The Coffee Cantata

Originally from Nottingham, Thomas D Hopkinson is a recent alumnus of The National Opera Studio supported by the Sybil Tutton Award. He previously graduated from Royal Northern College of Music where he earned his MMus and Postgraduate Diploma. 

2025/26 performances include Le Comte de Vaudemont (Les vêpres siciliennes) and Count Ceprano (Rigoletto) The Royal Opera, cover Colline (La bohème) Opera North, Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontuis The University of Manchester Chorus, Handel’s Messiah Nottingham Harmonic Choir, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony Wilmslow Symphony Orchestra & Tempo (Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria) and Dr Grenvil (La traviata) Garsington Opera.  

Upcoming performances for 2026/27 include Sparafucile (Rigoletto) and cover Prince Gremin (Eugene Onegin) Opera North; Orest’s Companion (Elektra) The Royal Opera; Handel’s Messiah Nottingham Harmonic Choir & Ghost of the late King (Hamlet) Chelsea Opera Group. 

Previous roles include Un Alcade (La Forza del Destino), 4th Baron (Lohengrin), Sciarrone (Tosca), Collatinus (The Rape of Lucretia) and Second Armoured Man (Die Zauberflöte) The Royal Opera; Daland (Die Fliegende Holländer) Opera North; Zuniga (Carmen) Scottish Opera/Opera North; cover Theseus (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and cover Il Commendatore (Don Giovanni) for Glyndebourne; Dr Grenvil (La Traviata) Scottish Opera/Westminster Opera Company; Death (Savitri) & Father Phillipe (The Wandering Scholar) Opera Cameratina; Fafner (Siegfried) The London Opera Company; The Mourner (Fantasio), Second Prisoner (Fidelio) and cover Le Gouverneur (Le Comte Ory) Garsington Opera; Zelieck (Lurline) The National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland; Hans Foltz (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) The Hallé; Monterone (Rigoletto) IF Opera/ Wexford Festival Opera; Batone (L’inganno Felice), The Caliph Mahadi (The Veiled Prophet) and Kaboul (Lalla-Roukh) Wexford Festival Opera; RA (Lisbon Floor) The Copenhagen Opera Festival; Viktor (Anya 17) Awayday Music Productions; Prince Gremin (Eugene Onegin), Il Commendatore (Don Giovanni) Opera on Location. 

Praised for her “warmly engaging” performing style and “lovely lyric tone”, Fiona Hymns has performed for companies including Grange Park Opera, Buxton Festival, Longborough Festival Opera and Festival d'Aix-en-Provance.

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In 2026, Fiona was nominated for an Off West End Award for her performance as Adina in L’Elisir d’Amore with St Paul’s Opera, as well as making her debut as Manon Lescaut with Rose Opera. She created the role of Rosita in Edward Lambert’s new opera In Five Years’ Time, and was also a semi-finalist in the inaugural Rebecca Clarke Song Competition.

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Her other recent roles include Manon Lescaut (Manon Lescaut), Nedda (Pagliacci), and Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni) for Opera on Location, Alcina (Alcina), Santuzza (Cavalleria Rusticana) and Countess Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro).

Ashley Pearson is an award winning director and librettist dedicated to reframing the operatic canon for contemporary audiences through bold, collaborative storytelling.

Directing highlights include the Off-West End award winning production of L'incoronazione di Poppea and Offie-nominated productions of Agrippina and Partenope (HGO); Ballo in Maschera, Don Giovanni, and La Traviata (Opera on Location); Cosí fan Tutte and Die Zauberflöte (St Paul’s Opera).

She has served as Assistant Director at Royal Opera House and English National Opera (Opera Works). Ashley's English-language adaptations include Verismo, Cinderella, and Carmen (published by Oberon Books). Her original plays include League of Youth (after Ibsen) and Mary, Mary. She holds an MFA in Theatre Directing from East 15 Acting School.

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Ashley is also a Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) Intermediate Certified Barista and holds an SCA certificate in Coffee Sustainability.

Gareth Lloyd graduated from the University of Sheffield with a BMus (Hons) in 2009 and is Head of Music at St Mary's Catholic High School, Chesterfield. Alongside his work in education, he is Co-Artistic Director of Opera on Location and Musical Director of Easy Street Theatre Company.

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Recent performances include Turiddu (Cavalleria Rusticana) and Canio (Pagliacci) in Opera on Location's daring re-imagining of the verismo double bill, Verismo, and Riccardo (The Masked Ball) for Opera on Location. His other principal roles with the company include Rodolfo (La bohème), Lenski (Eugene Onegin), Cavaradossi (Tosca), Don José (Carmen), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni) and Alfredo (La traviata).

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Other operatic engagements have included Max (Der Freischütz) for Aylesbury Opera, Jeník (The Bartered Bride) for Bearwood Opera, Ralph Rackstraw (H.M.S. Pinafore) for Wolverton Gilbert & Sullivan Society, Frank (The Impresario), Ferrando (Così fan tutte), Faust (Faust), Monostatos (Die Zauberflöte), Le Remendado (Carmen) and Don Curzio (Le nozze di Figaro).

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In addition to his operatic work, Gareth is an experienced conductor, educator and vocal coach, combining a career in performance with a passion for developing young musicians and making opera accessible to new audiences through innovative productions and outreach projects.

Canadian pianist Michelle Marie Santiago enjoys a varied career as a chamber musician, accompanist, opera repetiteur, vocal coach and piano teacher. She currently resides in London where she is a freelance pianist, chamber musician, repetiteur, vocal coach and piano teacher and is currently a staff accompanist at the Guildhall School and a tutor at Benslow Music. In Canada, she has been pianist-in-residence for Musique sur Mer and a staff pianist for the Canadian Vocal Arts Institute, the Université de Montréal and McGill University.

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Previous engagements as a repetiteur include the Royal Opera House (Last Days), Into Opera (Carmen and Captain Blood's Revenge), Opera on Location (The Prodigal Son, The Masked Ball, Carmen), Opera Cameratina (Hikikomori), Random Opera (The Heavenly Ledger), Spectra Ensemble (Treemonisha), Scherzo Ensemble (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), British Youth Opera (The Vanishing Bridegroom, Summer Workshop) and Virtually Opera (The Perfect Opera) among others.

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Michelle has been a prizewinner at the Canadian Federation of Music Teachers Association National Piano Competition, the Canadian Music Competitions, and the Concours de l'Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. She was awarded the Piano Accompaniment Prize and the Tracey Chadwell Memorial Prize for Contemporary Song at the Guildhall School, as well as the Denis Horner Accompanist's Prize at the Kathleen Ferrier Bursary for Young Singers Competition.

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She holds Piano Performance degrees from the Université de Montréal (DMus, MMus) and the University of Alberta (BMus), as well as a Master of Performance in Piano Accompaniment and an Artist Diploma in Opera Studies from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. She has studied piano with John Perry, Julian Martin, Paul Stewart, Marc Durand and accompaniment with Pamela Lidiard, Eugene Asti and Michael McMahon, among others. She was formerly a sessional instructor in piano at the Université de Montréal where she also assisted Paul Stewart.

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In addition to her formal studies, she has attended the Aspen Music Festival (USA), the Orford Arts Centre Academy (Canada), the Banff Centre for the Arts (Canada), the Gijón International Piano Festival (Spain), the Franz Schubert Institut (Austria), the Académie Francis Poulenc (France) and the Vancouver International Song Institute (Canada).

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