Honorary Patrons

Laurence Cummings

Laurence Cummings studied at Oxford University and the Royal College of Music. He has played harpsichord and organ continuo with many leading period instrument groups, including Les Arts Florissants, The Sixteen Choir, Gabrieli Consort and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and has conducted at English National Opera and Glyndebourne. As a soloist, he has recorded the harpsichord music of Louis and François Couperin. Mr. Cummings is the Musical Director of the London Handel Orchestra and Tilford Bach Society, a Trustee of Handel House Museum and has been Head of Historical Performance since 1997 at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

Dame Anne Evans

After studying at the Royal College of Music in London and the Geneva Conservatoire, Anne Evans pursued a career spanning thirty-seven years that took her to the opera houses of Berlin, Vienna, Paris, New York, San Francisco, Brussels, Buenos Aires, as well as London. Her countless roles ranged from Pamina in Die Zauberflöte to Leonore in Fidelio, from Violetta in La traviata to Isolde. She sang the role of Brünnhilde at the Bayreuth Festival for four consecutive years with Daniel Barenboim and at the Deutsche Oper, Berlin, for five. She has given recitals at the Wigmore Hall and the Edinburgh Festival and sung in concerts with most of the leading conductors of her time. She now devotes her time to teaching and coaching young singers and adjudicating. Anne Evans is an Hon.DMus (University of Kent), a fellow of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and a trustee of the Countess of Munster Music Scholarships. She was made a Dame of the British Empire in 2000.

Michael Grandage

Michael Grandage is the Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse in London. His productions there have included Frost/Nixon, Caligula (for which he won the Olivier Award) as well as Merrily we Roll Along, Grand Hotel and Guys & Dolls (all of which won Olivier Awards for Outstanding Musical). He was the Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres from 1999 to 2005 where his productions included As You Like It and Don Carlos.

Wasfi Kani OBE

Wasfi Kani was born in the East End of London. She played the violin in the National Youth Orchestra and then went on to read music at Oxford University. After a stint in the City programming and designing computer systems, she returned to the music field, founding Pimlico Opera and initiating their programme of work in prisons. In 1998 she founded Grange Park Opera and in 2002 was awarded an OBE for services to music.

Nicholas Payne

Nicholas Payne is the Director of Opera Europa, the leading organization for professional opera companies throughout Europe. He has worked in opera since joining Covent Garden in 1968 at the end of the Webster/Solti period. After a spell at the Arts Council during the early 1970s, he worked for four different UK opera companies over 27 consecutive years: as Financial Controller of Welsh National Opera; General Administrator of Opera North; Director of the Royal Opera Covent Garden; and General Director of English National Opera. Mr. Payne writes and broadcasts regularly on operatic and general arts subjects.

Honorary Patrons 2007

Eva Jiricna

Eva Jiricna has achieved an international reputation and received many awards in recognition of her contribution to architecture. She formed her own practice in 1985.

Nicola LeFanu

Nicola LeFanu has composed over 60 works (opera, orchestra, chamber, solo) that have been played and broadcast worldwide. She is the daughter of Elizabeth Maconchy.