Skip over main navigation
  • Log in
  • Basket: (0 items)
National Opera Studio
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • Tiktok
Book tickets Donate
Menu
  • About us
    • Our story
      • History
      • Who we are
      • Vision and mission
      • The difference we make
    • Our team
      • Board
      • Sounding Board
      • Coaches
      • Staff
    • Opportunities
    • Our partners
    • Press and media
    • Annual reports
    • Policies
    • Contact Us
  • Training
    • Global Talent Programme
    • Diverse Voices
    • Short courses
    • FAQs
  • What's on
  • Support us
    • Why you should support us
    • Become a Friend
    • Be a donor
    • Current supporters
  • Artists and alumni
    • 2023/24 Young Artists
    • Alumni
  • Venue hire
    • Spaces for hire
    • Filming and Livestreaming
  • Discover more
    • News
    • Articles
    • Videos
    • Living Opera
  • Admin
    • Log in
  • Basket: (0 items)
  1. About us
  2. Our team
  3. Coaches

Our coaches

Each year, we work with a number of industry-leading coaches to provide the very best training for our Young Artists.

 

Coaches

(Including but not limited to):

Susan Bullock CBE

Music and Vocal

Expand

Susan Bullock’s unique position as one of the world’s most sought-after British dramatic sopranos was recognised by the award of a CBE (Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) in June 2014.

One of her most distinctive roles, Wagner’s Brünnhilde has garnered outstanding praise leading Susan to become the first ever soprano to sing four consecutive cycles of Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Royal Opera House under Sir Antonio Pappano. Appearances as Richard Strauss’ Elektra have brought her equal international acclaim and collaborations with leading conductors including Fabio Luisi, Semyon Bychkov, Seiji Ozawa, Sir Mark Elder and Edo de Waart. 

Susan continues to expand into new repertoire including Kostelnička (Jenůfa) for Grange Park Opera, Minnie (La fanciulla del West) for English National Opera, Mother and The Witch (Hänsel und Gretel) for Opera North, Mrs Lovett (Sweeney Todd) for Houston Grand Opera, Mother in Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Greek at the Edinburgh International Festival and with Scottish Opera and, further ahead, adds Klytaemnestra (Elektra) Canadian Opera.

Published: 1st January, 2014

Updated: 13th January, 2022

Author:

Share this page
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Maria Cleva

Italian

Expand

Maria Cleva has been coaching at The Royal Opera, Covent Garden for over thirty years. She has also coached at the WNO, Opera North, Scottish Opera, Glyndebourne Festival. Her other coaching credits include the Marinsky Academy, St. Petersburg, the Munich State Opera and the Vienna State Opera.

Maria has worked on many recordings as Italian coach for Deutschegrammophone, Philips and Decca with Sir Colin Davis, Sir Neville Marriner, Sir Georg Solti, Trevor Pinnock CBE and Sir John Elliot Gardner among others.

She teaches at the Royal College of Music, Royal Academy of Music and the National Opera Studio.

Published: 1st April, 2014

Updated: 1st October, 2018

Author:

Share this page
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Florence Daguerre de Hureaux

French

Expand

Born in Paris, Florence settled in London in 1982, trained as a singer at the Royal Academy of Music in London and at the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles. She is now in great demand as a French coach, and has been working in music colleges and opera houses in England and Europe for the last 30 years: Glyndebourne, ROH, Salzburg Festival, La Scala, Stockholm Royal Opera, Danish Royal Opera, New Israeli Opera, De Nederlandse Opera, Korea National Opera, Teatro Real, Wielki Theatre Warsaw etc. As well as lecturing and doing pre-concert talks, she has worked with many distinguished singers in preparation for operatic roles, recitals and recordings. Florence loves working with young artists and is a staff member at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the Royal Academy of Music, the National Opera Studio and the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme at ROH.

Florence is a co-founder and director of the Academy of French Song and Opera

Published: 1st May, 2014

Updated: 1st October, 2018

Author:

Share this page
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Matteo Dalle Fratte

Italian

Expand

Matteo Dalle Fratte is an Italian language coach, musicologist and Italian tenor, who studied at the University of Padua and with Paolo Badoer, a pupil of Gilda Dalla Rizza, Puccini’s favourite soprano.


