Download Speakers` Biographies Crossing Borders Conference

Speakers’ Biographies
Crossing Borders Conference
Het Muziektheater, Amsterdam
13-16 November 2008
Artists Leaders - Creative Residencies
Rachel Leach
Rachel Leach was born in Sheffield. Whilst studying with Simon Bainbridge at the Guildhall
School of Music and Drama, she completed pieces for the BBC Singers, London
Contemporary Dance School, London Sinfonietta and the Philharmonia Orchestra. Erratic
Static her second string quartet won the Dorothy Adams String Quartet Prize, and a setting
of Sylvia Plath’s Edge won the first Tracey Chadwell memorial prize. Rachel has also
studied with Robert Saxton and Jane Manning at Opera Lab, and with Louis Andreissen at
Dartington. Recent commissions include Tantivy for LSO and Voithia, a children’s opera for
English Touring Opera. Rachel’s music has been recorded by NMC and published by Faber.
Rachel is heavily involved in education. She has worked within the education departments
of many orchestras and opera companies including the London Sinfonietta, Philharmonia
Orchestra, Wigmore Hall, Glyndebourne Opera, English National Opera, Opera North.
Furthermore she completed a year as the Edward Heath Assistant Animateur at the London
Symphony Orchestra. Rachel has completed twelve commissions for LSO Discovery for
children and community groups and nine community operas. She is the resident composer
for Three Strange Angels (percussion ensemble). Rachel is increasingly in demand as a
concert presenter. She is the presenter of the LSO St Lukes lunchtime concert series and
regularly presents children’s concerts and pre-concert events for LSO and London
Sinfonietta.
[email protected]
Tim Yealland
Tim read English at Cambridge, and then studied singing at the Guildhall School of Music in
London, and at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich. As an opera singer he sang the titlerole in Don Giovanni and Schaunard in La Bohème for ETO, The Martyrdom of St Magnus
(Maxwell Davies) and The Pilot’s Consent (Hindemith) for Opera Factory, London
Sinfonietta, The Hunchback of Notre Dame for Opera Factory, Zurich; extensive work also
for English National Opera, the Royal Opera and the Batignano Festival. He has worked
also as an actor, including Robespierre in Nick Hytner’s production of The Scarlet
Pimpernel (Chichester Festival). He has led diverse community projects for The Royal
Opera, English National Opera, Opera North, London Symphony Orchestra, London
Sinfonietta, Glyndebourne, Young Vic, Welfare State, Casa da Musica (Porto), City of
London Sinfonia, Share Music, and the Philharmonia Orchestra. For 6 years he directed
Live Wires, English National Opera’s children’s group. For Opera North he has directed
O4E, a new community opera at the Lowry Centre in Manchester, and last summer Hippo
with an entire primary school in Leeds. He devised On a Dark Dark Night for Glyndebourne
at the Theatre Royal, Margate, working with disabled adults; and three times in the last
few years Turtle Opera for the Royal Opera House, a project for young people on the
autistic spectrum. He wrote, directed and designed The Will o’the Wisps for Wonderful
Beast Theatre Company. Leading the outreach work of English Touring Opera since 2002
his projects have included One Breath, a large-scale community opera in Doncaster and
Sheffield, Ice, an opera with film for teenagers, A House on the Moon, a new community
opera at the Grand Theatre in Wolverhampton, and Voithia!, an opera for primary schools.
[email protected]
Carlo Scheldwacht
Since graduating from the Toneelschool Amsterdam as an actor, Carlo Scheldwacht has
appeared with Toneelgroep Amsterdam, RO-Theater, Trust, and Theatergroep Wederzijds.
He also directs and writes. These projects include Moeder van Tuig ("Mother of Scum", a
piece of music theatre about street children in Sudan), Tarantino! (a play for young people
about violence), and the Indische Trilogie (a trilogy about Holland's colonial past). He is
currently directing Oorlog (War, a play with and for young people, loosely based on
Shakespeare's Richard II, Henry IV, prts 1 and 2, and Henry V)--for more information see:
www.jts-meeuw.nl As a teacher he has worked for, amongst others, War Child, the
Theatre & Education Course of NHL University, Internationale Theater Scholing De Nieuw
Amsterdam, and De Nederlandse Opera. He has appeared in one opera.
[email protected]
A New Cosmopolitanism
Rachida Azough
Rachida Azough is a journalist, columnist and panel chair. She studied English language
and literature and social geography at the University of Amsterdam. Between 2000 and
2007, she worked for the Dutch daily newspaper de Volkskrant. Her current post is as
creative director of Kosmopolis, the platform for intercultural dialogue. Kosmopolis works
together with its partner organisations in the four big Dutch cities and is financed by the
Dutch Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Education, Culture and Science. Kosmopolis' key
mission is to employ the power of art and culture to bring people closer together. Rachida
Azough is also a member of the National Unesco Committee.
