Jonathan Lyness  Conductor
Jonathan was born in London and read music at Bristol University winning both university undergraduate and British Academy postgraduate arts scholarships.  He studied conducting with George Hurst after which he went on to conduct the British premiere of Fritz Oeser’s new critical edition of Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann. In 1993 he co-founded Opera Project with whom he has conducted all of the standard repertoire as well as a number of twentieth century works.   For Longborough Festival Opera he has conducted A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Cunning Little Vixen, Madama Butterfly, Eugene Onegin and Rigoletto as well as Opera Project productions of The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Albert Herring, La Bohème and La Traviata
 

Richard Studer Director and Designer
Richard was born in Surrey and studied veterinary sciences and zoology at Bristol University. He has directed, designed and costumed over thirty operas. He is co-founder of Opera Project for whom he has directed, designed and costumed The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Albert Herring, La Bohème, La Traviata, The Barber of Seville, Tosca, La Cenerentola, Don Pasquale, Così fan tutte, The Magic Flute, Seraglio, The Bear, Façade, Trouble in Tahiti, The Soldier’s Tale, Ravel’s L’Heure Espagnole, Falstaff, Carmen, The Turn of the Screw and Britten’s The Beggar’s Opera. For LFO : Madama Butterfly, Eugene Onegin, Rigoletto, The Cunning Little Vixen and A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Wayne Dowdeswell Lighting Designer
trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. He spent several seasons at Contact Theatre, Manchester before moving to the Royal Shakespeare Company (1978-2007). There he lit many notable productions for The Other Place, The Pit and Barbican Theatres.  He has lit productions in the West End and for  regional theatre. Designs for Opera include : Eugene Onegin, The Mikado, Rinaldo (Grange Park Opera), The Mikado, (D'Oyly Carte, Savoy Theatre), The Cunning Little Vixen, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (LFO), Lucia di Lammermoor, (Scottish Opera 2007 and Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg.   Wayne received Olivier Award nominations for Edward II, Tamburlaine the Great and Medea.