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La Belle Helene - meet the team
July 2018
Serena Kay
Music Director
Serena is a London born mezzo who specialises in the Bel Canto repertoire. She was a Choral Scholar at Royal Holloway College, University of London, where she graduated from with a BMus (Hons Lond). She won a scholarship to study at the Opera School at Royal College of Music. After achieving a Distinction and being awarded a RCM Junior Fellowship, she went on to make her Opera North debut as Second Lady (Magic Flute); her English National Opera debut as Nancy T'Ang (Nixon in China) and her Welsh National Opera debut as Tisbe (Cenerentola).
She has performed many roles including Hermia (Midsummer Night's Dream); the title role of Cenerentola over 50 times for both Mid Wales Opera and Garden Opera, including a tour of Kenya; Hansel (Hansel and Gretel) for Opera TheatreCompany, Ireland and Dorabella (Cosí fan tutte) for Mananan Opera, Isle of Man. Concert work includes Wesendonck Lieder (Wagner) with the Metropolitan Orchestra in Lisbon; Les nuits d'été (Berlioz) for Kew and Oxford Sinfonias and the Berlioz Society and the B Minor Mass (Bach) for Singapore Choral Society in Singapore, as well as many concerts with the BBC Concert Orchestra, the LPO on the South Bank and oratorios throughout the UK.
Serena is a respected Music Director, working with opera groups across the home countries
Serena is joined by Jim Petts for La Belle Helene. Jim has worked with Opera at Bearwood for many years, sometimes on stage, but on many occasions as Stage Director and Designer. His works for Bearwood have included The Barber of Seville, Madam Butterfly, The Magic Flute, and Macbeth. He was also worked and sung with other groups in the area including Windsor and Eton Opera, Park Opera, and Kennet Opera.