[email protected]
Education at Het Muziektheater
Margriet Prinssen
Margriet Prinssen is head of the Education Department since 1998. She studied Dutch
literature and theatre science and graduated in 1982. She worked a long time as a
jounalist and editor, writing articles and books about theatre and dance. In 1992 she
started working as a freelancer for Het Muziektheater in different functions.
[email protected]
Lin van Ellinckhuijsen
Lin van Ellinckhuijsen studied modern dance at the Fontys Dance Academie and graduated
in 1982. She taught amongst others at the Dance Academy and the Theatre School in
Anhem, for Scapino Ballet Amsterdam and for operastudents at the Music Academy in
Amsterdam. She worked for the Youth Theater Company Wederzijds to develop
educational programs. From 1999 onwards she works at the Education Department of Het
Muziektheater.
[email protected]
Bart Hermans
Bart Hermans studied (and in some cases still studies) Civil Engineering, Art History,
Filosophy and Cultural Sciences. Bart started as a guided tourleader in 1997 and never left
Het Muziektheater since. He started working for the Education Department in 2000, first as
productional and secretarial assistant and from January 2007 onward as educational officer
for operaprojects. Apart from his work at Het Muziektheater he also plays French Horn in
several orchestras and ensembles.
[email protected]
Marco Polo in Amsterdam
Truze Lodder
Truze Lodder is Managing Director of De Nederlandse Opera. She stared her career with
Holland-America Line as assistant General Affairs/Staff Member. During the 1970s, she
worked at AVRO (Public Broadcasting Company), as Head Financial Management Radio and
Television. During the 1980s she held several management positions in
advertising/communication, before joining the De Nederlandse Opera as Managing Director
in 1987. In 1992, she became Managing Director of Het Muziektheater, and its Executive
Chairwoman in 2006. She is also actively involved of the following organizations:
Nederlandse Spoorwegen, F. van Lanschot Bankiers , I Care Productions, Universiteit
Maastricht, VSB Fonds, Stichting Praemium Erasmianum , Yo! International Youth Opera
Festival and the Stichting Literaire Activiteiten Amsterdam (SLAA).
[email protected]
Anthony Heidweiller
Anthony Heidweiller, artistic director of the Yo! Opera Festival & Laboratory developed
from singer in the chorus of De Nederlandse Opera to freelance opera maker. In 1998 he
made a flying start with Hot Hands, the Basketball Opera, performed by his own company,
Buffo Operamakers. By now he is not only singer/opera maker but also
developer/inspirator/booster of innovative forms of opera. Among others he created the
concept for Opera from the Heart (thirty 3 minutes' shopping mall opera's), Opera in de
the Bus (community opera project in coproduction with GVU city bus company) and Water
(site specific vocal journey on a water sewage plant). Apart from his work as artistic
director of the Yo! Opera Festival, Heidweiller teaches at the Royal Conservatoire the
Hague and works as freelance director.
[email protected]
Engaging Local Communities – Case Studies
Rhian Hutchings
Rhian Hutchings was born in Newport, Gwent. After attending Reading University and the
Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Rhian began her working life as a stage
manager. In 2000 she became a staff director at English National Opera, assisting various
directors including Richard Jones, Keith Warner and Neil Armfield. As a freelance director
she worked extensively with young people, directing work for WNO MAX, Music in the
Round and Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Her interest in commissioning led her
to work with Music Theatre Wales, Genesis at Almeida Opera and finally to join the WNO
MAX team as a producer. She took over as WNO MAX Director in August 2007.
[email protected]
Paul Reeve
Paul Reeve’s interest in opera and theatre began at the age of 11 when he was
chosen from the local school to appear in a production at Glyndebourne. After
graduating with a Theatre Arts degree he worked as a performer and director in
theatre and music theatre, and was involved in a number of innovative educational
projects with several arts organisations. Writing credits include a children's book
and educational television series. He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company as
Education Officer in 1994, moving to English Touring Opera as Education Manager
before joining the Royal Opera House in 2000. He was appointed Director of
Education in 2006
[email protected]
Kevin Rainey
Kevin Rainey is currently Opera Education Manager for the Royal Opera House,
Covent Garden, working to deliver a programme of educational projects primarily
focussing on the work of The Royal Opera. Kevin graduated from Exeter University
with a BA (Hons) degree in Music, where he concentrated in particular on 19th and
20th Century Opera. His previous employment includes General Manager for the
British Arts Festivals Association, Overseas Examinations Manager for Guildhall
School of Music and Drama and Administrator of Birmingham Opera Company,
where he worked with Director Graham Vick to establish large scale community
involvement in fully staged operatic works alongside professional singers and
performers.
