Head of Design and Costume

Nicola Jackson has worked as designer and costume supervisor for Diva Opera for the past twelve years, designing costumes for Cavalleria Rusticana, I Pagliacci, L’elisir d’amore, Tosca, Le Nozze di Figaro, Gianni Schicchi, Die Fledermaus, Rigoletto, La Bohème, La Cenerentola, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Die Zauberflöte, Eugene Onegin and Il Barbiere di Siviglia.

She designed costumes for the film Shell at the Berlin Festival and works regularly as costume designer on music videos for Oil Factory Films with artists including Ute Lemper, Sophie Ellis Bextor, Supergrass, Leftfield, Turin Brakes, The Raveonettes, Dido, The Dixie Chicks, Natasha Beddingfield and Mika. She designed the costumes for the Raymond Gubbay Johann Strauss Gala which recently toured the UK. 

Matthew Muller studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Theatre and opera work includes Stage Manager at the Hampstead Theatre, Pavilion Opera and Opera à La Carte.

He is Studio Manager on many radio plays recorded for the BBC (with casts including Derek Jacobi, Ralph Fiennes and Ian McKellen), music videos (including Madonna and Coldplay) and is Production Manager on several corporate conferences and productions in the UK, Europe, United States and the Far East.

He was recently the Tour Manager for Tim Minchin (winner of the Perrier Comedy award in Edinburgh) during his 2008 national tour.

This is his eleventh year as Stage Manager for Diva Opera.

Assistant Music Director and Pianist 2010

Anna Tilbrook is one of Britain's most exciting pianists, with a considerable reputation in song recitals and chamber music. She made her debut at the Wigmore Hall in 1999 and has since become a regular performer at major concert halls and festivals. Born in Hertfordshire, she studied music at York University and at the Royal Academy of Music with Julius Drake, where she was awarded a Fellowship and in 2009 became an Associate. She also won many prizes including the AESS Bluthner prize and the award for an outstanding woman musician from the ROSL.

Anna has collaborated with many leading singers and instrumentalists and with James Gilchrist she has made acclaimed recordings of 20th-century English song, including Vaughan Williams's On Wenlock Edge with the Fitzwilliam String Quartet, Lennox Berkeley Songs for Chandos and most recently Schubert’s Die Schone Mullerin for Orchid. Soon to be released is a disc of Leighton and Britten songs for Linn and in May 2010 James and Anna will record Schubert’s Winterreise and Schwanengesang.

Anna has a special association with the Two Moors Festival in Devon, where she has devised and performed a series of epic performing projects: all the Schubert song-cycles in a day in 2005; all the Schumann song-cycles in 2006; and in 2007 a day of songs by Mahler and his contemporaries.

Anna is also in demand as a repetiteur, continuo player and vocal coach, working for companies including the Royal Opera, Royal Ballet, Aldeburgh Festival and the LSO. She was official accompanist and coach for the 2008 Les Azuriales Opera Festival Singing Competition in France. For the 2006 Buxton Festival she made her conducting debut, directing Telemann's Pimpinone from the harpsichord. For Welsh National Opera she has accompanied Angela Gheorghiu, Jose Carreras and Bryn Terfel in televised concerts.

2010 Director for
Falstaff

David Edwards was born in London and graduated from Cambridge University.

He has directed opera productions in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Portland, Central City Colorado, Minnesota, Chicago, Tulsa, Memphis, Houston, Washington, Philadelphia, Buxton and London where he staged ten revivals for the Royal Opera.

Recent work includes Le Nozze di Figaro, Die Walküre (Act 1) and Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Singapore), Albert Herring and Falstaff (Tokyo), Dido and Aeneas and The Pilgrim’s Progress (London). David first worked with Diva Opera in 1996 and most recently directed La Traviata for the 2007 season.

He is Production Director for The Mastersingers and also tutors regularly at the Motley Theatre Design Course, the Royal Academy of Music and Central School of Speech & Drama. 

Designer for
Falstaff

Cordelia Chisholm studied English Literature at Cambridge University before training on the Motley Theatre Design Course. 

Opera designs include: Hansel and Gretel (Opera North), Alessando (RCM), Phaedra, Ariadne auf Naxos and Cosi fan Tutte (RSAMD), Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci, Pearl Fishers, Turandot, Herodiade and Nabucco (Dorset Opera), Marriage of Figaro and Peter Grimes (Surrey Opera), Tales of Hoffmann (Guildford Opera).

Theatre designs include: Kurt and Sid (Trafalgar Studios), Shadow Language (Theatre 503), 100º Fahrenheit (Southwark Playhouse), The Dubya Trilogy (New Players Theatre), Touched (Rada), Hamelyn Heights (Young Vic Studio), Incarcerator (Old Red Lion), The Winter’s Tale (Creation Theatre Company), An Axe for the Frozen Sea (Bedlam Theatre Company), Dateless Wonder (Arts Depot) Masks and Faces (Finborough). 

Costume designs include: Orlando and La Scala di Seta (Independent Opera at Sadlers Wells), Taboos and Talk About the Passion (New End Theatre), Twelfth Night (Creation Theatre Company), The Wedding (Southwark Playhouse).

Nobuko Maruyama was born in London and grew up in Japan. She trained in Scenography and Display Design at Musashino Art University in Japan and received a BA (Hons) in Theatre Design for Performance from Central St. Martins College of Art in London.

Design work includes costume design for the Ballet Black productions of 'serenade' choreographed by Chris Marney and 'Par De Trois' choreographed by Patrick Lewis. She designed the costumes for a short film 'The Scar' and has worked as assistant set designer to Kevin Knight and Bruce French on several ballet and Opera productions. She has also worked in Media production for MJK productions.