Chapter & Verse
NIGEL FOSTER
ANNA HUNTLEY
Nigel Foster was born in London and studied piano at the Royal Academy of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, under Roger Vignoles, Graham Johnson and Iain Burnside. At both the Academy and the Guildhall he won every prize and award available for piano accompaniment, and has since been appointed an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, and a Steinway artist.
Nigel enjoys a busy schedule performing on the concert platform. He has played for singers including Sarah Walker, Yvonne Kenny, Roderick Williams, Ailish Tynan, Elizabeth Watts, Ian Partridge, Neil Jenkins, James Gilchrist, Jeremy Hugh Williams, Ruby Hughes, Elizabeth Llewellyn, Ashley Riches, Stephen Varcoe and Jane Manning, and instrumentalists including violinist Madeleine Mitchell. He has performed at major UK venues including Wigmore Hall, South Bank Centre and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (Crush Room) in London and St. David’s Hall, Cardiff. Nigel has given concerts all over Europe and in Asia (Japan, Malaysia), New Zealand and the Americas (USA, Columbia). He has broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Classic FM in the UK and on French and Welsh television.
Nigel is the founder and director of the London Song Festival (www.londonsongfestival.org) an annual series of concerts and master-classes which also acts as an important platform for young singers at the beginning of their careers.
Nigel has given master-classes and led workshops in the song repertoire in the UK, Belgium, Portugal (Opera Plus), Italy (Asolo Festival), Germany (Saarburg Festival), Luxembourg (Vianden Festival) and the USA(Summit City Art Song Festival and the University of Toledo).
Nigel has worked with conductors including Sir John Eliot Gardiner, playing for singers including Renee Fleming, Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna. Nigel’s musical interests range from the baroque through to contemporary music, though his main love and passion is the song repertoire. Nigel's CD recordings include collections of English Song with Stephen Varcoe and anthologies of song of Alun Hoddinott and Mansel Thomas with Jeremy Huw Williams for the Sain label and. He features on the soundtrack for the French film L’Homme est une Femme Comme les Autres.
Described by The Guardian as a ‘fast-rising British talent’, mezzo-soprano Anna Huntley was a scholar at both the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music Opera School. A recipient of a Wigmore Hall/Independent Opera Vocal Fellowship given at the 2011 Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation International Song Competition, she is also a laureate of ‘Das Lied' Competition in Berlin and the London Handel Singing Competition.
An outstanding recitalist, Anna has worked with a number of leading accompanists including Graham Johnson (Herten Klavierfest, Oxford and Leeds Lieder Festivals), Iain Burnside (Ludlow English Song Weekend, BBC Radio 3), Simon Lepper (Brighton Festival), Julius Drake and James Baillieu (Wiener Musikverein, Wigmore Hall), whilst other concert engagements have ranged from Bach’s B Minor Mass with Trevor Pinnock and Haydn’s Harmoniemesse with Andras Schiff to Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the City of London Sinfonia (Michael Collins) and Berio’s Folksongs with the Hebrides Ensemble. Highlights of recent opera seasons have been a variety of roles for English National Opera, Welsh National Opera, English Touring Opera and the Cambridge Handel Opera Group.
Anna was selected by YCAT in 2012 and Kirckman Concert Society in 2013, and is mentored by Angelika Kirschlager as part of the Royal Philharmonic Society/Sir Philip Langridge Mentoring Scheme. She is generously supported by the Richard Carne Trust.
SARAH BERGER
Sarah is an actress, director and producer and the founder of the So and So Arts Club www.thesoandsoartsclub.com
Whilst still at drama school Sarah was cast as Abigail in the first British televised production of Arthur Millers’ The Crucible”.
Her long career as an actress has included three seasons at The Royal Shakespeare Company, where her roles included Olivia in “Twelfth Night”, Anne Boleyn in “Henry V11 “and Julietta in” Measure for Measure”. She has played Ophelia on a world tour starting at Elsinore Castle, and Miranda and Ariel in the Tempest and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth on two American tours.
She has worked extensively teaching Shakespeare across America from Syracuse to Los Angeles.