[email protected]
Hélène Sauvez
A graduate in music, political science and arts management, Hélène Sauvez started her
career in 1995 working for a festival and a piano competition in Switzerland. She went on
to work for a chamber music organisation in Paris. She started work for the Opéra de Lyon
in 1996 as the assistant to the Lyric Studio before becoming head of the education in
1999. She is currently head of cultural development since 2004.
In her current post, Hélène Sauvez is responsible for making culture accessible to people
unfamiliar with opera, music and dance (children, students, seniors, amateur artists,
women victim of violence, hospital patients, people with learning difficulties, prisoners and
people on re-intregration programmes). She manages a programme of performances and
workshops for young people. She organises introductions to opera, professional
workshops, guided tours, open rehearsals, and opportunities to meet artists. She produces
new works that bring together professional artists and young people. She is also works
with young amateur artists and she is responsible for the Opéra de Lyon’s annual open
day. She also works with the Opera’s permanent artists, for whose professional
development she is also responsible.
[email protected]
Michael Ajzenstadt
Born in Jerusalem, Israel, Michael Ajzenstadt studied at the Hebrew University Jerusalem
(BA in English Literature and in Arabic Literature and MA in Comparative Religion – final
thesis on the Literary Sources of Wagner’s Parsifal) and at Simon Fraser University, British
Columbia, Canada (MA in English Literature, specializing in Canadian theatre). He has been
the senior classical music/opera feature writer/critic for the Jerusalem Post (Israel’s
leading daily in English) and Vesti (Israel’s leading Russian daily). For many years he has
written on the arts in general and on music, opera, theatre and dance in particular for
professional magazines and newspapers in Canada, the USA, France, Great Britain, Spain,
Sweden and Israel. He also writes program notes for classical music, dance, theatre and
opera performances in Canada, the USA and Israel and gave lectures and moderated
panels for arts organisations, symphony orchestras and opera companies in Canada, the
USA and Israel. He has served as adjudicator in singing competitions in Israel and abroad.
He is the editor and moderator of the Preview Forum demonstration lectures presented by
the Israeli Opera. As Artistic Administrator of the Israeli Opera, Michael Ajzenstadt is in
charge of casting, dramaturgical work, as well as the company’s extensive community and
outreach program, education program, the company’s Opera Studio (young artists
programme) and all Israeli Opera special activities.
[email protected]
Linda Lovrovic
Linda Lovrovic studied pedagogy of music and history of art at the Royal Flemish
Conservatory of Music, Antwerp, graduated in both with distinction. She spent 10 years
working as a teacher at the Academy of Music, Antwerp. She was also a member of the
Pedagogical Council of the Academy. In 1991, the education of music in Flanders was
profoundly reorganised. The Co-ordinated Organisation OVSG (Secretary of Education of
Flemish Cities and Municipalities) asked her to give additional education to Flemish
teachers on the new subject: general musical education. Between 1995 and 1999, she
worked as a freelance contributor at the education department of La Monnaie/De Munt, in
Brussels. Since February 1999, she is responsible for the Dutch-speaking projects of the
Educational department of La Monnaie/De Munt. With De Munt, she developed, in 2005, a
Don Giovanni project in a Japanese primary school near Tokyo. She has been a member of
RESEO’s Steering Committee since 2008.
[email protected]
Discussion - Engaging Local Communities
Peter Renshaw
In 2001 Peter Renshaw retired from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama as Head of
Research and Development, where he pioneered the innovative programme in
performance and communication skills (1984-2001) and was Gresham Professor of Music
(1986-1993). Formerly he was Lecturer in Philosophy of Education at the University of
Leeds Institute of Education (1970-1975) and Principal of the Yehudi Menuhin School
(1975-1884). He has a special interest in organisational change and lifelong learning, and
most recently he has focused on arts evaluation, development and mentoring. Recent
clients have included the National Institute of Creative Arts and Industries, University of
Auckland, Queensland Conservatorium, University of the Arts London, Prins Claus
Conservatoire Groningen, YO Opera The Netherlands, the International Yehudi Menuhin
Foundation, Brussels, The Sage Gateshead and the London Borough of Newham. From
2001-2002 he was Chair of the Steering Group for Youth Music's Creating a Land of Music
and from 2001-2003 he was Moderator of the EU Socrates project, Sound Links, on
cultural diversity in music education. In 2005 The Paul Hamlyn Foundation published his
research report on Guildhall Connect, titled Simply Connect: 'Next Practice' in Group Music
Making and Musical Leadership. His Report Lifelong Learning for Musicians: the Place of
Mentoring was published in 2006 by the Lectorate Lifelong Learning in Music at Prins Claus
Conservatoire Groningen and The Royal Conservatoire the Hague. In 2008 The Sage
Gateshead published his Evaluation Report on REFLECT, the Creative Partnerships National
Co-mentoring Programme.