In addition to his role as Italian language coach at the National Opera Studio since 2010, Matteo is a Professor of Italian at the Guildhall School, where he completed a Research Fellowship in Italian phonetics for opera in 2013. He is also an Italian coach on the ROH Jette Parker Young Artists Programme and visiting Professor at RCM, RCS and RWCMD.


In 2014, Matteo founded Melofonetica to promote the correct use of Italian language in opera. With Melofonetica Academy, Matteo leads courses in the UK and Italy, using his research-based Melofonetica Method®, which helps singers and other music professionals develop their skills in sung Italian.


Since 2010 Matteo has coached opera productions for the Royal Opera House, Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s Monteverdi Choir & Orchestras, Welsh National Opera, Opera North, Grange Park Opera, Classical Opera, Nevill Holt Opera, Arcangelo, La nuova musica, Opera Settecento and Opera Rara.

Published: 1st June, 2014

Updated: 1st October, 2018

Author:

Share this page
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Dominik Dengler

German

Expand

Published: 1st August, 2014

Updated: 1st October, 2018

Author:

Share this page
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Seb Harcombe

Stanislavsky Method

Expand

Seb originally read music at London University but changed direction to study acting at RADA. After 15 years of performing with major UK companies (including the RSC and National Theatre), he became a director and teacher. He has been Head of Acting at RADA and Drama Centre London. Recent UK productions as director include A Waste of Time (Proust), After Troy (Glyn Maxwell), Therese Raquin (Zola), The Illusion (Corneille), A Bright Room Called Day (Kushner), Billy Budd (Melville), Ladybird (Sigarev), La Dispute, (Marivaux), Electra (Sophocles/Payne), Bloody Poetry (Brenton), and the operas La voix humane, Eugene Onegin, Idomeneo and Dido and Aeneas. Seb was made a UNESCO Theatre Ambassador in 2013, directing an all-male version of Richard the Third in Beijing (in Cantonese).

Published: 1st November, 2014

Updated: 1st October, 2018

Author:

Share this page
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Alex Ingram

Music and Vocal

Expand

Alex Ingram read Music at Cambridge, won a Piano Accompaniment Scholarship to the Guildhall, and was a Trainee Repetiteur at the NOS in its inaugural year. A fortnight later he started as a repetiteur at WNO and a year later became Assistant Chorusmaster at ENO. Then to Australia for 3 years: as Assistant and, shortly afterwards, MD of State Opera of South Australia. Returned to Europe for a year as a solorepetitor in Kiel ; subsequently invited by Mark Elder to rejoin ENO. He stayed with ENO for 17 years, conducting his first opera there in 1990. Promoted to Resident Conductor in 1998 he has since conducted more than 100 opera performances at the Coliseum as well as shows for ETO, BYO and many other smaller UK opera companies. His repertoire covers almost all the mainstream operatic favourites, including 6 Wagner operas - 5 of them at ENO, Tannhäuser at the Sydney Opera House. He has also conducted ballets at the ROH, the Bolshoi, Mariinsky, Wiener Staatsoper, the Met, Japan and China.

Published: 1st January, 2015

Updated: 1st October, 2018

Author:

Share this page
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Della Jones

Music and Vocal

Expand

Della Jones, one of Great Britain’s leading mezzo-sopranos, was born in Neath, South Wales. With a wide repertoire extending from early to contemporary music, Della has appeared with all the leading British opera companies, while foreign engagements have included performances in the U.S.A., Russia, Japan, Canada, and throughout Europe in over 200 operatic roles. Her concert appearances include engagements all over the world with leading orchestras and conductors, such as Sir Georg Solti, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Mark Elder, Sir John Eliot Gardiner and Mark Minkowski. Della Jones broadcasts regularly on radio and television both in this country and abroad and has recorded prolifically with all the major record companies in over a hundred recordings. Della is sought-after in her work coaching singers and Master Classes in Britain, around Europe and New Zealand.

