Our Creative Team.
Kate Millett is a multifaceted artist working as a theatre and opera director, arts producer, writer, dramaturg and performer. She has studied drama and performance at the University of Western Australia and Edith Cowan University. Inspired by the opera scenes developing in New York and Berlin, Kate is bringing her black-box theatre mentality to opera, focusing on the emotionality of the singers, and bringing a visceral reality to this artform.
JAMES PENN >> CONDUCTOR
James Penn is an up-and-coming conductor, who began his musical training as a choirboy at All Saints church, St Kilda east. He holds a Bachelor of Music Performance from Victorian College of the Arts, a Graduate Diploma in Music from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts.
James is passionate about the inherent confrontation at the heart of all great opera. Having toured internationally, singing in the great European cathedrals and concert halls, he brings this experience to his work, focusing on bringing a European refinement to the Australian opera scene.
PAM CHRISTIE >> REPETITEUR
Since completing her music studies at Melbourne University and Moscow Conservatory, Pam has worked for many years as an accompanist in and around Melbourne. She is a repetiteur for the Opera Australia Schools Company and Opera Studio/Gertrude Opera, and also fulfils numerous performance and production commitments as a freelance pianist, coach and musical director.
Recent engagements include Rossini’s ‘Cinderella’ and Humperdinck’s ‘Hansel and Gretel’ for OA; musical director of ‘Trial by Jury’ and ‘The Zoo’ for GSOV; a concert tour of China accompanying the Melbourne Bach Choir and soloists in a programme of opera highlights; and a number of performances at the outstandingly successful Nagambie Lakes Opera Festival.