Her other performing credits include five West End Shows; playing leading roles opposite, Peter O’Toole, Edward Fox, Stephen Fry, Rick Mayall, Martin Shaw and Kevin McNally. She has performed in many national tours of playwrights ranging form Noel Coward to Alan Bleasdale.
She has appeared in countless TV series most notably, “Murphy’s Law”, “New Tricks” The Green Man”, “The Scarlet and the Black “, “Doctor Who”:, “Casualty” and Holby City,.
As a director Sarah has directed six premieres of new plays, “Last Confessions of a Scallywag “at the Mill at Sonning, The Long Road South” at the Kings Head, “Lulu 7” at the Drayton Arms, “American Venus” at Fredericks Place, “The Marvellous Adventures of Mary Seacole” London and Edinburgh Festival, “The Mythmakers” and the British premiere of “Love Loss and What I Wore “ by Nora Ephron at the Mill at Sonning. Other directing credits include: “Theatrica Domestica”, “The Country Wife”, “The Heidi Chronicles “,“It must have been the Shoes”, “Build Lilli” and several dramatized readings of new work.
In September Sarah will be directing a bilingual production of “Macbeth “ at the state theatre of Kyrgyzstan, which she will bring back to London in October.
Sarah founded the So and So Arts Club in 2013 and since then has produced 40 rehearsed readings of new work, two repertory seasons of new plays and five festivals, the most recent of which ‘Women and War” ran for a month last July and will be happening once again this July .
DAVID MILDON
David Mildon trained at LAMDA and has worked in the West End, for BBC Radio and toured nationally and internationally. As well as extensive work with new writing, classical professional roles include Romeo and Hamlet. David recently appeared in the bilingual “Dinner at the Smiths” directed by Marianne Badrichani.
KEVIN MOORE
Kevin Moore has recently appeared at the Wanamaker Theatre in THE INN AT LYDDA.
Other stage work includes THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER (Chichester Festival Theatre), THE PARASOL (Royal Exchange), THE RESISTIBLE RISE OF ARTURO UI
(Bridewell), THE RELAPSE (Old Vic), THE DUEL (Duke of York’s), REYNARD THE FOX (Young Vic), INCIDENT AT TWILIGHT (Cottesloe), NOEL AND GERTIE (Salisbury Playhouse), ROUGH CROSSING (King’s Head), TWELFTH NIGHT (Holder’s Festival, Barbados), THE CHEATING HEARTS (Hong Kong & Perth Festivals) and SINGULAR PEOPLE (Edinburgh Festival & King’s Head.
Television credits include Prior Anthony in the Ken Follett series WORLD WITHOUT END, The Priest in Ricky Geravais’s EXTRAS, Bishop O’Neill in FATHER TED, an evil Vicar in WOLVES OF KROMER, a Missionary in a Bollywood thriller TEZZ and various other Roman and Anglican clergy in FOGBOUND, PERFECT SCOUNDRELS, KEEPING MUM
and most recently another bishop in CHOSEN a film shot in Romania.
Clerics continue in his stage work with Parson Maybold in Patrick Garland’s UNDER THE GREENWOOD TREE, Father Mullarkey in ONCE A CATHOLIC and most recently Canon Chasuble in HANDBAG – a musical version of THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST.
Other TV work includes FANTABULOSA, FATHER FIGURE, HEARTBEAT, SILENT WITNESS, DOCTORS, EVIL UNDER THE SUN, HOW MANY MILES TO BABYLON, CORTROOM, THE BILL, HEARTBURN HOTEL, FLAME OF LOVE and the American series TICKET TO RIDE.
Films include: FIERCE CREATURES, UNDER SUSPICION, IF ONLY, HOLY WATER, JOHNNY ENGLISH and I GIVE IT A YEAR.
He first performed CROCODILES IN CREAM - a one-man portrait of Lewis Carroll written and directed by David Horlock - at the Salisbury Playhouse. Since then it has been seen at the National Theatre, the Edinburgh Festival, the Bermuda Arts Festival, and also in Antibes, Los Angeles, Athens, Istanbul, Ankara, Saudi Arabia, The Netherlands and Ireland.