Published: 1st February, 2015

Updated: 29th September, 2022

Author:

Share this page
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Kate Maravan

Meisner Technique

Expand

Kate is an actress, writer and teacher. She trained at RADA and works in Theatre, Television and Film.  She has co-written scripts for theatre, the BBC and Channel 4 and teaches on a weekly basis at The Actors Centre and at her own practice  in Exmouth Market.  

In 1997 Kate met Scott Williams and discovered the Meisner Technique and embarked on an ongoing practice and exploration of the work. She began teaching the Technique in 2000 and teaches in the UK and internationally. 

With the work firmly rooted in and focused on the Meisner Technique, Kate has been inspired by her explorations into the work of  Gabrielle Roth's 5 Rhythms Dance; Kath Burlinson, Authentic Artist Collective; Paul Oertel, Discipline of Freedom; Paula Shaw, The Max  and others, to widen and continuously develop her approach.

Published: 1st March, 2015

Updated: 1st October, 2018

Author:

Share this page
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Steven Maughan

Music and Vocal

Expand

Steven Maughan studied music at Durham University before going on to study piano accompaniment at the RNCM, and to train as a coach and répétiteur at the National Opera Studio.

Since then, Steven has worked principally at Glyndebourne where he is now a senior coach. Next season, he will work on a new production of Pelléas et Mélisande and a revival of Der Rosenkavalier, both with Robin Ticciati. Steven also works regularly for De Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam where he prepared, amongst others, Der Rosenkavalier with Sir Simon Rattle, Don Carlos with Yannick Nezet Seguin and La Fanciulla del West with Carlo Rizzi.

Steven was senior coach on The Rape of Lucretia at the ROH Covent Garden, and was music and language coach on David McVicar's new production of The Turn of the Screw at the Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, conducted by Valery Gergiev. Steven now coaches at the National Opera Studio, the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music.

Published: 1st May, 2015

Updated: 1st October, 2018

Author:

Share this page
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Rebecca Meitlis

Feldenkrais Method

Expand

Rebecca Meitlis is a Feldenkrais Practitioner, her practice focuses on performers, building on her professional experience in Opera and Creative Learning.

As well as teaching at The National Opera Studio, she is a visiting professor at the Opera Academy Teatr Wielki Warsaw, teaches at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, ALRA and the Opéra National de Bordeaux. She collaborated with Sally Burgess on a research project, The Creative Singer, at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and has been invited to teach at Exzellenz-Labor Gesang with Hedwig Fassbender

Her career in opera began when she was awarded an ACE Director’s bursary at  Scottish Opera. She was a staff director at English National Opera and co-directed the Baylis Programme with David Sulkin. She has worked for many arts and education organisations including Youth Music, Creative Partnerships and The Britten Pears Foundation.

Rebecca has published an article about her work with singers in the Journal of Theatre, Dance and Performance Training, entitled Connecting through the breath towards expressive communication in performance; an enquiry into the training of Opera singers.

Published: 1st June, 2015

Updated: 1st October, 2018

Author:

Share this page
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Florent Mourier

French

Expand

French pianist Florent Mourier is a recitalist, collaborative pianist and vocal coach. He is passionate about music making, drama, pedagogy, communication and the human voice. Florent trained in Paris, Amsterdam, the Guildhall School of Music and the National Opera Studio in London. Florent is an ENOA Young Artist, a Britten-Pears Young Artist, an Oxford Lieder Festival Master-course alumnus, a laureate of the Fondation Royaumont and a member of the Académie du Festival d’Aix-en-Provence.  Florent works as pianist/vocal coach at the Guildhall School of Music, the National Opera Studio and for the Jette Parker Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House.

Published: 1st July, 2015

Updated: 11th October, 2018

Author:

Share this page
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Martin Pacey

Music and Vocal

Expand

Martin Pacey studied piano with Sidney Harrison and Hamish Milne, and composition with Alexander Goehr. Prior to working in opera, he wrote reviews and articles on music for a variety of publications, including The Musical Times, The Listener, The Independent and The Sunday Telegraph. He is an occasional guest repetiteur for ENO, having been a full-time member of the music staff there from 1997 to 2008, and has worked freelance for Opera North, Opera Australia and La Monnaie. He was involved in ENO’s ‘Opera Works’ program for young singers from 2013 to 2017 and coaches regularly at the Royal College of Music as well as at the Studio.

