The Gardeners - cast announcement

The Gardeners: (L to R, top to bottom) - Flora McIntosh, William Vann, Robert Hugill (photo Johnny Bourchier), Peter Brathwaite, Georgia Mae Bishop, Magid El-Bushra (photo Belinda Whiting), Joanna Wyld, Julian Debreuil (photo: Philip Allen)

I am pleased to be able to announce the full cast for the premiere of The Gardeners, Joanna Wyld and my new chamber opera which premieres at Conway Hall on Tuesday 18 June 2019.

Julian Debreuil plays The Gardener, Peter Brathwaite plays The Old Gardener, Magid El-Bushra plays The Angry Young Man, Flora McIntosh plays The Grandmother and Georgia Mae Bishop plays The Mother. The opera will be conducted by William Vann.

There will also be small male voice chorus, playing the spirits of the Dead, whilst the instrumental ensemble (harp, violin, viola, cello, clarinet) will include harpist Oliver Wass.


Julian Debreuil's engagements for the 2018-19 season include Missa Solemnis Beethoven with the Southbank Sinfonia at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Cantatas 21 & 29 Bach with the Birmingham Bach Choir, Colline in La Boheme Puccini and Talbot Maria Stuarda with OperaUpClose, Zuniga in Carmen Bizet for Kentish Opera.

In the 2018/19 season, Peter Brathwaite sings the title role in Polly Graham’s new production of Viktor Ullmann’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis with Chroma Ensemble at Bold Tendencies. He covers and sings Papageno in The Magic Flute for Opera North, and creates the role of Doctor in the European Premiere of Philip Hagemann’s The Music Cure. Future seasons see him make role debuts at Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, Brussels, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and Opera Philadelphia.

Magid El-Bushra's recent engagements include Nicholas Lens’ Shell Shock with the Orchestre de Radio France at the Philharmonie in Paris, Hamor in Handel’s Jephtha at the Wiener Festwochen, the Potsdamer Winteroper, and the Hamburger Theater Festival (under the baton of Konrad Junghänel), a solo recital with the Berner Symphonieorchester at Konzerttheater Bern (conducted by Kevin John Edusei), Orontes in Telemann’s Der misslungene Brautwechsel in Giessen (conducted by Michael Hofstetter), the alto solos in Bach’s St John Passion with Concerto Köln, and the Cheshire Cat in Will Todd’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland at the Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Georgia Mae Bishop's recent credits include Filipyvena, Eugene Onegin (Opera Loki), Mistress Quickly (cover), Falstaff (Garsington Opera), Zita, Gianni Schicchi (Barbican Concert Hall), Madam de Croissy, Dialogues des Carmélites, Vera Boronel, The Consul, Zenobia (cover), Radamisto (Guildhall Opera), title role, Carmen, Ruth, Pirates of Penzance (Dartington Opera). Whilst studying at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama she was the winner of the Chartered Surveyors vocal competition and a recipient of an Opera Awards Foundation bursary. Other competition successes include 2nd prize at the Wagner Society Singing Competition (2016) and finalist in Fulham Opera’s Robert Presley Memorial Verdi Prize (2017).

Flora McIntosh is a Samling Foundation scholar and currently studies with Arwel Treharne Morgan. Engagements in 2018 include Das lied von der Erde with English National Ballet, Filipyevna in Eugene Onegin for OperaUpClose, Pauline in the UK premiere of Gounod’s Polyeucte (UCOpera), Lucy Lockit in The Beggar’s Opera (Oborne Opera and Mastersingers UK), Dryad In Ariadne auf Naxos for Longborough Festival, the title role in Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda (National Trust collaboration) and Mercedes in Carmen for The Prison Choir Project.

The Gardeners premieres at Conway Hall on Tuesday 18 June 2019, full details from The Gardeners website.