Jorde Heys is an award-winning, Sydney-based composer known for his screen music and concert works, as well as music for stage and installation. He received the Music Faculty and Os Nelson Scholarships to attend Queen’s College and earned his Bachelor of Music at The University of Melbourne, studying piano under Elizabeth Mitchell and Dr. Donna Coleman, and composition under Prof. Elliot Gyger, Dr. Katy Abbott, and Prof. Stuart Greenbaum. He completed his Honours in composition in 2016, winning the Melbourne Recital Centre and Melbourne Conservatorium of Music Composition Prize. Jorde completed a Master of Arts (Screen Composition) at AFTRS in 2019. He was nominated for Best Music in A Short Film the APRA Screen Music Awards in 2021, and most recently, his music has been exhibited in work for Sydney Opera House, University of Queensland, Melbourne Music Week and ACMI.
Nathaniel Kong - Pianist and MD
Nathaniel Kong is a pianist, performer and teacher in Sydney. He was an award winner at the Australian Concerto & Vocal Competition in Townsville performing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No.2. Performances have been with Operantics, Operabites, Sydney Fringe Festival, Canberra Enlighten Festival, The Cooperative, Cantorion Sydney Choir, Sydney Male Choir and the Mosman Symphony Chorus and Orchestra.
He has performed and worked across various styles from Armenian vocal folk music under soprano Arax Mansourian, to recording piano works of Australian composer Peter Stannard, and working with vocalists from opera, theatre and jazz. He is based at Sydney Girls High school and at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts.
Jacqueline Chapman - Set and Puppetry Designer
Jacqueline is an illustrator and propmaker from Awabakal land (Lake Macquarie).
Most inspired by nature, history, and mythology, she is interested in projects that challenge tired tropes, and champion diversity and inclusivity.
She studied a Bachelor of Arts in English and Writing from the University of Newcastle, with electives in Natural History Illustration, animation and theatre. A lifelong theatre lover, she developed skills in set and prop building working with local theatre company Prospero Players. Since 2021, Jacqueline has expanded into film, working on shorts Under the Water and Wilfred Gordon Macdonald Partridge, on animated short If/When. Her passions include: Shakespeare, languages, truffle brie and dogs.
Sophie Rogut - Miss Havisham
Australian soprano Sophie Rogut is a current student at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and The University of Sydney studying a Bachelor of Music / Bachelor of Advanced Studies (Performance) majoring in Classical Voice and Project Management, studying with Dr Rowena Cowley.
She was the recipient of The University of Sydney Creative Arts Special Admission Scheme 2020 for talented Year 12 students.
Sophie has experience in vocal recording for film and television at Trackdown Studios and has a strong theatre background as a recipient of the Sydney Theatre Company Young Wharfies Scholarship Program and the Griffin Theatre Ambassador Scholarship Program.
Sophie has been a frequent performer in concerts and recitals at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music including soprano soloist in SCM’s Lunchbreak concerts and the Con Lieder Series, and in a co-production with Con Opera and NIDA of Mozart’s
“The Magic Flute”. She has performed in masterclasses with Associate ProfessorMichael Halliwell and Professor Deborah Cheetham Fraillon and is currently a reservist for the final of the Demant Dreikurs Song Competition.
Sarah Ampil- Miss Havisham
Filipino-Australian soprano Sarah Ampil recently relocated to the UK from Sydney. Recent credits include Ginevra (Ariodante, Apollo Opera Collective); Sandrina (La Finta Giardiniera, Operantics); and Micaëla (Carmen, Central Coast Opera). In 2019 she made her New Zealand debut performing Britten’s Les Illuminations with Hawkes Bay Orchestra.
Sarah is an alumna of the Pacific Opera Young Artist Program and the Lisa Gasteen National Opera School. She received her Bachelor of Music from the University of New South Wales and her Master of Music Studies (Performance) and Graduate Diploma in Music (Opera Performance) from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. As a postgraduate student at RNCM, Sarah has appeared as Governess in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw (opera scenes), undertaken two Artist Residencies with Opera North as a Leverhulme Arts Scholar, appeared as a finalist in both the 2022 Frederic Cox Award and Concerto Competition, and performed in masterclasses led by Susan Bullock CBE and David Owen Norris.
Libby Cooper - Nanny/Song Cycle Singer
Elizabeth Cooper is a Sydney based Mezzo-Soprano. She was a 2022 and 2023 Young Artist with Pacific Opera and performed a number of roles with the company across these seasons including: Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia) and Second Lady (Die Zauberflöte). Elizabeth holds a Master of Music (Operatic Performance) and a Bachelor of Music Performance (Classical Voice) from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Performance highlights for Elizabeth include performances with the Opera Australia Chorus, Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, as a soloist alongside Jane Rutter for her live at lunch Series and with the charitable opera company The Cooperative.
Vic Abbott - Puppeteer
Victoria Abbott is a writer, performer, voice artist, puppeteer, clown, devisor, teacher and director from Aotearoa New Zealand, now based on Gadigal Country in Sydney.
Stage highlights include writing and performing her solo show Run Rabbit (Winner: PAANZ Touring Award, Best Theatre Performance 2019), a year-long stint playing Hero in Much Ado About Nothing with Pop-Up Globe and multiple development and performance seasons as Maggie in Kororāreka: The Ballad of Maggie Flynn with physical theatre company Red Leap Theatre.
Screen highlights include a role in Jane Campion's Top Of the Lake, three seasons of Netflix's Power Rangers as J-Borg and three seasons of Educators (Winner: NZTV Awards Best Comedy Show 2023).
Her first Fringe directing project, Contractions, won her the Best New Director Award at the 2021 Auckland Fringe.
She has a BA in Theatre Studies from Otago University and a BA in Performance from Toi Whakaari NZ Drama School.