The Performers

Gerry Cornelius

Conductor: Thwaite, Whatever Happened to Zora D? and The King's Gravedigger

Gerry Cornelius was born in London and graduated from Durham University before studying conducting at the Royal Academy of Music, with Colin Metters, George Hurst and Sir Colin Davis. On leaving the Academy he continued his study for two years at the St Petersburg State Conservatory with Ilya Musin. He is winner of the Henry Wood, August Manns and Philharmonia Chorus scholarships for conducting.

On his return to the UK he was appointed to several posts with orchestras and opera companies and succeeded Lawrence Leonard as conductor of the Chamber Orchestra at Morley College, London where he directed the first Tippett Memorial Festival. Most recently he has been working on the music staff of the Almeida Opera Festival & Hoxton New Music Days and in 2001 assisted Ronald Zollmann for the world premiere of John Casken's opera God's Liar.

He has ongoing appointments with Hertford Symphony Orchestra, Goldsmiths Sinfonia & Chorus. His guest appearances include ENO Studio, Oxford Sinfonia, Nottingham Composers Forum, The Composers' Orchestral Project, Hertfordshire Chamber Orchestra, and Opera-Inside-Out. He otherwise divides his time between conducting and coaching both in the UK and Russia.

Stuart Stratford

Conductor: Sunset with Pink Pastoral, Liebeslied/My Suicides and The Eternity Man

Stuart Stratford studied conducting with David Parry in Cambridge, and at the St Petersburg Conservatory with Ilya Musin. He conducted Eugene Onegin and Queen of Spades in the Komi Republic and concerts in Turkmenestan and Novgorod. As the junior fellow in Conducting at the RNCM he conducted performances of Jenufa and Die Zauberflote and worked regularly with the RNCM Chamber Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra and New Ensemble.

As assistant conductor at Almeida Opera, his credits include Tobias and the Angel, Ion and Kantan and Damask Drum. He has also conducted performances with the Rambert Dance Company and the European Chamber Orchestra.

He was the Music Director of the ENO Baylis Programme's community opera Palace in the Sky at the Hackney Empire, where he was nominated for a Philharmonic Society Award. Recent projects have included Madame Butterfly at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and "6 - pack" a tour of six specially commissioned contemporary short operas which toured the UK - a collaboration between English National opera Studio and Tete a Tete theatre.

Philip Walsh

Conductor: Cherry Station, Non Guardate al Domani and Sirius on Earth

Philip Walsh studied at Cambridge before moving to New Zealand, where he established himself as one of the country's leading conductors. With the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra he conducted performances of the Verdi Requiem, Saint-Saens Organ Symphony, Tippett A Child of our Time, Berlioz L'Enfance du Christ and Beethoven Missa Solemnis. He also conducted the orchestra on radio and television, pioneering music by the country's leading composers.

A regular participant in the New Zealand Festivals, he conducted performances of Stravinsky's Les Noces and formed the New Zealand Festival Chamber Choir to sing Handel's L'Allegro with the Mark Morris Dance Company. He also assisted in the Festival's productions of Fidelio and Die Meistersinger. As a strong advocate for new music Philip Walsh has commissioned and conducted numerous premieres of works by New Zealand composers, including a trilogy of short operas based on Katherine Mansfield short stories by Dorothy Buchanan.

Now based back in London, Philip Walsh regularly participates in opera projects, and in 2000 conducted the revival tour of Peter Brook's La Tragedie de Carmen for L'Opéra de Bordeaux. Other projects have included Le Nozze di Figaro for Le Festival Lyrique de Belle-Ile-en-Mer in France and contemporary opera scenes for the National Opera Studio at the Bridewell Theatre. Future plans include Orff Carmina Burana in New Zealand, a return to the Belle-Ile festival where he will conduct Dido and Aeneas and concerts with the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong.

David Salter

Director of rehearsed readings for: Sunset with Pink Pastoral, Cherry Station and Non Guardate al Domani

For Theatre:
Direction/Design: Hansel and Gretel (Old Bull Arts Centre), Measure for Measure (Cockpit Theatre)

For Warwick Arts Centre:
Ghetto (National Tour -- Guardian International Drama Award), Time and the Conwayus, Turnaround.

David has directed staged readings of Howard Barker's Brutopia at the Almeida starring Ian McDiarmid, as well as Mishima's Noh Plays in Tokyo and Howard Barker's Ecstatic Bible.

David is a regular director at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts, Rose Bruford College and Manchester Metropolitan University.

He was Associate Director of Camera Obscura, directed by Jonathan Miller at the Almeida May 2002. He has also been Assistant Director on various Almeida productions. In July, 2002, David directed Brecht's Life of Galileo at the Battersea Arts Centre.