Welsh National Opera has announced today that internationally renowned Opera and Theatre Director Adele Thomas and visionary Creative Producer from The Royal Opera, Sarah Crabtree will jointly take up the role of WNO’s General Director & CEO from January next year.
Adele and Sarah say “We are passionate exponents of the power of opera; the impact of the raw, unadulterated voice, its profound liveness and its dedication to scale that enables us to tell the great stories of our time. WNO holds a unique position within opera: the Company sprung out of the national passion for exceptional singing.We will aim to lead the Company to a place where it stands with confidence and pride alongside the finest international houses and companies as an innovative, accessible and highly visible powerhouse of opera. We want to bring a new, diverse audience to opera in Wales and beyond, whilst respecting and nurturing WNO’s existing loyal audience. We have a shared commitment to transformational change and a drive to nurture the artform of opera to its next stage of development, particularly given the challenges that the industry has faced in recent years.At the heart of our philosophy, is a deeply held belief in the democratic spirit in which WNO was founded and still holds today: that opera is for everyone.”
Since directing her first opera in 2017, Adele Thomas has firmly established herself as a major force in opera and passionate advocate of the artform and has a specific interest in campaigning for support for directors from lower income backgrounds. As well as opera directing, Adele has directed many theatre productions including for Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London and was Project Associate on National Theatre Wales’s community project The Passion. Plans were already in place for Welsh born Adele Thomas to direct WNO’s new production of Verdi’s Rigoletto which premieres at Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff this September before touring to Llandudno, Plymouth, Oxford and Southampton.
Sarah Crabtree is Creative Producer and head of Linbury Theatre (opera) at The Royal Opera House where she is responsible for curating a programme of bold and accessible opera as well as overseeing the research & development of new work at the cutting edge of the form. Sarah is a major ambassador for the artform, communicating the relevance of opera today with audiences, funders and government and is passionate about working in collaboration across the creative industries. Sarah also drives the Royal Opera’s equality, diversity & inclusion agenda.
Chair of WNO’s Board, Yvette Vaughan Jones said “I am delighted that Adele and Sarah will be joint Co General Directors and CEOs of WNO. They are the future, and they understand the possibilities of opera for the future generations. Their vision for the future of the Company is incredibly exciting. They understand exactly what is needed to take WNO forward and the next steps the opera industry needs to take, particularly in the complex and challenging environment we are currently operating in. I would also like to take this opportunity of thanking our Interim General Director, Christopher Barron, for all his hard work since joining the Company. Chris will remain with us until the end of September.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
Welsh National Opera is the national opera company for Wales, funded by the Arts Councils of Wales and England to provide large-scale opera, concerts and outreach across Wales and to major cities in the English regions. We endeavour to provide transformative experiences through our education and outreach programme and our award-winning digital projects. We work with our partners to discover and nurture young operatic talent, and we aim to show future generations that opera is a rewarding, relevant and universal art form with the power to affect and inspire.
Adele Thomas was born and raised in Port Talbot in South Wales. Adele is a recipient of the RTYDS bursary for future artistic leaders and an invitee to the National Theatre Studio young directors’ course in 2005. She is also an Honorary Fellow of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge.
Opera work includes Semele (Glyndebourne); Il trovatore (Opernhaus Zürich and ROH); In the Realms of Sorrow (London Handel Festival/Stone Nest); Bajazet (INO and ROH); Apollo e Dafne and Berenice (ROH); Così fan tutte (Northern Ireland Opera). Both Bajazet and Berenice were nominated for the Best New Opera Production award at the Olivier Awards.
Theatre credits include The Memory of Water (Nottingham Playhouse);The Weir (ETT); Macbeth (Tobacco Factory); Eyam, The Oreseia, The Knight of the Burning Pestle and Thomas Tallis (Shakespeare’s Globe); The Golden Hours (Royal Court Theatre’s Unusual Unions plays); The Bloody Ballad and The Forsythe Sisters (Gagglebabble); The Passion and The Passion: One Year On (Project Associate, National Theatre Wales); Under Milk Wood (Royal & Derngate).
Sarah Crabtree has been Creative Producer for The Royal Opera since 2017, responsible for programming and producing in the Linbury Theatre and for Royal Opera productions away from Covent Garden at venues such as Shakespeare’s Globe and the Roundhouse. Sarah worked for Opera Holland Park from 2006 to 2015 and became Associate Producer to James Clutton there in 2012. At Opera Holland Park, she delivered the company’s summer season, and commissioned Opera Holland Park’s first ever new work: Will Todd’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in 2012.
Highlights of her career in Covent Garden include overseeing the world premieres of Mark Anthony Turnage’s Coraline at the Barbican, Philip Venable’s 4.48 Psychosis, Laura Bowler's The Blue Woman and Oliver Leith’s Last Days. She has also been responsible for The Royal Opera’s research and development programme, which supports the development of new work and emerging artists. A passionate advocate for equity in the arts, Sarah founded Engender in 2019, opera’s first network for women and non-binary people with the aim of delivering transformational change in gender equality in opera. Sarah is a change partner with Ramps on the Moon, working towards mainstream cultural change for disabled people in the arts, embedding anti-ableism across the sector. Sarah joined The Royal Opera as a Senior Producer in April 2015.
WNO production images are available for download at wno.org.uk/press
Further information on WNO can be found at wno.org.uk
For more information, photos or interviews please contact:
Penny James and Rachel Bowyer, Head of Communications (job-share)
Penny.james@wno.org.uk / Rachel.bowyer@wno.org.uk
Christina Blakeman, Press Manager
Rhys Edwards, Communications Manager
Sophie Revell, Press and Communications Assistant Sophie.revell@wno.org.uk