Lust & Laughter

Our Young Artists will present an extraordinary showcase, featuring scenes from our residencies with the Welsh National Opera and Scottish Opera, in a special performance at Sinfonia Smith Square. Accompanied by the award-winning English National Opera Orchestra, the programme will explore captivating scenes from operas spanning the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries.

Conductor – Rory Macdonald

A dynamic presence in both the opera house and concert hall, Rory Macdonald’s conducting combines intellectual rigour with passionate engagement. With a notably wide repertoire from Dowland to MacMillan, his collegiate approach has led to many successful collaborations with leading artists and production teams.
Recent highlights include La bohème for Glyndebourne which resulted in an immediate re-invitation as well as returns to Oper Frankfurt (Le Nozze di Figaro) and Opera Theater of Saint Louis (The Magic Flute). In the last few seasons he has returned regularly to the Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra amongst others, as well as making successful debuts with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, Romeo Castellucci’s staging of Requiem at the Adelaide Festival and Peter Grimes at the Brisbane Festival. Rory returns to the US for several symphonic debuts in the 2024/2025 season. Passionate about new music, Rory has conducted the premieres of works by composers including Sally Beamish, Sir James MacMillan, Geoffrey Gordon and Carl Vine.
Rory made his debut with Oper Frankfurt in 2018/19 with Così fan tutte and has conducted new productions of Die Zauberflöte for Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Royal Danish Opera and Opera Australia. Other highlights include a return to Gothenburg Opera for Stephen Langridge’s production of Le nozze di Figaro; Hänsel und Gretel; Il barbiere di Siviglia (Royal Opera House); Fra Diavolo (Teatro dell’Opera di Roma); Carmen (Santa Fe Opera, Canadian Opera, Teatro São Carlos); Ariadne aux Naxos (Opera Theatre of Saint Louis); The Cunning Little Vixen (Bergen National Opera); La Fanciulla del West (Grange Park Opera) and A Village Romeo and Juliet (Wexford Festival).
He has led many acclaimed productions of works by Britten, including new productions of Owen Wingrave and A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the Royal Opera House; Albert Herring for Glyndebourne; The Turn of the Screw with Mark Padmore at the Vienna Konzerthaus; A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Lyric Opera of Chicago, and The Rape of Lucretia at Houston Grand Opera.
Rory’s discography includes Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy with Nicola Benedetti for Decca as well as highly acclaimed discs for Hyperion, Chandos and Linn Records. Two further discs are due for release later this year with the RSNO including works by Anna Clyne and James MacMillan.

Director – Emma Jenkins

Emma began her career working at ENO as a staff director after which she went on to direct the world premiere of Mark Anthony Turnage’s The Country of the Blind for ENO at the Aldeburgh Festival and the QEH.

Between 2017-2024 she directed National Opera Studio residencies at WNO and Scottish Opera. Other directing credits include Strauss’s Daphne in 2023 for Scottish Opera at Glasgow Theatre Royal, the Lammermuir Festival and the Usher Hall and also the 2022/23 Opera Highlights tour. Earlier this year she directed Massenet’s Cendrillon at RCS.

As librettist she has written In Parenthesis (composer Iain Bell –WNO 2016), Rhondda Rips it Up (composer: Elena Langer- WNO 2018), Jack the Ripper – The Women of Whitechapel (composer: Iain Bell – ENO 2019), Song of the Heartland (composer: Will Todd – Opera North 2020), she was co-translator for the UK premiere of Philip Glass’s Orphée (ENO 2019). Her most recent libretto commission Blaze of Glory (composer: David Hackbridge Johnson – WNO 2023) was nominated for both a UK Theatre Award and International Opera Award. In May 2023 she wrote and presented, a three part radio series about the history of the libretto called “The Little Book” which aired on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Sounds. She has also written the libretti for two short operas Told by an Idiot and In Flagrante (composer Toby Hession) which were performed by Scottish Opera as part of the 2022 and 2023 Opera Highlights Tour. Future plans include a new opera A Matter of Misconduct for which she has written the libretto which will premiere at Scottish Opera in 2025.