Published: 1st August, 2015

Updated: 1st October, 2018

Author:

Share this page
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Margaret Papoutsis

Osteopath

Expand

Margaret has spent her entire professional life working with performers. Singers, musicians and dancers have all benefitted from her unique approach to the many challenges of a performer’s professional life.

At The National Opera Studio, Margaret specialises in the optimisation of a singer’s posture and vocal mechanics. This encourages the most effective anatomical and functional efficiency for singing.

Margaret has always favoured an holistic approach to health and successfully integrates nutrition, and other complementary therapies within her recommendations. Emphasis is placed on providing the singer or pianist with the tools to maintain health throughout their professional career.

Margaret is a Gold Medal graduate from the British School of Osteopathy (now the University College of Osteopathy) and has diplomas in Nutritional Therapy (and diet), Herbal Medicine, and Sports Nutrition. She is also an experienced Advanced Psych-K Facilitator.

Margaret is registered with the General Osteopathic Council, and British Association for Applied Nutrition and Nutritional Therapy (BANT).

Published: 1st September, 2015

Updated: 1st October, 2018

Author:

Share this page
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Michael Pollock

Music and Vocal

Expand

Michael Pollock won a Demyship in music to Magdalen College, Oxford before going to the Royal College of Music to study piano accompaniment with Roger Vignoles.  At the age of 21 he was appointed to the music staff of Welsh National Opera and over the next 20 years he prepared the casts for more than 75 operas (working closely with conductors such as Sir Reginald Goodall, Pierre Boulez, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Richard Armstrong and Carlo Rizzi).  He also worked on several contemporary operas for Music Theatre Wales.

He is Consultant Coach for the Harewood Artists at English National Opera, and a regular guest coach at the National Opera Studio as well as the opera schools of the Royal Academy of Music (where he has been awarded an Honorary Associateship), the Royal College of Music, and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (of which he is an Honorary Fellow).  He frequently prepares complete operatic roles for singers such as Sarah Connolly, Rebecca Evans, Sara Fulgoni, Natalya Romaniw and Gwyn Hughes Jones. 

Published: 1st October, 2015

Updated: 1st October, 2018

Author:

Share this page
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Peter Robinson

Music and Vocal

Expand

Peter Robinson MA(Oxon) FRCO Hon ARAM has been coaching at the NOS every year since 1981. A vastly experienced opera conductor, he has held staff positions at Glyndebourne (Chorus Master 1972-73), Opera Australia (Head of Music Staff and Resident Conductor 1974-80) and English National Opera (Assistant Music Director 1981-89).

Since 1989 he jas been a freelance conductor and coach, working for many companies in the UK and Australia, including ENO, Scottish Opera, ETO, Opera Holland Park, Raymond Gubbay Ltd at the RAH, Opera Australia, Opera Queensland, State Opera of South Australia and West Australian Opera.

He was Artistic Director of British Youth Opera (2006-14). He conducts and  coaches regularly for GSMD and RAM, and also works at RCM and the ROH Jette Parker Young Artists Programme.

The many eminent singers with whom he has worked over the years include Dame Joan Sutherland, Dame Kiri te Kanawa, Dame Felicity Lott, Rosalind Plowright, Susan Bullock, Dame Felicity Palmer, Sarah Walker, Della Jones, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Sir Thomas Allen, Norman Bailey, Sir John Tomlinson, and former NOS Directors Kathryn Harries, Donald Maxwell and Richard Van Allan.

Published: 1st November, 2015

Updated: 1st October, 2018

Author:

Share this page
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Andrew Greenan

Vocal

Expand

Andrew Greenan was brought up in an Anglo-French household; until the age of three, French was the only language he spoke. He is also one quarter Russian and fluent in German.

He was a Choral Scholar at St John's College Cambridge, where he also read Modern Languages, then went on to study at the Royal Northern College of Music with John Cameron.