[email protected]
Merlijn Twaalfhoven
Composer Merlijn Twaalfhoven and his La Vie sur Terre Foundation’s unusual and often
large-scale projects immerse a wide public in an experience for all the senses.
In unique locations (for example the Rijksmuseum, Vredenburg, Paradiso, the harbours or
dunes), classical musicians work together with performers such as farmer bands, DJs,
children, cooks and hair dressers. Merlijn’s compositions find inspiration in archaic and
non-Western music, in which a balance between the vital sounds of nature and refined
melodies offer a multi-faceted sound palette.
His works have been performed by orchestras in the Netherlands, Japan, Belgium, Jordan
and Switzerland, and have been recipients of several prizes. Recently he worked in the
Middle East, combining for example the Amman Symphony Orchestra with 80 Palestinian
refugee children. He took “bridging the gap” literal and positioned 400 musicians on
rooftops on both the Greek and Turkish side of the buffer zone in Nicosia, the capital of
Cyprus. As a professor in “PopKunst” at ArtEZ academy of arts, he researches how artists
can reach a new and diverse public without compromising their artistic vision and ideas.
He is himself striving to accomplish this in his projects with La Vie sur Terre and in
cooperative projects with, among others, Theatre Group Amsterdam, the dance company
Emio Greco|PC and the Springdance Festival. He has also produced numerous projects on
location with local musicians in Central Europe. www.twaalfhoven.net
[email protected]
Zwanenmeer Bijlmermeer II
Ted Brandsen
Artistic Director and Resident Choreographer Het Nationale Ballet (HNB)
Ted Brandsen was a dancer with HNB from 1981 till 1991. In 1985 he took his first steps
as a choreographer in the annual choreographic workshop. Brandsen gave up dancing in
1991 in order to concentrate on his choreographic career. His first work in this new
capacity was Four Sections, which he made for Het Nationale Ballet, and for which, in
1992, he received the Perspectiefprijs, an incentive prize for young artists. Following that,
he also made Crossing the Border (1993), Blue Field (1995) and Bach Moves (1995) for
HNB. Nowadays, there are works by Brandsen in the repertoire of several dance
companies, including the Istanbul Staatsballet, the Ballet-Théâtre de Bordeaux, the Israel
Ballet, the DonauBallett, the Nationale Ballet of Portugal, the American Ballet West, Les
Ballets de Monte-Carlo and the Dutch companies Introdans and Djazzex.
In 1998 Brandsen was appointed artistic director of the West Australian Ballet in Perth. He
created several pieces for this company, including Carmen (2000) and Pulcinella (2001). In
January 2002, Brandsen returned to the Dutch National Ballet, originally in the position of
assistant director and resident choreographer. At the start of the 2003 - 2004 season,
Brandsen succeeded Wayne Eagling as artistic director. Since then he created Body
(2004), Firebird (2004) and Stealing Time (2006). In 2007 he made Hallelujah Junction
and in 2008 he premiered his remarquable version of Coppelia. In 2008 he created In
Between for the program In Space, a cooperation between nine choreographers.
[email protected]
Nita Liem
Nita Liem studied modern Dance in Amsterdam, where she graduated in 1984. Since she
studied among others with Germaine Acogny in Senegal, Afro-American dance in New York
and urban styles with dance historian and professor Sally Sommers in 2000.Nita danced
herself in several productions: Nanacht in 1988, De Nachtegaal 1990 and Samangat 2000
.From 1994 -2000 she was the founder and artistic director, together with David Greaves,
of the youththeatregroup Artisjok Nultwintig, where she realized twelve productions and
many more projects and workshops. From 2000 on she is artistic leader of her own
company Don't Hit Mama. Until now she created several successful productions: Hier Ben
Ik (2000), Guts (2001), Lucid Liminality (2003), Rent a Granny (2004, together with Het
5e Kwartier), Go Big Or Go Home (2007). She also works as a teacher and advisor on the
field of young urban dance. www.donthitmama.nl
[email protected]
Titia Bouwmeester
Titia studied Art Management in Utrecht and graduated in 1993 on Theatredesign at the
Art Academy in Groningen. From 1989 -1999 she worked as a teacher visual arts
education, among others for Krater in Amsterdam Southeast and for Stichting Buitenkunst.
From 1997 tot 1999 she was artistic membre of staff for a youththeatrecompany Kalebas
(Wijnand Stomp). Titia worked from 1991-1998 as a theatremaker and visual artist for
several companies like Dogtroep, Artisjok Nultwintig, Kalebas, Vis-a-Vis, Munganga and
Het Filiaal. She became the artistic leader and director of Dogtoep from 1999 -2003 and
since 2004 she is the artistic leader of 5eKwartier and specializes in community projects.
www.5ekwartier.nl
[email protected]