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The Royal Welsh College Announces John Fisher as Artistic Director of the David Seligman Opera School

27 November 2018

Continuing its ambitious plan for the development of its international opera training provision, the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama is delighted to announce the appointment of John Fisher as the first Artistic Director of the David Seligman Opera School.

John Fisher has been the Hodge International Chair in Opera at the College, and this new post is also generously funded by the Hodge Foundation

A hugely respected and experienced figure across the opera world, John is Assistant General Manager at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He will take up the post of Artistic Director of the David Seligman Opera School at the College in August 2019.

“I have had a long association with the College and, as International Chair of Opera over the last few years in particular with the opera/vocal department, under the excellent and expert leadership of Angela Livingstone,” said John.

“Over these last years, the profile and reputation of the College in general, and the vocal/opera department in particular, have soared, making it without doubt, now one of the foremost “go to” places for advanced training in voice and opera in the world.

I am very much looking forward to having a more consistent role in continuing this growth, and to help shape and hone the extraordinary resources available at RWCMD.”

Maestro Carlo Rizzi, Conductor Laureate of WNO and a President of the Opera School who regularly conducts and mentors its students said, “John is one of the leading figures in the world of vocal coaching and vocal expertise. He has collaborated at the highest level with singers and conductors, and is greatly respected throughout the world.

During his tenure at WNO, and at The Metropolitan Opera, it’s been an honour to collaborate with John across many productions and recordings. He brings unparalleled knowledge and artistry as well as a heart-felt commitment to developing young singers.”

Recently appointed Principal at the Royal Welsh College Helena Gaunt, and Angela Livingstone, Head of Opera welcome this appointment as a further advancement to the College’s opera offer,

“John’s appointment will provide a learning environment where our singers and repetiteurs can work with one of the foremost figures in the opera world,” Said Angela.

”We’re delighted that this continues the extraordinary advances made at the College over the last few years, thanks in no small part to the relationships we have with our professional colleagues, our friends at WNO, and in particular our own vocal studies staff.

We are all so grateful to the Hodge Foundation and to David Seligman who continues to support the work of the Opera School which bears his name.”

Also, as announced last week, together with Opera Rara, the College’s has acquired The Foyle Opera Rara Collection, a major collection of historical research material relating to 19th-century Italian opera and a unique resource of international significance for scholars and performers.

The College was able to make this acquisition as a result of a generous gift from The Foyle Foundation. This Collection will be available for public and academic access later next year.

Editor’s notes:
As one of the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World panel of judges, Angela Livingstone is currently travelling the globe auditioning singers for the prestigious competition, visiting opera houses in Vienna, Moscow,Paris, Oslo and Hamburg. The Cardiff Singer Song Prize will take place at the College in June 2019.

Recent Student Successes:

Trystan Llyr Griffiths, who last year signed a multi-album recording deal with Decca, finished his training at National Opera Studio. Trystan joined the International Opera Studio in Zurich as a Young Artist and has sung principal roles with Welsh National Opera, Scottish Opera and Opera North, as well as working with Opéra National de Lorraine, Zürich Opera among others.

Following from her critically acclaimed performance in WNO’s La Forza del Destino, Justina Gringyte will perform, alongside Joyce El-Khoury, in Roberta Devereux in Spring 2019, once again for WNO, and conducted by Carlo Rizzi.

Christine Byrne, a current student from New York, will play Ninetta in Les Vêpres Siciliennes for WNO in 2020, again conducted by Carlo Rizzi

Blaise Malaba 2016 is a CSOW finalist and graduated from opera course in 2018. He’s currently artist at ENO and recipient of International Opera Award Bursary.

Andrii Ganchuk, baritone, is also International Opera Award Bursary, and currently Young Artist at Teatro Lirico, Rome, singing Masetto in Don Giovanni.

Rhodri Jones, graduated 2018, is currently in WNO’s War and Peace, singing alongside Samantha Price, recent Harewood Artist at ENO.
The David Seligman Opera School

Established in 2017 the David Seligman Opera School provides a unique vocational training environment in which the concept of ‘company’ is at the centre of its working ethos. Building on the College’s track record in the field of opera over the last ten years, and in association with Welsh National Opera, the School provides professional level opportunities for students to work with, and learn from, leading international artists and practitioners. In addition to specialist programmes of study for signers, directors and repetiteurs, the Opera School also encompasses opportunities for orchestral performers, conductors and stage managers, designers and composers to work together in a world-class environment. In all areas, the School seeks to provide pathways into the profession for current and future generations of talented students. This year has also seen the launch of a ground-breaking course in Opera Directing, created by the College’s Hodge International Chair in Directing, Martin Constantine.