A formative period as a Company Principal at English National Opera led to an international career which has taken him to the world's leading opera houses, including the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Paris, Vienna, Brussels, Prague, San Francisco, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Seattle, Beijing, Geneva, Hamburg, Bordeaux, Auckland, San Diego, Nancy and the Metropolitan Opera New York. Among his unusually broad repertoire he is particularly noted both for the dramatic Wagner roles and the operas of Benjamin Britten, collaborating with, among many others, Sir Gerog Solti, Bernard Haitink KBE, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Colin Davis, Sir Antonio Pappano, Sir Mark Elder, Sir Donald Runnicles, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Semyon Bychkov and Andris Nelsons.

He delights in working alongside his younger colleagues as coach, mentor and guide, in tandem with his ongoing operatic commitments.

Andrew's many interests include his vast CD collection, real ale, politics and cats

Published: 5th October, 2021

Author:

Share this page
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
Back to top

Latest

  • Diverse Voices Focus Week

    Diverse Voices Focus Week

    November 2023

    For the very first time, as part of our Diverse voices initiative, we hosted a Focus Week for singers supported by the programme. Countertenor Joshua Elmore shares his experience.

  • My NOS Story: Josef Ahn

    My NOS Story: Josef Ahn

    Baritone Josef Ahn (2022/23 Young Artist) returns to the Studio to share his story of his time at the Studio and his exciting journey to the Royal Opera House as one of the artists on their Jette Parker Artists Programme.

  • Masterclass with Katarina Karnéus

    Masterclass with Katarina Karnéus

    Friday 12 January 2023, 3pm
    Blackburn Hall, National Opera Studio

    Swedish Mezzo-soprano Katarina Karnéus leads a masterclass for our Young Artists, live at the Studio's Blackburn Hall.

    £5 (Free for students)

  • Wandsworth Wednesday: Free Lunchtime Recital

    Wandsworth Wednesday: Free Lunchtime Recital

    Wednesday 24 January 2024, 1.15pm
    Blackburn Hall, National Opera Studio

    A Wandsworth Wednesday recital live from the Studio's Blackburn Hall featuring the artists on our National Talent Programme.

Most read

  • Applying as a singer

    Applying as a singer

    Explore here for further information about application procedures, audition guidelines and frequently asked questions.

    Applications for our 2024/25 Global Talent Programme now open.

    Deadline Wednesday 3 January 2024

  • 2023/24 Young Artists

    Find out about our Young Artists, with individual biographies, and downloadable media.

  • About the programme

    About the programme

    Find out more about our intensive programme for singers and repetiteurs.

  • Current Vacancies

    Current Vacancies

    Join the National Opera Studio team, and play an integral role in securing the future of opera.

  • 2022/23 Young Artist Programme - Apply now

    2022/23 Young Artist Programme - Apply now

    December 2021

    Applications for singers and repetiteurs to audition for our 2022/23 Young Artists' Programme are now open.

  • Diverse Voices

    Diverse Voices

    The National Opera Studio takes the lead, along with UK opera companies and training organisations, to create partnerships and initiatives that encourage more diversity on our opera stages.

  • Applying as a repetiteur

    Applying as a repetiteur

    Explore here for further information about application procedures, audition guidelines and frequently asked questions.

    Applications for our 2024/25 Global Talent Programme now open.

    Deadline Monday 19 February 2024

  • Emily Gottlieb

    Chief Executive

  • Announcing the 2018/19 National Opera Studio Young Artists

    Announcing the 2018/19 National Opera Studio Young Artists

    We are delighted to announce our 2018/19 Young Artists, who will join the National Opera Studio's intensive nine-month Training Programme from September.

  • Who we are

    Who we are

    The National Opera Studio exists to train talented young musicians to become the leading artists of their generation. We aim to make a significant contribution to the opera ecology and the wider creative and cultural life of the UK through the provision of top-quality professional training, and by our engagement and position in the sector.

Sign up to our mailing list

Please enter your first name
Please enter your last name
Please enter your email address Please enter a valid email address (e.g. [email protected])

In partnership with:

Supported by:

    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • Tiktok
  • Login
  • Logout
  • Manager
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Sitemap
  • Accessibility
  • Terms & Conditions

National Opera Studio – a charitable company limited by guarantee.
Registered in England No. 01332955 | Registered Charity No. 274755

Manage Cookie Preferences