award
Jess Gillam Scholarship
Hargreaves and Ball Trust
Hazell Scholarship Fund
Michael and Rosamund Herington
Ironmongers’ Company
Brian Edwards and Mandy King
Gillian Laidlaw HonFGS
Peter Lehmann Bedford Award
Eduard and Marianna Loeser Award
Alison Love - In Memory of Barry MacDonald
Marchus Trust
Narrow Road
Noswad Charity
NR1 Creatives
Ann Orton
John Peach
Peter Prynn
Denis Shorrock Award
Silver Bow Scholarship
Graham Spooner
AM Spurgin Charitable Trust
and John Younger Trust
Steinway & Sons
Caroline Stockmann LGSM HonFCT
Hannah Stone Scholarship
Elizabeth Sweeting Award
Sir Bryn Terfel Scholarship
Thompson Educational Trust
Louise Thompson Licht Scholarship
Kristina Tonteri-Young Scholarship
HWE & WL Tovery Scholarship
Harry Weinrebe Award
Dominic West FGS
Worshipful Company of Carmen Benevolent Trust
Worshipful Company of Dyers
Worshipful Company of Gold
and Silver Wyre Drawers
Worshipful Company of Horners
Worshipful Company of Musicians
Worshipful Company of Needlemakers
Worshipful Company of Wax Chandlers
Guildhall School of Music & Drama
Founded in 1880 by the City of London Corporation
Chair of the Board of Governors
The Hon. Emily Benn
Principal
Professor Jonathan Vaughan FGS
Vice-Principal & Director of Music
Armin Zanner FGS
Director of Production & Design
Hansjörg Schmidt
Guildhall School is provided by the City of London Corporation as part of its contribution to the cultural life of London and the nation.
Contact Us
Silk Street,
Barbican,
London,
EC2Y 8DT
+44 (0)207 628 2571
For assistance with digital programmes, please contact digitalprogrammes@gsmd.ac.uk