The work of the David Seligman Opera School at the College, in association with WNO, ensures that Wales continues to produce some of the world’s leading artistic operatic talent, enabling emerging artists to train alongside some of the leading figures in opera today. Sir Bryn Terfel, Rebecca Evans and Sir Brian McMaster, along with Hodge International Chair in Conducting Carlo Rizzi, and David Pountney form a Circle of Presidents for the School, bringing with them an extraordinarily rich and diverse pool of expertise, knowledge and insight from the international world of Opera.

John Fisher

John Fisher studied at Glasgow University and the Royal Academy of Music & Drama and The London Opera Centre. His career, which began as Music Director of Welsh National Opera’s ‘Opera for All’ project, has included work at the Théâtre à la Monnaie (Brussels), Nederlands Opera (Amsterdam), La Scala (Milan), where he was also Artistic Administrator, and as the first non-Italian to be appointed Artistic Director in a state-funded Italian opera house, at the Teatro alla Fenice (Venice). He was Director of Opera and Vocal Productions and Executive Producer at Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft, Hamburg, and Director of Music Administration at the Metropolitan Opera, New York. In 2006, he took up the post of Chief Executive and Artistic Director at Welsh National Opera, a role he held for five years. He subsequently returned to the Metropolitan opera as Assistant General Manager.

John has collaborated throughout his career with the industry’s most distinguished conductors, including Claudio Abbado, Carlos Kleiber and Sir Georg Solti. He has also worked extensively with many of the world’s greatest opera stars, notably José Carreras, Marilyn Horne, Luciano Pavarotti and Dame Joan Sutherland. John’s recent work in New York has also featured engagement with the Young Artists programme at the Metropolitan Opera and at the world-renowned Juilliard School. As Hodge International Chair in Opera since 2015 he has been a regular visiting artist at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama working with many young singers on the College’s Masters programme in Advanced Opera Performance.

The Foyle Foundation
The Foyle Foundation is an independent grant making trust that distributes grants to UK charities. It was formed to implement the terms of the will of the late Christina Foyle in 2000. The Foundation operates a Main Grants Scheme which supports Arts and Learning charities across the UK and operates a Small Grants Scheme to provide core funding for small grassroots charities addressing local needs. In addition, it funds The Foyle School Library Scheme, a national literacy initiative to reequip primary school libraries, and also funds the Foyle Future Firsts orchestral training programme with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and in partnership with the Poetry Society supports the Foyle Young Poets of the Year competition, the premier international competition for young poets aged 11 -17. The Foundation is governed by a Board of Trustees, the Chairperson is Michael Smith and the Foundation’s Chief Executive is David Hall.

Opera Rara

For over 40 years, Opera Rara has painstakingly restored forgotten operatic gems, bringing them to the concert hall and committing them to disc. Opera Rara’s extensive back catalogue now includes 122 recordings of which 40 are world premiere studio recordings of full operas. In addition to its continued focus on the bel canto repertory, under the artistic direction of Sir Mark Elder, Opera Rara’s repertoire has extended to 19th-century French repertoire and the verismo works from the turn of the 20th-century. Opera Rara last week recorded and performed the original-one act version of Puccini’s first stage work Le Willis at the Royal Festival Hall which will be released in September 2019.

In March they will release the world première recording of Donizetti’s L’Ange de Nisida, first performed in collaboration with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in July.

Welsh National Opera

Welsh National Opera was founded in 1943 by a group of people from across South Wales including miners, teachers and doctors. They wanted to forge an opera company befitting Wales’ rich reputation as the ‘Land of Song’. The energy which drives the company today is rooted in its formation in the 1940s.

Welsh National Opera believes in the power of opera to transform lives. Its mission is to bring the power, drama and raw emotion of opera to as wide an audience as possible in performances, marked by an uncompromising quest for artistic quality. As a national company with international status, it sits at the heart of music-making in Wales and plays a valuable role in the communities it serves in England. The company works with its partners, notably the David Seligman Opera School at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama to discover and nurture young operatic talent and provide the springboard for international careers.

Touring is the lifeblood of the organisation and it strives to present the highest quality work across its artistic programme, entertaining and inspiring audiences at operas and concerts and providing transformative experiences through youth and community work. Building on its 70-year history and its roots in the communities of South Wales, WNO aims to demonstrate to future generations that opera is a rewarding, relevant and universal art form. More than any other company, WNO opens up the world of opera to everyone.