Creative leadership.
Kate Millett
artistic director
Kate Millett is a multifaceted artist working as a theatre and opera director, arts producer, writer, dramaturg and performer. She has studied drama and performance at the University of Western Australia and Edith Cowan University. Inspired by the opera scenes developing in New York and Berlin, Kate is bringing her black-box theatre mentality to opera, focusing on the emotionality of the singers, and bringing a visceral reality to this artform.
Working in Perth and Melbourne, her passion lies in the junction between performer and audience, and how they connect to each other.
Recent work includes Ruddigore, Amahl and the Night Visitors, Pirates of Penzance and Yeoman of the Guard (Savoy Opera) as well as the Gondoliers (GSOV). She wrote and directed the ground-breaking work Passion Pop (Duchess Productions) to great acclaim. She worked as Producer for the sound artist, Miles Cosmo on his pieces Metropolis: Redux and the Family. Her written works have been performed across the country. She has starred on TV and on the stage and is finally back pursuing her childhood love of opera.
Kate has a particular love for Opera, theatre and guerrilla or street theatre, and for German and French repertoire. An active producer and creator of new art, Kate maintains a firm commitment to emerging artists and to helping the Australian opera scene enter a new and exciting chapter.
James Sybren Penn
conductor
James Penn is an up-and-coming conductor, who began his musical training as a choirboy at All Saints church, St Kilda east. He holds a Bachelor of Music Performance from Victorian College of the Arts, a Graduate Diploma in Music from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts and is currently completing his Graduate Diploma of Secondary Education at Australian Catholic University.
James is passionate about the inherent confrontation at the heart of all great opera. Having toured internationally, singing in the great European cathedrals and concert halls, he brings this experience to his work, focusing on bringing a European refinement to the Australian opera scene.
His roles include Frederic (Pirates of Penzance) Tamino (The Magic Flute), Ralph Rackstraw (HMS Pinafore), Lucentio (The Taming of the shrew), Camille de Rossillon (The Merry Widow) Turiddu (Cavalleria Rusticana). He also created the roles of the Huntsman and the Soldier in Gordon Kerry's Snow White and other Grimm Tales. His oratorio roles include Obadiah (Elijah), Lobgesang (Mendelssohn), Olivet to Calvary (Maunder), the Crucifixion (Stainer) and Handels' Messiah.
James has conducted both choral and church music for over ten years. He brings that skill, which, when combined with his zest for opera, creates a new perspective aimed at bridging the gap between emerging and established singers.
Photo by Anita G Photography
Photo by Anita G Photography