Youth Opera Theatre Faculty (4)

Director

Mark Ashmore Voice
Bass Soloist. Graduate of Royal Northern College of Music. Leading opera roles with English Touring Opera, Opera North, at Garsington Festival, and has performed as bass soloist with symphony orchestras in Europe and North America.

Music Director, Opera

Bruce Dunn French Horn; Conductor
After undergraduate studies as a horn student at the University of British Columbia, Bruce joined the horn section of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. His conducting career followed extensive studies with renowned Japanese conductor Kazuyoshi Akiyama, with Norman Del Mar in England and at the International Symphonic Conducting Workshop in the Czech Republic. Bruce is currently Music Director of both the Kamloops Symphony Orchestra and the Symphony of the Kootenays in British Columbia, Canada.

Visiting Composer-in-Residence

Carl Davis Composer; Conductor
Carl Davis has been described as ‘a consummate all-round musician’, but this only partially defines the exceptional accomplishments of this extraordinary man. Not only is he in demand as a conductor for major orchestras worldwide, he is also one of today’s leading composers in practically every genre - orchestral and solo repertoire, ballet, opera, theatre, film, television and radio. His phenomenal creativity and recognition of artistic excellence has been instrumental in bringing about the universal renaissance of the great silent film era of the past century. For his prodigious contribution to film, television and theatre, Carl received a Special Lifetime Achievement Award from BAFTA in 2003 - the first such award to a composer. He was subsequently honoured with the CBE (Hon.).
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Vocal Instructor and Coach

Children's Chorus Director

Toni Rose Piano; Flute
BMus, Western Washington University; Director, school and community bands and Music Theatre, Vernon, B.C. Assistant Conductor of Noye's Fludde, the first production of the SMS Youth Opera Theatre programme in 2002.

Costume Designer & Production Assistant

Monica Hannaford Euphonium
Costume Designer and Production Assistant. Educator in Steiner Schools in England and Ireland; has designed and supervised the making of hundreds of costumes for dozens of theatrical and music productions throughout England and Ireland.