SIMON WALLFISCH
Born in London into a musical family, Simon Wallfisch studied cello, voice and conducting at the Royal College of Music between 2000 and 2006.
During his studies in London, he was awarded several prizes including The Georg Solti Foundation, Emmy Destinn Foundation, Giuseppe Di Stefano Competition Sicily, The DAAD, Countess of Munster Trust, The English Speaking Union and the Royal Overseas League "Young Singer of Promise"2005.
In 2006 Wallfisch left London for studies in Berlin (Hanns Eisler Hochschule für Musik 2006-2007) and Leipzig (Hochschule für Musik und Theater Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy 2007-2009) During this time he appeared as guest artist at the Leipzig Opera (Nozze di Figaro), Magdeburg Opera, Dessau Opera (7 Todsünden), Altenburg-Gera Opera (Das Opernschiff), Potsdam Sans Souci Schlosstheater (Una Festa Teatrale), and the Ludwigsberger Schloss Festspiele.
Subsequently he was engaged at the International Opera Studio of the Zurich Opera House (2009-2012) singing many supporting roles on the main stage.
Recent roles include FIERAMOSCA in Berlioz Benvenuto Cellini (Staatsoper Nürnberg 2016) MARCELLO Puccini La Boheme (Teatro Verdi Casciana Terme, Pisa 2016) ESCAMILLO La Tragedie de Carmen (National Reis Opera, Holland 2013). PELLEAS and ALBERT (English Touring Opera 2015).
In January 2015, Simon Wallfisch broadcast on BBC 2 Television, he is frequently invited to perform live on Radio 3's 'In Tune'. A documentary film about his family was made for ARTE. He has appeared on Bayerische Rundfunk/Fernsehen, Mittel Deutsche and Nord Deutsche Rundfunk and Schweizer Rundfunk SRF2. He was recently featured artist on Arte 'Geschichte Der Musik', broadcast in January 2016.
His growing number of recordings with regular duo partner Edward Rushton include Songs of Geoffrey Bush on Lyrita Records and French Songs on Nimbus Records.
In international demand as concert artist and recitalist, Simon has performed Lieder recitals in Demark, Sweden, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Israel, Australia and Canada. Uk appearances include the Oxford Lieder Festival, London's Festival Hall, Purcell Room, King's Place, Conway Hall, London Song Festival, Allwyn Festival, Lichfield Festival, International Wimbledon Festival, Leamington Music Festival. In 2016, he was invited by Murray Perahia to give singing classes at the Jerusalem Music Centre in Israel. He gave a recital with Julius Drake in the 2016 Schwerin Verfaemte Musik Festival where he was also a jury member for the 2016 competition. He is a trustee of the International Centre for Supressed Music (ICSM) dedicated to research and performance of suppressed composers. He has adjudicated at the Birmingham Conservatoire and is passionate about education and has a busy teaching studio.
CLAIRE CARTWRIGHT
Claire Cartwright is an actress, writer and producer and co founder of Clamour Theatre Company. Since leaving drama school she has performed multiple times in the West End, most recently playing the lead role in The Mousetrap, directed by Ian Talbot. Other roles have included Kitty Stratton in Thark (Park Theatre, directed by Eleanor Rhode), Lady Macbeth in Macbeth in a National tour, Portia in The Merchant of Venice, Martha in A Christmas Carol, Judith in Henna Night, Ananias in The Alchemist, along with countless new writing productions. Claire can also be seen playing the lead in upcoming film Benny Loves You, due for release later this year.
This year, with Clamour Theatre, Claire will be producing Bridle at The Camden People's Theatre, Joy, directed by Stephen Unwin and Octopus, all written by Stephanie Martin. Claire is also in the middle of writing an exciting new play for the company.
Claire is also incredibly proud to be on the board of The Theatrical Guild; the charity for those working backstage and front of house in British theatre.
CLAIRE CARTWRIGHT
RAPAELA PAPADAKIS
London-born soprano Raphaela Papadakis made her professional début at Garsington Opera in 2014, giving the “most attractive solo performance” of the show (Financial Times). Since then, she has performed roles with Independent Opera and Bury Court Opera, and covered at the Royal Opera House and the Berlin Staatsoper. A passionate recitalist, Raphaela made her début at Carnegie Hall in 2014, and was a Vocal Fellow at the Ravinia Festival, Chicago.
