The 2019-20 season at the Royal Opera House features six Rayfield Allied artists across six separate productions, with four artists returning to the house and two making their house debuts.
Soprano Venera Gimadieva returns following her critically acclaimed 2016 house debut as Violetta La traviata to sing the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor, a role she has sung in numerous houses including the Opernhaus Zürich, Teatro Real in Madrid and Bayerische Staatsoper. Her performance in Munich was described as "a perfect Lucia... Her voice exuded excitement and anticipation, with a brilliant phosphorescent top register perfectly suited to the young girl in love" (Bachtrack).
Following his "notable debut as the tortured Novice" in Billy Budd (The Times), Sam Furness returns to sing the roles of White King/Mad Hatter in Gerald Barry's Alice's Adventures Under Ground and tenor roles in Britten's Death in Venice. He also sings the role of the Simpleton Boris Godunov at the end of the 2018-19 season.
Acclaimed for his portrayals of roles in contemporary operas such as Thomas Adès’ Powder Her Face (“exceptional”, The Guardian), Adrian Dwyer has appeared at the Linbury as Edgar/Poor Tom in Goehr’s Promised End, Hermes King Priam and in the title role of Jonathan Dove’s Swanhunter and made his Royal Opera debut in 2015 as Emir Cities of Salt. He makes his Covent Garden main stage debut this summer as Anatol in WNO’s War and Peace and returns to the Linbury in the 2019/20 season as D'Esperaudieu The Intelligence Park with Music Theatre Wales.
Hubert Francis returns to the Royal Opera House in the role of Spoletta Tosca. He has sung the role numerous times for the company since 2004 and has been praised for his "brilliantly nasty Spoletta" (The Times). His many roles at the Royal Opera House have included Hunchback Brother Die Frau ohne Schatten, Male Chorus The Rape of Lucretia, Harlekin Der Kaiser von Atlantis, Trin La fanciulla del West, Toby Higgins Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, Laïos Oedipe and Lucas The Exterminating Angel.
Versatile bass Joshua Bloom makes his house debut as Red Knight/Humpty Dumpty in Alice's Adventures Under Ground, which he has previously sung with the Britten Sinfonia and RTÉ Concert Orchestra. Praised for his "virtuoso flair" (The Guardian), he has previously premiered several of Gerald Barry's scores, including The Conquest of Ireland and the role of Algernon Moncrieff The Importance of Being Earnest.
After assisting on numerous productions at the Royal Opera House, stage director Jack Furness makes his debut as Revival Director on Kasper Holten's production of Don Giovanni. He has previously assisted on productions including David McVicar's Andrea Chénier, Laurent Pelly's L'elisir d'amore and Robert Carsen's Der Rosenkavalier and recently made his US debut reviving David McVicar's Carmen for Dallas Opera.
