Soprano Eleanor Oldfield is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she completed her BMus (Hons), MMus, and MPerf with Distinction.

Since graduating, Eleanor has built a reputation as a vibrant and expressive performer, recognised for her warmth of tone, vocal clarity, and dramatic sensitivity. Most recently, she performed the role of Contessa in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro with Opera Kipling, in both the UK and France. Other notable operatic roles include First Lady and Papagena (cover) in Die Zauberflöte, which she toured with Wild Arts as a Young Artist in 2024. Earlier that year, she appeared in the title role of Noah Max’s A Child in Striped Pyjamas at the Brundibár Arts Festival in Newcastle, a performance noted for its emotional sincerity and vocal nuance.

Eleanor is also an accomplished concert soloist and recitalist. She has performed with leading orchestras and ensembles including the London Symphony Orchestra, The Sixteen, The Hallé, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, with appearances at major venues such as the Barbican, Royal Albert Hall, and Southbank Centre. Recent concert work includes Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle, Tippett’s Child of Our Time, and the role of Maria in Bernstein’s West Side Story.

Equally at home in oratorio, art song, and contemporary repertoire, Eleanor’s musical interests range from opera and choral music to jazz and musical theatre. She is a proud alumna of Genesis Sixteen, where she was mentored by Harry Christophers, and continues to draw inspiration from ensemble singing in both early and modern contexts.

Alongside her performing career, Eleanor is dedicated to arts outreach and education. She recently completed a six-month contract with the London Symphony Orchestra in a fundraising role, supporting their Discovery programme, which works to broaden access to music education in underrepresented communities. She is fortunate to continue her relationship with the LSO on a freelance basis, allowing her to prioritise her performance career while remaining committed to community music outreach and education.

Eleanor is no stranger to the Merry Opera Company, having performed in their Merry Mikado back in 2022 and also as a soprano soloist in their Merry Messiahtour 2023. She is thrilled to be back with the Merry Opera Company once again to perform her first Fiordiligi with an incredible company of longstanding friends and colleagues. Later this year, she will perform Fiordiligi at Opera Holland Park as one of their featured Young Artists for 2026.

Elizabeth (Tilly) Green is a second-year postgraduate at The Royal Academy of Music studying under Kate Paterson. Here, she holds the position of being a Josephine Baker Trust Scholar. Having started her singing career as a chorister at both Canterbury and Rochester Cathedral, Elizabeth has performed on commercial recordings for Regent Records and Decca Records, the latter of which was both as part of the choir and as a soloist.

Elizabeth has performed as a soloist internationally, singing J S Bach’s St John Passion in Aachen, Germany. Some of her other soloist opportunities have included Handel’s Messiah at Canterbury Cathedral, Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Haydn’s Creation and Dvorçak’s Stabat Mater amongst others.

Whilst pursuing her undergraduate studies at The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and graduating with a first-class honours degree, Elizabeth successfully auditioned for the Associate Artist programme under the tutelage of Karen Cargill. Whilst at RCS, she took part in opera scenes, performing the roles of Papagena and Fiordiligi. Elizabeth also completed a year-long contract with the Scottish Opera Young Company as well as a workshop with British Youth Opera. In December 2021, she performed the role of Sandmann in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel as a Young Artist for Westminster Opera Company, the performance of which was reprised at Château de Panloy, France.

Elizabeth recently performed as Venus in Venus and Adonis with Hampstead Garden Opera and Gertrude (Hänsel und Gretel) with Berlin Opera Academy under the Ian Donald Wilson Memorial Scholarship. Elizabeth is also in demand as a recitalist internationally, performing at venues such as Budapest International School, Cobham Hall School and Canterbury Cathedral.

On the concert platform, Elizabeth has performed Songs for Sue by Oliver Knussen under the baton of Barbara Hannigan as part of a project with Julliard school. She also performed the Staged Messiah with The Merry Opera Company which toured around Kent and London. Most recently, Elizabeth has been an Emerging Artist with The Australian Contemporary Opera Company, based in Melbourne where she performed many roles, most notably the Secretaryin Menotti’s The Consul.

The Australian-born baritone, grew up in Norway. He was actor at the Nationaltheatret in Oslo, and studied at the Nordberg Skole, Foss videregående skole, and Toneheim Folkehøgskole. From September 2018 he studies for his Bachelor of Arts degree in Music at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

James hails from Southwell, Nottinghamshire, and is an Artist Masters graduate from Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In 2025, he has appeared as ‘Don Ramiro’ in La Cenerentola with Hurn Court Opera, ‘Manuel’ in a revival of Samuel Coleridge Taylor’s Dream Lovers with Stanley Arts, Cantata Dramatica for Mander’s The Dowager’s Oyster as ‘Christopher’, ‘Ernesto’ in Don Pasquale with Surrey Opera, and – on the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth — he was ‘Edward Ferrars’ in a new production of Sense and Sensibility by Neil Hampton and Jeffrey Haddow.

2022-24 roles included ‘Enrico’ Donizetti Maria de Rudenz, ‘Fintan O’Riordan’ The Ballybruff

Trilogy, ‘The Duke’ Lambert The Duchess of Padua, ‘Nemorino’ Donizetti L’elisir d’amore, three productions as ‘Prince Ramiro’ Rossini La Cenerentola, ‘Schoolmaster’ Janáček The Cunning Little Vixen, ‘Rodolfo’ Puccini La bohème, ‘Lensky’ Tchaikovsky Eugene Onegin, ‘Aeneas’ Purcell Dido & Aeneas.

James regularly performs as an oratorio soloist and as an Evangelist, with recent performances including Bruckner Te Deum at York Minster, the UK premiere of Lidarti Ester, Bach St John Passion and B Minor Mass, Puccini Messa di Gloria, Britten St Nicolas, Mendelssohn Elijah and Haydn Creation.