Her many awards include 1st prizes at the Mozart Competition, Clonter Opera Competition, and the Maureen Lehane Vocal Awards, and the York Early Music Festival Prize at the London Handel Festival. She is a Samling, IMA, and City Music Foundation Artist, and a winner of the Making Music Award for Young Concert Artists. She studied at Clare College, Cambridge, graduating with a first-class degree in English Literature, and at the Guildhall with Janice Chapman. Future plans include performances with Multi-Story at the Aldeburgh Festival, a Helios Collective production at the Buxton Opera Festival and Copenhagen Opera Festival, and recitals with Roger Vignoles and Tom Poster.
MARY KEEGAN
Mary Keegan trained at the Rose Bruford College of Speech And Drama. She has worked in theatre playing such parts as Rosalind - As You Like It, Viola/Sebastian - Twelfth Night, Roxanne - Cyrano De Bergerac, Lady Macbeth, Duchess - Duchess of Malfi, Gertrude - Hamlet, Belinda - Noises Off, Vi – Memory of Water, Patsy – Perfect Pie, The Girls of Slender Means, Shakespeare Review, Lady Benbow – Thark.
For the So And So Arts Club she played Mrs P. in The Last Confessions of A Scallywag and Phyllis in American Venus. Mary worked with the German chanteuse Eva Meier in Just Brecht and Eyes In The Big city. She has done audio-description for the blind at the National Theatre, the Coliseum and The Royal Opera House. Television includes East Enders, The Bill, My Hero, Doctors, Ladies of Langham Place, The Mushroom Picker.
GAY SOPHER
Gay trained at LAMDA, and made her professional debut playing Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, a UK tour.
West End experience includes; Mrs Strakosh in Funny Girl (Menier Chocolate Factory & Savoy Theatre); Mrs Alexander in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (Apollo Theatre & Gielgud Theatre); Canterbury Tales (Phoenix), Godspell (Roundhouse and Wyndhams), Billy (Drury Lane), Madame Theneardier in Les Miserables (Palace), Side By Side By Sondheim (Wyndhams), Good (Aldwych, RSC), Mother Courage (NT), Which Witch (Piccadilly), Lend Me a Tenor (Gielgud), the Mitford Girls (Gielgud), Salad Days for Ned Sherrin.
Other theatre includes: Countess Evangeline in Death Takes A Holiday (Charing Cross Theatre); Maurice's Jubilee by Nicola MacAuliffe, Lady Jealous Traffick in The Busy Body nominated for Best Ensemble in the Offie Awards 2012, Matron in Doctor in the House, 3 Noel Coward plays... Norah in Star Quality, Cherry May in Nude With Violin ,Ruth in Blithe Spirit. Fraulein Schneider in Cabaret; Morse, House of Ghosts; The Lady's Not For Burning; Tsarina Alexandra in Killing Rasputin; Fairy Godmother in Cinderella; Narrator in Peter Pan; Anna in The Rink; Sister Wendy in The Sister Wendy Musical; Mrs Higgins and Mrs Pearce in My Fair Lady; Oliver!; Cole; and John Gould's Betjemania in London and New York.
TV/film includes: Unforgotten, Romany Jones , Rude Health, The Needle Match, the Bill, Father Dear Father, Bless This House, the Agatha Christie Hour, Barbara, The Ups and Downs of a Handyman, Lace, A Christmas Carol (2005). Gay was also the voice of all the characters and narration of The Flumps for BBC Childrens TV.
Opera/Operetta: Mad Margaret in Ruddigore, Marcellina in Figaro, Prascovia in The Merry Widow, Buttercup in HMS Pinafore, Ruth in Pirates of Penzance (Regents Park),Kurt Weill's Street Scene, The Ratepayers Iolanthe.
Recordings: many original cast albums, and a solo album Flying Fish and Fallen Angels (www.dresscircle.co.uk). Cabaret work includes Pizza on the Park , Jermyn Street Theatre.
