Jonathan Lyness
Jonathan was born in London and read music at Bristol University winning both university undergraduate and British Academy postgraduate arts scholarships. He studied conducting with George Hurst after which he went on to conduct the British premiere of Fritz Oeser’s new critical edition of Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann at the Victoria Rooms in Bristol. He 1993 he co-founded Opera Project with whom he has conducted The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Albert Herring, La Bohème, La Traviata, The Barber of Seville, Tosca, La Cenerentola, Don Pasquale, Italian Girl in Algiers, Così fan tutte, The Magic Flute, Seraglio, Walton’s The Bear and Façade, Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti, Ravel’s L’Heure Espagnole, Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale, The Turn of the Screw, Falstaff, Carmen and Britten’s The Beggar’s Opera.
For Longborough Festival Opera he has conducted Madama Butterfly, Eugene Onegin and Rigoletto as well as Opera Project productions of The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Albert Herring, La Bohème and La Traviata. In addition he has re-orchestrated twelve operas for smaller forces and worked as a classical record producer with some 25 commercial CD recordings to his credit including a disc of orchestral music by the composer Jim Parker and a recording of Walton’s film music for Henry V and As You Like It, which he made in collaboration with the actor John Nettles.
Richard Studer
Richard was born in Surrey and studied veterinary sciences and zoology at Bristol University. He has directed, designed and costumed over thirty operas including Don Giovanni, Figaro's Wedding (Brandon Hill Opera at Bristol Old Vic, cond. Martyn Brabbins), Monteverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea, Borodin’s Prince Igor, Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera, Weill’s Happy End and Phillip Glass’s Akhanaten. He has created new performing editions of John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera and Weill’s Happy End and new English versions of Così fan tutte, The Barber of Seville, La Boheme, Il Seraglio, Don Pasquale and La Cenerentola.
He is co-founder of Opera Project for whom he has directed, designed and costumed The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Albert Herring, La Bohème, La Traviata, The Barber of Seville, Tosca, La Cenerentola, Don Pasquale, Così fan tutte, The Magic Flute, Seraglio, Walton’s The Bear and Façade, Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti, Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale, Ravel’s L’Heure Espagnole, Falstaff, Carmen, The Turn of the Screw and Britten’s The Beggar’s Opera. For Longborough Festival Opera he has directed, designed and costumed Madama Butterfly, Eugene Onegin and Rigoletto as well as Opera Project productions of The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Albert Herring, La Bohème and La Traviata.