About us

	Niall Ashdown Baritone Niall is a comedian, actor, improvisor and writer. He has improvised with Improbable Theatre in Lifegame and Animo and with the Comedy Store Players. He's written and performed two acclaimed solo shows, Hungarian Bird Festival and The Man Who Would Be Sting and is in Note to Tale, a collaborative work with improvising classical quintet Between the Notes. TV work includes Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Swiss Toni, and, as writer/performer , Barking and Confessions. On radio, he has co-written and starred in two series of Losers for BBC Radio 4 and in two radio plays, Tunnel Vision and Hungarian Birdsong. He is sport columnist Robbo on BBC Sport Online.
	Susan Bisatt Soprano Susan Bisatt is a versatile artist as well as an experienced vocal & performance skills workshop leader and teacher. She has worked as a soloist with Opera North and ENO, and at the Edinburgh International and Almeida festivals. Her recordings include Baroque operas and Purcell Sacred Music on the Hyperion and Naxos labels. She is a founder member of Opera Circus and a member of the Cornelius Cardew Ensemble. She is a regular workshop leader for National Association of Youth Theatres and since September 2001 she has held the post of Vocal Animateur for Tameside Local Education Authority.
	Peter Furniss Clarinets, recorders, saxophones and ‘misery stick’ Peter began playing the clarinet at the age of seven. He trained Guildhall, London, Paris and Budapest and has performed extensively in Europe, Israel and the UK, as a soloist and chamber musician. When he is not making things up with Impropera, he plays regularly with orchestras like the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Scottish Chamber Orchestra. He is an experienced teacher, conductor and composer, working frequently with 3-7 year-olds at the Da Capo Foundation.
	Anthony Ingle Musical Director Started improvising on the piano at the age of three, and learning to do it properly two years later; parts of the latter process involved a music degree from Cambridge and postgraduate work at the London Opera Centre. Has been Director of Music for Productions at LAMDA for many years, and since 2001 Musical Director of Opera Circus; has written original scores for over sixty musico-theatrical productions (notable: 'Nana', Almeida 1987/Mermaid '88; 'The Invisible Man', Stratford East 1991; 'A Working Woman', West Yorkshire Playhouse 1992; 'Misalliance', Clwyd 1997), and directed the music for as many others. Also regularly appears in recital (as accompanist) and in country dance bands (as bass player). Is the Voice of the Rooster in Opera Circus's current production, 'Arcane'.
	Morag McLaren Soprano Morag has performed in a wide variety of opera, musicals and music theatre productions, as well as her critically acclaimed one-woman shows and concerts here and in the USA. She played Carlotta in Lloyd Webber's Phantom of The Opera, Her Majesty's; Mrs Segstrom in Sondheim's A Little Night Music at Royal National Theatre as well as roles at Welsh National Opera and Scottish Opera Mother. She toured extensively as The Good Wife and The Maid in Opera Circus' naughty tale, Shameless. More about Morag: http://www.moragmclaren.com
	David Pearl (Artistic Director) Tenor David began singing at the age of nine at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden where he worked as the boy soprano soloist for four years. He worked with Kent Opera and New Sadlers Wells Opera before co-founding Opera Circu s in 1990 with Tina Ellen Lee. David is well known as a pioneer in arts in business work around the world. In this he draws on his eclectic experience of the creative disciplines as an opera singer, theatre director and performer, improvisation practitioner, film writer, television presenter and one-time professional serenader! Offstage and undercover, David is the Director of PearlGroup. He works as full-time entertainer (unpaid) for Elsa (10) and Zachary (8).