Thomas Faulkner Bass

Marjorie Folkman Choreographer

Rodula Gaitanou Associate Director

A Village Romeo and Juliet The Magic Flute

Le Roi malgré lui

A Village Romeo and Juliet

Thomas studied at Cambridge University and the Royal Academy of Music. Recent roles have included Commendatore (Don Giovanni) in southern France, Death (The Emperor of Atlantis), Bartolo (Il Nozze di Figaro) for British Youth Opera, and Second Armed Man (The Magic Flute) for Garsington Opera. Other roles have included Superintendent Budd (Albert Herring) for Royal Academy Opera, Don Pantaleone (Die Drei Pintos) for UCOpera, Noye (Noyes Fludde), Elviro (Xerxes), Plutone (Orfeo), Gremin (Eugene Onegin). This summer he joined the Gyndebourne Chorus.

Marjorie Folkman danced as a member and principal performer with Mark Morris Dance Group (1996–2007), where she premiered original roles in many works including Mark Morris’ The Argument with Mikhail Baryshnikov and Yo-Yo Ma. She has also danced with Martha Clarke (Garden of Earthly Delights, 2007–9), the companies of Sara Rudner, Amy Spencer/Richard Colton, and Merce Cunningham’s Repertory Understudy Group (1994–1996). Ms Folkman’s recent choreographic and performance projects have included Thaddeus Strassberger’s productions of Les Huguenots and Der Ferne Klang at Bard SummerScape, Pygmalion and Les Indes Galantes with Boston Baroque, Mephisto Project for L’Opéra Français de NY, Bargemusic in Brooklyn, and collaborations with poet Robert Kelly and new music ensemble Contemporaneous. A summa cum laude graduate of Barnard College, Ms Folkman earned her Master’s degree in American History from Columbia University and continues her studies as a PhD candidate researching fin de siècle European visual and material culture.

Athens-born Rodula Gaitanou was awarded a degree in Musicology at Paris Sorbonne University and then gained a Masters degree in Musical Dramaturgy and Opera Staging at Paris 8 Saint Dennis, also attending the International Theatre School Jacques Lecoq.

He is busy as a concert soloist in a wide repertoire, from early baroque German motets to Puccini and Britten. He has sung in the Spitalfields and Bregenz Festivals, St Johns Smith Square, many of England’s Cathedrals, and appeared in the RAM / Kohn Foundation Bach cantata series and on BBC Radio. Recital repertoire includes much German Lieder, Russian song and Baroque cantatas. He is a member of The Countess of Munster Recital Scheme.

She has worked extensively as assistant/associate director for opera companies in Greece, Italy, France and the UK. She made her Royal Opera House directing debut with Haydn’s L’isola disabitata in the Linbury Studio, and was revival director for La Traviata at the ROH. Other director credits include a new version of Carmen for Opera Up Close, Prokofiev’s Betrothal in a Monastery for RCS/Scottish Opera, and productions of Dichterliebe, Suor Angelica, Carmen, Orfeo and Das Lied von der Erde. Future plans include directing Smetana’s The Bartered Bride for British Youth Opera, being associate director for A Village Romeo and Juliet for Wexford Festival Opera and reviving L’Isola Disabitata at the Hobart Festival in Tasmania.

Artist Biographies 75