|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Biographies |
 |
|
Richard
Mantle (General Director)
Richard Mantle is General Director of Opera North. His
first appointment in the opera field was as Personnel
Director and then Deputy Managing Director at English
National Opera until 1985 when he joined Scottish Opera
as Managing Director. He spent three years working in
opera in Canada before returning to the UK in 1994 to
join Opera North.
Previously he was a personnel and industrial relations
professional with leading commercial organisations including
the Beecham Group and J. Walter Thompson.
He is on the Board of the National Opera Studio, Chairman
of the Theatre Managers' Association Opera Committee
and also on the boards of West Yorkshire Arts Marketing
and Leeds Arts, as well as being a member of the Advisory
Council of the Royal School of Church Music.
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Richard
Farnes (Music Director)
Richard Farnes took up his post as Opera North's Music
Director in August 2004. Previous productions for Opera
North have included the award winning production of
Peter Grimes, Tosca, La traviata, Eugene Onegin, Simon
Holt’s The Nightingale’s to Blame, Giovanna d'Arco,
Britten's Gloriana, The Marriage of Figaro, Cimarosa's
The Secret Marriage and Puccini's Manon Lescaut. He
made his recording debut as Music Director with Duke
Bluebeard's Castle.
Conducting engagements with other opera companies and
orchestras have included: The Cunning Little Vixen (English
National Opera); Falstaff, La Bohème, The Barber of
Seville (English Touring Opera); Macbeth (CBTO); Aida
and Simon Boccanegra (Royal Opera House); L'elisir d'amore,
Tosca, The Magic Flute, double bill of works by Param
Vir (Scottish Opera); Otello, The Makropoulos Case (Glyndebourne
Festival Opera); Die Entführung aus dem Serail, La Bohème,
Le nozze di Figaro and Albert Herring (Glyndebourne
on Tour); The Rake's Progress and The Cunning Little
Vixen (Dublin); Bastien und Bastienne, La serva padrona
(European Chamber Opera) and Nabucco (New Israeli Opera).
He has also conducted the Haydn Chamber Orchestra, the
Royal Opera House Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National
Orchestra and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.
|
| |
|
|
 |
|
Michael
Beverley (Chairman)
Michael has been
Chairman of Opera North since 1998.
He spent the first 28 years of his business career with
Arthur Andersen and retired in 2001. He was latterly
UK Regional Senior and Managing Partner responsible
for 3500 people, 11 offices and fee income of £350m.
Having served since
2001 as a NED on the Boards of companies here and in
the US he concluded in 2003 that there was more to life
than being a NED with the associated litigation and
reputational risk.
He has therefore, since that date focussed on developing
a range of businesses centred on healthcare, software
and property. His current range of businesses are One
Medical (developer and operator of Medical Centres and
associated services); Halcyon Communities (developer
and operator of Care homes and care villages); Telemedcare
(a business focussing on telemedicine); Creative Care
& Therapy (child care and therapy centres) and Yorkshire
Ventures (residential developments and master company)
which he runs and owns equally with two other business
partners.
In his spare time
in addition to Opera North, he is on the Advisory Board
of the University of Leeds Business School, the Industrial
Development Advisory Board at the DTI in London and
is a Deputy Lieutenant of West Yorkshire. |
|
|
|
|
|
Mr
Peter Sparling LLB (Vice-Chairman)
Solicitor, Chairman of the Governors of Leeds Grammar
School, Governor of the English Speaking Union and until
recently Chairman of the National Committee for England
and Wales. Former Chairman of the Grand Theatre Board
and Former leader of Leeds City Council and an Honorary
Alderman of the City of Leeds. He is Chairman of the
Friends of Opera North and a member of the Finance &
General Purposes Committee. |
|
|
|
|
|
Professor
Michael Arthur
Professor Michael Arthur is Vice-Chancellor of the
University of Leeds (1st September 2004). He was formerly
Professor of Medicine (1992), Head of the School of
Medicine (1998-2001) and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine,
Health and Life Sciences in Southampton (2003-04).
He is a hepatologist with research interests in liver
cell biology developed initially at the University
of California, San Francisco (1986-1988) and more
recently as a Fulbright Distinguished Scholar at Mount
Sinai School of Medicine in New York (2002). Professor
Arthur became a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences
in 1998 and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts
in 2006. His national contributions have included
roles at the Wellcome Trust (Cell and Molecular panel),
at HEFCE (Strategic Research Committee). He Chairs
the Higher Education Funding Council for England’s
Steering Group for the National Student Survey. Professor
Arthur has recently been appointed as board member
of the Qualifications & Curriculum Authority and
as a Commissioner to the US/UK Fulbright Commission.
He also advises DCSF on the programme of change to
14-19 education. He is a board member of Yorkshire
Forward. |
|
|
|
|
|
Ann
Bishop
Managing Director and major shareholder of Indepen Consulting,
a management consulting company specialising in strategy,
change management and government regulation. She works
extensively with Chief Executives, Board members and
senior executive teams in a range of FTSE 500 companies,
helping to plan and deliver business restructuring and
reorganisation. Prior to creating Indepen in 1990, Ann
worked in the Strategy Group in Deloitte Management
Consulting division, in marketing and corporate finance
for Natwest Investment Bank and Chase Manhattan Bank
and in human resources for Overseas Containers Ltd.
