Ben Smart is a young Scottish Tenor from a small village in the East Neuk of Fife. Ben is about to enter his final undergraduate year of Vocal Studies at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. A late entry into the world of music as he was more likely to be found on the rugby pitch during his school years, a sport which to this day still remains a huge passion. An injury ended his playing career and he sought distraction in the school music department. Encouraged by his music teacher’s he pursued his new passion with the discipline and approach he had previously reserved for the rugby pitch.  

Ben has been involved in Scottish Opera Young Company’s productions of The Tsar has his Photograph Taken and also the specially commissioned modern opera Rubble. He was also awarded a place with Scotlands National Youth Choir . During his time at RCS Ben has been part of the Chamber Choir and the RCS Choir with performances on BBC Scotland.

As well as being invited to perform with RCS Opera students in their production of Indomeneo and Carmen as part of the chorus team. Ben has also performed at a number of private recital dinners at the prestigious Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews for their membership. This summer has seen him involved for the first time with Dorset Opera as part of the supporting chorus in their production of Madama Butterfly and Under the Greenwood Tree.

Lucy Breakwell is a soprano from Dorset studying at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. Lucy, 20, is in her second year of study on the GRNCM Joint Course, a prestigious undergraduate program working towards degrees from both the Royal Northern College of Music (BMus) and the University of Manchester (MusB), under the guidance of her principal study tutor, Yvonne Howard. 

Lucy’s initial exposure to classical singing and opera came when she successfully auditioned for the children’s chorus of La Bohème with the Dorset Opera Festival in 2018. Since then, she has performed in other local operas, including the world premiere of Push (Howard Moody) with the Salisbury Festival Group later that year.

Since studying in Manchester, Lucy has performed in Elgar’s The Kingdom with the Hallé Choir, conducted by Sir Mark Elder, as well as the Manchester premiere of Bernstein’s Mass for the RNCM’s 50th anniversary celebrations – both at the renowned Bridgewater Hall. Most recently, Lucy performed in the chorus for Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Snow Maiden at the RNCM (2023) and has sung in a number of lunchtime concerts organised by the University of Manchester’s Music Society in the Cosmo Rodewald Concert Hall. Also last year, Lucy was highly commended in the RNCM’s Elsie Thurston Prize. 

This summer, Lucy was awarded a full bursary to perform in the choruses of the Dorset Opera Festival’s productions of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly and Paul Carr’s Under the Greenwood Tree (world premiere), as well as a gala concert in celebration of the festival’s 50th anniversary.

Stefan is a young bass-baritone, pursuing a career in singing. Having grown up in Dorchester, he attended The Thomas Hardye School and discovered his singing voice during Sixth Form.

As a previous choral scholar of Dorchester Choral Society, he performed the roles of Pilate in Bach's St. John Passion and Herod in Schütz's Christmas Story, as well as the the baritone solos in Derek Bourgeois’ Jabberwocky and Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem. He also sang the bass solo in Stainer's Crucifixion at St. Peter's Church, Dorchester, where he has performed numerous recitals.

Stefan is studying the voice avidly through self-tuition, and is particularly inspired by the likes of Cesare Siepi and George London. He is also gaining fluency in Italian, and with this passion for languages, he relished singing Lieder and French song for his Diploma taken in 2022

Laura hopes to make surprising, beautiful theatre which forefronts the joy of creation, searches for truth amongst the chaos and finds magic in the mundane. 

She is the Resident Director with Apropos Theatre, with whom she recently directed Terrence the T-Rex at the Edinburgh Fringe. (‘Something very special indeed’ - The New Current.) With Apropos, she is now in the research and development stage of a new piece of children’s theatre. 

Upcoming work as a director also includes Salt and Noise, currently in R&D with Blue Hour Productions. 

Laura is also a filmmaker and recently co-produced an independent documentary about London’s Laundrettes called Washing Away - www.instagram.com/washingawaydoc

You can hear Laura's podcast - Artists' Impressions - here: shows.acast.com/artists-impressions

Oleksandr Filiak is a Ukrainian conductor currently studying with Sian Edwards at the Royal Academy of Music, London.
His upcoming engagements include conducting a production of  W.A. Mozart's "Bastien et Bastienne" at The Holme Amphitheatre in Dorset and making his debut at the "Tete a Tete" festival in London.
Recently, the world premiere of the opera "King Stakh's Wild Hunt" by O. Podgaiskaya at the Barbican Theater, for which Oleksandr had been assisting at the beginning of this season, was nominated for the "Laurence Olivier Awards 2024" in the category of "Outstanding Achievement in Opera".

Other recent opera productions he has successfully assisted for include J.F. Handel's "Ariodante" at the Royal Academy of Music, R. Dove's "The Monster in the Maze," and L. van Beethoven's "Fidelio" at the Theater und Orchester Heidelberg. During his time at the Royal Academy of Music, Oleksandr has received coaching from esteemed conductors including Sir Mark Elder, Edward Gardner, John Wilson, Alice Farnham, and Daniel Capps.
Oleksandr's musical journey began as a pianist and horn player. He obtained a BA with honors in Piano from the National Music Academy of Ukraine and received training as an organist and harpsichord player. 

Jack is a filmmaker from South London. He primarily films theatrical productions for the west-end and UK. He also has experience filming live arena concerts, events and documentary pieces. He has recently worked as a camera operator on The Lion King, Hadestown, Stranger Things: The First Shadow, Michael Buble: The Higher Tour 2023 and Strictly Come Dancing Live Tour. He recently directed the ‘Terrence the T-Rex’ Trailer and multi-camera archive film for Apropos Theatre and music video ‘Boudoir Tears’ for music artist ‘Pixia’. His passion project, a mockumentary called ‘The Panda’, which he created with Jonah Mann, won an award at the ‘Night of Comedy Shorts’ festival in Milan and received an official selection for the Serbest International Film Festival. 

As well as being behind the camera, he has performed on the stage, produced theater and lighting designed for some amateur productions in London. His routes to opera (although thin) started when he performed in the Royal Opera Houses’ revival production of ‘Gloriana’ in 2013.

You can find more information and his showreel here: www.jacksullivanfilm.com