The Company and Orchestra
Other Opera operate as an ensemble company, with a strictly ‘no divas’ policy for their performers. The singers and musicians are of the highest calibre and comprise a pool of young professionals. Central to Other Opera’s artistic policy is the belief that expert facilitators of music/theatre education can also be uncompromisingly first- rate performers and production staff. All Other Operas company members have been hand picked for their unusual and essential ability to excel in both roles. Other Opera offers regular auditions to provide essential opportunities and experience for those seriously considering careers in the performing arts.
The Directors
Alasdair Nicolson and Sarah Guest have a combined experience of over 30 years working in the world of music, music education and opera. They share a vision that music should excite, challenge, mesmerise and involve its audience. They have collaborated on numerous projects since 1998, their most recent partnership culminating in SPNM being awarded a prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Award for the Sound Inventors project.
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Sarah Guest studied French at Warwick University, alongside various extra-curricular musical pursuits. After graduating she taught in a music school in Budapest, and returned to London to pursue a career in Music Education. Since 1996 she has devised, managed and consulted on cross-arts projects for venues, festivals, arts organisations, local authorities and educational establishments both in London and throughout Britain. Recent key projects include creating the first orchestral model for corporate training with City of London Sinfonia and HSBC, producing and managing the community opera ICE and receiving recognition for helping to build community relations through music in the mixed old village/recent housing development village of Lane End, High Wycombe. Other clients have included Blackheath Halls, Battersea Arts Centre,The Royal Opera House and Society for the Promotion of New Music.
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Alasdair Nicolson studied music composition at Edinburgh University where he was awarded the McFie Lang Fellowship and the Gwen Clutterbuck Scholarship. He is recognised as one of the key composers of his generation as well as being a highly accomplished conductor and pianist. As well as conducting operas ranging from The Rakes Progress to The Magic Flute and Orpheus in the Underworld, he worked at the Opéra de Monte Carlo, coaching choruses and internationally renowned soloists. Alasdair’s extensive musical experiences have resulted in him writing for theatre, opera and dance companies, orchestras, films and TV. He is currently working on orchestral commissions for the BBC Symphony Orchestra, City of London Sinfonia and The Nash Ensemble and is Artistic Director for Sound Inventors, the award winning, nationwide music composition project. Alasdair taught composition at Royal Holloway, London University and has been Director of the Platform and Northlands Festivals.