Sir Robert Murray Helpmann, CBE was an Australian ballet dancer, actor, director and choreographer. After early work in Australia he moved to Britain in 1932, where he joined the Vic-Wells Ballet under its creator, Ninette de Valois. He became one of the company's leading men, partnering Alicia Markova and later Margot Fonteyn. When Frederick Ashton, the company's chief choreographer, was called up for military service in the Second World War Helpmann took over from him while continuing as a principal dancer.
David Zinman is an American conductor and violinist.
Thomas Joseph Edmund Adès is a British composer, pianist and conductor. Five compositions by Adès received votes in the 2017 Classic Voice poll of the greatest works of art music since 2000: The Tempest (2004), Violin Concerto (2005), Tevot (2007), In Seven Days (2008), and Polaris (2010).
Michael Beckley is an Australian actor. He has worked with major theatre companies in both Australia and the United Kingdom, and appeared on London's West End in A Few Good Men and Cabaret. He is probably best known for playing Rhys Sutherland, the patriarch of a new family that arrived in the fictional town of Summer Bay in the internationally televised series Home and Away.
Paul Felix Weingartner, Edler von Münzberg was an Austrian conductor, composer and pianist.
The Almeida Theatre, opened in 1980, is a 325-seat producing house with an international reputation, which takes its name from the street on which it is located, off Upper Street, in the London Borough of Islington. The theatre produces a diverse range of drama. Successful plays are often transferred to West End theatres.
Neil Geoffrey Armfield is an Australian director of theatre, film and opera.
Boosey & Hawkes is a British music publisher purported to be the largest specialist classical music publisher in the world. Until 2003, it was also a major manufacturer of brass, string and woodwind musical instruments.
Michael Grandage CBE is a British theatre director and producer. He is currently Artistic Director of the Michael Grandage Company. From 2002 to 2012 he was Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse in London and from 2000 to 2005 he was Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres.
Susanna Ulla Marjukka Mälkki is a Finnish conductor and cellist. She is the daughter of Pirkko Liisa Vainio and the marine scientist Pentti Mälkki.
Sir David Willoughby Pountney is a British-Polish theatre and opera director and librettist internationally known for his productions of rarely performed operas and new productions of classic works. He has directed over ten world premières, including three by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies for whom he wrote the librettos of The Doctor of Myddfai, Mr Emmet Takes a Walk and Kommilitonen!
Markus Stenz is a German conductor. He studied at the Hochschule für Musik Köln with Volker Wangenhein and at Tanglewood with Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa.
The Ice Break is an English-language opera in three acts, with music and libretto to an original scenario by Sir Michael Tippett. The opera received its premiere at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden on 7 July 1977, conducted by Colin Davis, the dedicatee of the opera.
Michel van der Aa is a Dutch composer of contemporary classical music.
Barrie Kosky is an Australian theatre and opera director.
Geoffrey Paterson is a British conductor.
Paul Douglas Freeman was an American conductor, born in Richmond, Virginia.
Black conductors are musicians of African, Caribbean, African-American ancestry and other members of the African diaspora who are musical ensemble leaders who direct classical music performances, such as an orchestral or choral concerts, or jazz ensemble big band concerts by way of visible gestures with the hands, arms, face and head. Conductors of African descent are rare, as the vast majority are male and Caucasian.
Brenton James Langbein, AO was an Australian violinist, conductor, and composer.
Josephine Stephenson is a French-British composer, arranger, singer and instrumentalist who works across a variety of musical genres.