Website: www.jamesbeddoe.com

Fleur de Bray, trained at the Royal Northern College of Music and the Wales International Academy of Voice. Fleur also has a Bachelor of Music Honours degree and Master of Music (Distinction) from Cardiff University. Awards include the Baroness De Turkheim Vocal Scholarship, Eva Turner Award, David Lloyd Vocal Scholarship and Sir Geraint Evans Prize.

Fleur made her Royal Opera House debut singing the high coloratura role of ‘Bottle’ and ‘Victorian’, in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by British composer Will Todd, in the Linbury Theatre. She was also a Christine Collins Young Artist at Opera Holland Park, performing the role of Governess in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw.

Other operatic roles include Musetta in La Boheme; Adina in L’elisir d’amore; Norina in Don Pasquale; Donna Anna in Don Giovanni; Madame Herz in Der Schauspieldirektor; Frasquita in Carmen; Cunegonde in Candide; Belinda in Dido and Aeneas; Queen Nitocris in Belshazzar; Miss Rose in Lakme; Clorinda in La Cenerentola; Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus; Le Feu in L’Enfant et Les Sortilèges and Josephine in HMS Pinafore.

Fleur sung the principal role of Katherina Cavalieri in two sell-out seasons of Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus at the National Theatre, with the Southbank Sinfonia. Concert work includes soprano soloist at the Royal Festival Hall with the Mozart Festival Orchestra; soloist at the Royal Albert Hall for the Masons’ Tercentenary Celebration concert; soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Orquesta de Valencia at the Palau de la Musica, Spain, and several international tours with the Little Opera Company and London Festival Opera.

In addition, Fleur also holds a PhD from Cardiff University, specialising in contemporary vocal and opera writing.

Matthew founded Merry Opera in 2009, having spent years advising corporate boardrooms, where passions played out in operatic dimensions. Roles: Leporello, Bartolo, Basilio, Sarastro, Germont, Raimbaut, Kecal, Frank, staged Messiah, staged Verdi Requiem, Mikado, Police Sergeant, Fairy Godfather & Marcus in MOC’s two ‘jukebox operas’. He trains with Sead Buljubasic in Vienna.

An East Anglian, John is an opera director, educator and writer, currently Associate Head of the Vocal Department at the Guildhall in London. Recent productions include: La bohème (Tartu Opera, Estonia), Der fliegende Holländer (Trondheim Opera, Norway), L'elisir d'amore (Jyväskylä Opera, Finland), Suor Angelica, Cavalleria Rusticana & Pagliacci, Eugene Onegin (West Green Opera Festival), Don Giovanni (Kilden Opera, Kristiansand), Alcina, Giulio Cesare, Radamisto, Albert Herring, Beginnings (Guildhall), Le nozze di Figaro (Icelandic National Opera), Der fliegende Holländer, Carmen, The Paper Bag Princess (Bergen National Opera); in previous seasons, Le nozze di Figaro, Die Zauberflöte (Turku Festival, Finland), Lucia di Lammermoor (Belgrade National Opera, Best Direction Award). Many productions for Merry Opera, including the acclaimed staged Messiah, now in its fifteenth year. John’s novel, Ladies’ Man, has been translated into seven languages. Future plans: Dialogues des Carmélites (Guildhall), La bohème (Wild Arts).

Winner of the accompanist's prize at the Royal Overseas League Competition and the accompanist's prize at the Maureen Lehane Vocal Awards, Chad Vindin is a vocal coach at the Royal Academy of Music and a staff pianist at the Royal College of Music, London.

Chad has worked as a répétiteur for the English Touring Opera, Grange Festival, Bury Court Opera, Bergen National Opera, and the Royal Opera House, London. He was assistant conductor for the Grange Festival's production of Yeoman of the Guard, and conductor for Uncovered Opera's productions of Der Rosenkavalier, Ariadne auf Naxos, and Don Carlos.

Katie is currently a costume Lecturer at Guildhall school of music and drama after a long career as a costume supervisor, specialising in Opera. Katie has worked predominantly for ENO and has worked internationally for companies including Berlin Opera, Madrid opera, Bergen National opera, Houston Grand opera, Canadian Opera company.

Sammy and Nurul formed Slice of Light, a multidisciplinary design collective specialising in lighting, projection-mapping, and videovisuals for stage, after meeting at Rose Bruford College. They create work for dance and stage, as well as installation and immersive events. Recent credits include: relighting Lucia Lammermoor (Barefoot Opera), Caged Sisters Musical (Bridewell Theatre), Pandora's Box (Theatro Technis), Bricklane Jazz Festival (Barbican Hall), G.I Jolene (ArtsDepot), and The End Times (National Opera Studio).

Walter is a London-based opera director. Recent credits include directing two new operas for the Music Troupe at the Tête à Tête festival: Buster’s Trip (2024), and The Rapture (2025), assistant directing Messiah and Die Fledermaus (Merry Opera), assisting Morley College Opera School’s Opera Scenes (autumn, spring and summer terms), assistant directing Orphée aux Enfers, Don Giovanni, and Der Rosenkavalier for Opéra de Baugé, and assistant stage managing Tristan und Isolde (Regents Opera/Grimeborn).

He graduated from the University of Bristol in 2024 where, as a student, he directed three operas (Die Fledermaus, The Elixir of Love, and Ethel Smyth’s Fête Galante), a student-written play, and an outdoor production of Sophocles’ Antigone. After graduating, he undertook observerships at Opera Holland Park, Garsington, Vache Baroque and the Royal Opera House. His forthcoming engagements include assistant directing Hänsel und Gretel and Così fan tutte (Merry Opera).