Her out of work activities include a not-for-profit
project in South Yorkshire, aimed at stimulating education
and employment in garment design. She is a keen opera
fan. She has a First in English from Sidney Sussex College,
Cambridge. |
|
|
|
|
|
Cllr
Judith Blake
Deputy Leader of Leeds City Council from May 2003 representing
Hunslet. Executive Board member with responsibility
for Learning and Leisure. Portfolio includes; Arts and
Heritage, Libraries and Information, Lifelong Learning
and Leisure Schools-based education, Job Skills and
Training, Youth Services and Parks and Recreation. Chairs
two of the key strategy groups of the Leeds Initiative
- the Lifelong Learning Partnership and the Cultural
Partnership. Member of both the Local Strategy Partnership
and the Regional Education Forum. Board member of the
West Yorkshire Playhouse and the Grand Theatre. Chair
of Pavilion (multi-media arts organization). Previously
Chair of Planning and Chair of the Scrutiny Board for
Development and Sustainability and former member of
the Regional Planning Forum. A school Governor at both
primary and secondary schools in Leeds, and member of
Leeds University Court. Elected to the Opera North Board
in 2003. |
|
|
|
|
|
Professor
Ray Cowell, CBE,
DL
Ray Cowell was Vice Chancellor of Nottingham Trent University
from 1987 until September 2003. He taught and researched
English Literature (particularly Nineteenth and Twentieth
Century) for twenty years in universities and polytechnics
before succumbing to the delights of management. From
1995 to 2001 he was Chair of East Midlands Arts and
(from 1996 and 1999) a member of the Arts Council of
England. He is a Deputy Lieutenant of the County of
Nottinghamshire and was voted Carlton Television “Midlander
of the year” in 2002 in recognition of his “arts
leadership” role. He is a pianist of modest attainment
and high ambition. He is non-executive director of Nottingham
Building Society. Within management and governance he
is particularly interested and experienced in the areas
of corporate strategy, performance management, quality
assurance and risk management. He has been on the Board
of Opera North since 2000 and works with a few fellow
opera enthusiasts in Nottingham and the East Midlands
to spread the word about the value and the values of
Opera North. In Nottingham he also pursues his interests
in music and education as Chair of ViVA: the orchestra
of the East Midlands and a Governor of the Djanogly
City Academy. He has recently been appointed a Trustee
of Nottingham Contemporary, a gallery of modern arts
which will officially open in 2009. He was appointed
CBE for Services to Higher Education in 2004.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lady
Eccles of Moulton
Director of Times Newspaper Holdings since 1998, made
a Director of the London Clinic in 2003 and is an active
member of the House of Lords. Many previous non-executive
positions including Director of J Sainsbury plc. and
former Chairman of the Ealing Hammersmith and Hounslow
Health Authority. Appointed to the Board of Opera North
in 1998 and is a member of the Finance and General Purposes
Committee.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Vivien
Gibney
A barrister, she worked in the international oil and
gas industry with Mobil then Enterprise Oil, latterly
as Company Secretary. She is a Governor of The University
of Northampton and a trustee of the charity St Christopher's
Fellowship as well as other charitable and business
interests. |
|
|
|
|
|
Chris
Green
Managing
Director of Yorkshire Post Newspapers Ltd, publishers
of the Yorkshire Evening Post and The Yorkshire Post.
He is also the Divisional MD of Johnston Press North
and has additional responsibility for seven groups
of daily and weekly newspapers including titles in
Sheffield, Halifax, Scarborough and Sunderland.
Outside of the newspaper business Chris is a director
of Marketing Leeds.
|
|
|
|
|
|
John
Heller
Board member since 2001. Former Senior Partner of Hammonds.
CEO Hammonds Direct. Non-Executive director of two private
listed companies. Chairman of the Development Committee
and a member of the Finance and General Purposes Committee.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lindsay
Mackinlay DL
Chairman of Bradford & Bingley plc from 1995 to
2002. Director of Rowntree plc from 1973 to 1989. Joined
the Board of Opera North in 1998 and was elected Chairman
of the Opera North and Leeds Grand Theatre Development
Trust in September 2002. He is also a member of the
Finance and General Purposes Committee. |
|
|
|
|
|
Ron
McMillan
Chairman of the Northern Region of PricewaterhouseCoopers
since 2000 with overall responsibility for the quality
of services to clients and for the ‘top line' development
of the business. A Member of the UK Firm Supervisory
Board and a member of the Regional Council of the CBI.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Geoffrey
Potter
Former Senior Vice President, GlaxoSmithKline, responsible
for worldwide Corporate Communications and Community
Partnerships, now Senior Consultant, College Hill Associates;
Non-executive Director, Pharmaterials Ltd.; Board Trustee
of London Musici; Council member, School of Pharmacy
(University of London); Chairman, External Relations
Committee, School of Pharmacy; Special Adviser and former
Chairman, Music for Youth. A member of the Finance and
General Purposes Committee.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|