Waterperry Opera Festival
Young Artist Programme
Meet our festival team, a group of artists heading up the Waterperry Opera Festival
Rebecca Meltzer
Associate Artistic Director
Based in London, Rebecca Meltzer is a Associate Artistic Director of the Waterperry Opera Festival. She works as an Opera Director, Movement Director and Movement Teacher, her practice being inspired by her love of interdisciplinary performance, uniting her backgrounds in classical music, fine art and dance.
​Following a Bachelors in Music at Durham University, Rebecca undertook a Masters degree in Movement Directing and Teaching at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. She has since worked with companies and institutions including the Royal Opera House, Wexford Festival Opera, Opera Holland Park, British Youth Opera, National Opera Studio at Welsh National Opera, Iford Arts, Bury Court Opera, Dorset Opera Festival, The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, Blackheath Halls Opera, The Royal Academy of Music and Tête à Tête.
www.rebeccameltzer.co.uk
Guy Withers
Artistic Director & CEO
Guy Withers is a theatre-maker and creative producer from Bristol, and a Artistic Director & CEO of the Waterperry Opera Festival. He is Artistic Director of performance collective Indomitable through which he has developed Arts Council England funded performance and outreach projects challenging the forms of music, theatre and opera.
With a keen interest in R&D, he has also developed work with Mahogany Opera Group, Complicite, Aix-en-Provence Festival, The Theatre Royal Bath, Helios Collective, English Touring Opera and Dance Umbrella. In addition Guy has worked for a number of companies focusing on Learning and Participation; including Glyndebourne Education, Royal Academy of Music Open Academy and Opera Holland Park Inspire Programme. Guy is also an award-winning tenor and a trained puppeteer and regularly performs with choirs and major opera companies nationally.
www.guywithers.co.uk
Bertie Baigent
Bertie Baigent is Music Director of the Waterperry Opera Festival, and is rapidly building an international reputation as a dynamic young conductor-composer. Apart from his work at Waterperry, Bertie is Assistant Conductor of the Colorado Symphony and Principal Guest Conductor of the Denver Young Artists Orchestra; other groups he has worked with include the Dallas Symphony, the Britten Sinfonia, and Shadwell Opera.
​In 2018 he was the youngest semi-finalist in the London Symphony Orchestra Donatella Flick Conducting Competition. Bertie's compositions have been performed in venues such as the Royal Festival Hall and St Paul's Cathedral, and he has been awarded prizes and commissions by institutions such as the BBC and the Royal Philharmonic Society. Bertie graduated with a double first from the University of Cambridge in 2016, and subsequently completed his master's in conducting at the Royal Academy of Music.
​www.bertiebaigent.com
Christopher Webb (Chairman)
Anna Farthing
John Meltzer
Judith Tew
Mark Wilde
Robert Withers
Waterperry Opera Festival is a registered charity. Registered Charity Number 1177966.
Waterperry Opera Festival is a registered charity.
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