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Orchestras and the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome. For DG he has recorded Bach with Gardiner and McCreesh. In recital he has performed at the Wigmore Hall, La Monnaie Brussels and Carnegie Hall and has recorded Schumann and Mendelssohn lieder for Hyperion. Opera appearances include Count Le Nozze di Figaro, Schaunard La Bohème (Opera North), Aeneas Dido & Aeneas (Nancy) and in staged performances of Bach’s B Minor Mass (Los Angeles Opera). Last season he made his début at La Monnaie Brussels. Plans include the Count Le Nozze di Figaro (Chicago Opera Theater), Messiah (Detroit Symphony) and recitals at the Schleswig Holstein and Klavier Ruhr Festivals. ASHLEY MARTIN–DAVIS Designer Le Roi malgré lui Ashley Martin-Davis studied at Margaret Harris’s Motley Theatre Design School. He has since designed internationally for opera and theatre. His recent work includes Scaramouche Jones with Pete Postlethwaite (on tour and Riverside Studios), The Comedy of Errors (Gorky Theatre Berlin) directed by Martin Duncan, The Winter’s Tale directed by Nicholas Hytner and Tartuffe directed by Lindsay Posner (National Theatre), Murder in the Cathedral directed by Stephen Pimlott (RSC) and Die Walküre (Opera Amazonas, Manaus, Brazil) directed by Aidan Lang. FRANCIS O’CONNOR Designer Iolanthe Francis trained at the Wimbledon School of Art. His opera credits include Der Vogelhandler (Komische Opera, Berlin), Maometto II (Opera du Rhin, Strasbourg), Fortunio (Grange Park Opera) and 1001 Nights (Anvil, Basingstoke), Ariadne auf Naxos (Castleward), May Night (Wexford), La Vie Parisienne (D’Oyly Carte). Theatre credits include My Brilliant Divorce (Dawn French at the Apollo), Hinge of the World (Guildford), House of Bernarda Alba, The Plough and the Stars (Abbey, Dublin), Making Waves (Scarborough), Grestfall (Gate, Dublin), The Daughter in Law and Andorra (Young Vic), The Lieutenant of Inishmore (RSC and transfer to Garrick), Romeo & Juliet and As You Like It (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), The Wonder of Sex (National Theatre of Brent/Royal National Theatre), Putting it Together (Chichester). His numerous productions for Druid Theatre Company, Galway include the award winning Beauty Queen of Leenane which transferred to Royal Court, London, Walter Kerr Theatre, New York – winning four Tony Awards on Broadway – and Toronto, Sydney and Dublin.
RUTH PEEL Iolanthe Iolanthe Ruth Peel studied at the RNCM, winning the Kathleen Ferrier Decca Prize in 1993. She made her operatic début as Third Lady Die Zauberflöte in Geneva and again in Aix–en–Provence and Stuttgart. She made her Royal Opera House début as the Page Salome. Since then roles have included Kate Pinkerton Madam Butterfly (Antwerp), Kate Owen Wingrave (GTO), title role The Rape of Lucretia (with Steuart Bedford), Erda Das Rheingold (London) and Hippolyta (Strasbourg and Opera North). Recent engagements include Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at the opening of the Japan Winter Olympics conducted by Seiji Ozawa, Messiah at Glyndebourne, Mahler’s Eighth Symphony and Verdi’s Requiem in Australia, Boys and Girls Come out to Play (Sadler’s Wells) and Countess of Essex Gloriana (Opera North and Barcelona). MARY PLAZAS Alexina Le Roi malgré lui Mary Plazas made her operatic début in 1992 with English National Opera as the Heavenly Voice Don Carlos, and from 1995 spent three years with ENO as a company principal. She has also performed for The Royal Opera, Opera North, Glyndebourne and Garsington. She sang the Duchess Powder Her Face (Almeida Opera and at the Aldeburgh Festival) and also recorded the role for Channel 4 Television. Opera abroad includes Anne Trulove (New Israeli Opera), Mimi (Bregenz Festival) and Mrs Coyle Owen Wingrave (Concertgebouw). She has a wide concert repertoire and has sung with many leading conductors including Haitink, Previn, Sinopoli, Skrowacewski, Oramo, Maksymiuk, Mark Elder, Paul Daniel and Richard Hickox. She has recorded for Deutsche Gramophon, Chandos, Sony Classical and Opera Rara. She studied at the RNCM and NOS and awards include the 1991 Kathleen Ferrier Memorial Scholarship. She is supported by the Peter Moores Foundation. Future engagements include Fiordiligi (ENO) and Mimi (RAH). ALISON RODDY Minka Le Roi malgré lui Born in Dublin, Alison Roddy studied at the Royal College of Music and National Opera Studio in London. Her professional career started in 2000 as a company principal at English National Opera. Her roles at ENO have included Yum Yum The Mikado, Dunyasha War and Peace, Nannetta Falstaff, Adina The Elixir of Love, Jessie The Silver Tassie. Plans at ENO include Rosina The Barber of Seville, The Woodbird Siegfried, Michaela Carmen and Moira The Handmaid’s Tale. Elsewhere in London she sang the role of Despina Così fan tutte for Holland Park Opera. Alison
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