• Casting Team

    The wonderful casting for The Monk & The Lotus

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    April Fredrick

    Lotus

    Hailed as ‘astonishing and luminous’ (Bachtracks), soprano April Fredrick’s world premiere performance of ‘Jane’ in John Joubert’s Jane Eyre with the ESO was described as ‘utterly riveting, with a terrific dramatic sense’ (Music and Vision) and ‘simply breathtaking’ (Musical Opinion).

     

    Other recent performances include the world premiere of Philip Saywer’s Songs of Loss and Regret with the English Symphony Orchestra (forthcoming on Nimbus Records), and Strauss’s Vier Letzte Lieder with the Blackburn Symphony Orchestra.

     

    Upcoming work includes staged productions of both The Messiah and Verdi’s Requiem with the Merry Opera Company, Beethoven’s Mass in C and Mozart Vespers at Cadogan Hall, Brahms Requiem and Strauss’ Vier Letzte Lieder with the Nottingham Harmonic Society, and the world premiere of a new song-cycle by David Matthews with the Orchestra of the Swan.

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    Robert Haylett

    Monk

    Robert Haylett studied at Girton College, University of Cambridge; since then he has established himself as a singer and singing teacher in Peterborough. His operatic roles include Traveller (Benjamin Britten, Curlew River), Doctor P (Michael Nyman, The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat), and, in contemporary works, Dudley Ward/Frederick Kelly (David Earl, Strange Ghost) and Israelite Father (Rhiannon Randle, Temptations). World premieres of concert music given as a soloist include Randle’s Kalthertzige for baritone and strings, and Louis D’Heudieres’ Various Interpretations of Utopian Music, and the UK premieres of Jeremy Thurlow’s Over The Frost and Brahms’ arrangement for strings of JS Bach’s Cantata BWV 78.

     

    He sings at Peterborough Cathedral as a lay clerk, and frequently appears as a concert soloist. Future plans include various song recitals, alongside studying for the Postgraduate Certificate in Performance Teaching at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

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    Duncan Hodgkinson

    Dao

    Duncan Hodgkinson

    Duncan is a young French performer and writer from Mallorca. He is currently on the BA Acting (International) course at East 15 Acting School. He has recently portrayed the role of Don Armado in Shakespeare’s Love’s labor’s Lost (East 15), as well as a co-written play called Central Story Line for Pub Theatre Festival in Camden’s (Etcetera Theatre). Duncan can speak French and Spanish fluently and his standard accent is American. Outside of the theatre, Duncan uses his time to go skateboarding, kickboxing or simply just to play a nice game of chess.

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    Max Percy

    Monk’s Shadow

    Max is a recent graduate from the BA Acting course at East15. His previous opera experience includes Benjamin Britten’s A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream as well as the Hong Kong premier of Spring Awakening musical. He has trained in circus, ballet and contemporary dance with a passion for physical theatre. He is a proud supporter of the Asian theatre community in London, having co-produced an East-Asian Theatre Festival at Theatre503; which included the UK premier of David Henry Hwang’s Trying to Find Chinatown. In addition, Max was the Masters of Ceremonies of the 2017 Chinese New Year Celebrations as well as the 20th Anniversary of the Hong Kong Administrative Region here in London.

     

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    Margherita Deri

    Lotus’s Shadow

    Margherita Deri studied ballet, contemporary dance, house dance, tap dance at Arti’s Dance School in Genoa (Italy) in her youth where she also graduated in the Musical Course (2 years) in 2011.

    She graduated at LSDA Foundation Course in London in 2016.

    She is currently a student of BA Acting and Contemporary theatre at East 15 Drama School.

     

    As an actress she started working in Carlo Felice Opera Theatre in Genoa (Italy) as an appearance from 1993 to 2000 in “Falstaff,” “Norma”, “Tosca”, “Tabarro”, Pagliacci, Madama Butterfly. She worked then with the Compagnia Italiana della Rivista in “Avanti c’è Pesto” and “Nasocchio” in Verdi Theatre and Gilberto Govi Theatre, Genova, Italy.

     

    She performed in London at The Drayton Arms in “The House of Bernarda Alba” directed by Georgina Sowerby, at the Corbett Theatre in “Home” directed by Charlotte Thompson, in “Motortown” directed by Richard Graham.

     

    As a singer she performed in Genoa in Verdi Theatre and Modena Theatre from 2000 to 2007, she is a soprano with polifonic music experience. In London she performed in “CT Overture” at The Crazy Coqs in Soho, directed by Uri Rodner.

     

    She appeared in movies as “Shapes” directed by Roberto Prestia and in short film “Invisible” directed by Gianluigi Pilisi.

     

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    Yongqiu Yuan

    Pianist

    Yongqiu Yuan started playing the piano at the age of ten and attended the Middle School of Sichuan Conservatory of Music in China. In 2009, receiving a scholarship, she started her BMus course at the Royal Northern College of Music under the tutelage of Dr. Stephen Savage. In 2012, she was delighted to be awarded the RNCM Piano Duo Prize. In 2013, Yongqiu was awarded a scholarship to continue her study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Pamela Lidiard, specializing in piano accompaniment.

    She is an active solo and ensemble player and has appeared in many performances. Her performing experiences include piano duo performance in RNCM American music festival, Beethoven Piano Week; Recital in St James’s church piccadilly, Milton court and many other occasions. She actively played for singers and instrumentalists,appeared in Mahler study project in Wigmore Hall. Yongqiu also took part in the production of Cosi Fan tutte with the Dulwich Opera Company.