Following their Off West End Award-winning production of La bohème in 2024, The Opera Makers return to Grimeborn with a double bill of farcical murder mysteries.
First, discover Madeleine Dring’s rarely performed, laugh-out-loud opera, Cupboard Love – a hilarious whodunit for three voices: the Wife, the Boyfriend and the Husband.
The evening continues with Ned Rorem’s wonderfully surreal philosophical musing on childhood innocence, Three Sisters Who Are Not Sisters, based on Gertrude Stein’s 1943 play. Both operas are directed by “must-see” director Jonny Danciger, with musical direction from multi-award-winning musical director Panaretos Kyriatzidis, and featuring a cast of outstanding emerging artists.
-
Running time
80 minutes (including interval) -
Age guidance
12+ -
Content warnings
-
Discounts
Concessions Available
Praise for The Opera Makers:
"A great introduction for those who think opera is not for them"– London Pub Theatres on La bohème (2024)
"A deeply moving and relevant experience"– Everything Theatre on La bohème (2024)
Production photos
The Company: Cupboard Love
-
Louisa Tee
She
Louisa Tee
She
Louisa trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama (RWCMD), Trinity Laban and ENO Opera Works. Her performance credits include productions with Opera Holland Park, Raymond Gubbay, and Opera UpClose, spanning both the West End and UK tours. Notable roles include Mimì (La bohème), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), the Countess (Le nozze di Figaro), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), and Violetta (La traviata), a performance that earned her an Off West End Award nomination for Best Actress.
Equally at home behind the scenes, Louisa directed The Magic Flute and Orpheus in the Underworld for St Paul’s Opera. As a writer and award winning filmmaker, she is also the co-creator of Warehouse Opera, a series of mockumentary-style comedy shorts and sketches following a hapless opera company.
-
Masimba Ushe
He
Masimba Ushe
He
Masimba Ushe holds a Master’s degree in Vocal Studies from the Royal Academy of Music. He has worked with companies including Regents Opera, Opera Up Close, National Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company, Opera North, Grange Park Opera and Waterperry Opera. He has sung bass chorus, covers, and roles with English Touring Opera on their Spring Tours 2023-2025. He was part of the Pegasus Mentoring Programme 2023/2024 in partnership with Glyndebourne and an Opera Holland Park Young Artist 2024, performing Don Basilio in Il Barbiere di Siviglia. He has recently performed the Caterpillar in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland with Opera Holland Park.
-
Ellie Westbrook
It
Ellie Westbrook
It
Ellie Westbrook an interdisciplinary performer working at the intersection of opera, physical theatre, clowning, & experimental music. She is artistic director of her Hastings-based theatre company TUFT, most recently producing, directing and starring in a modern reworking of Titus Andronicus. She is currently events producer at Hastings Castle. She’s performed across the UK & internationally incl. Southbank Centre to La Mama (New York), Waste Paper Opera Company, Kneehigh Theatre, & Belarus Free Theatre. Her original performance works have featured at Eavesdropping Festival, Soho Theatre’s Fool’s Moon & the De La Warr Pavilion. This October she has a residency at ‘USF Verftet’ in Bergen to develop a new piece of solo work which will be toured in 2027.
Ellie studied devising & performance at LISPA (now Arthaus.Berlin) & vocal studies at Trinity Laban Conservatoire. She is delighted to be part of Grimeborn this year, also playing as the Devil in the upcoming Bitter Visions: By Order of Hildegard.
The Company: Three Sisters Who Are Not Sisters
-
Ellie Westbrook
Jenny
Ellie Westbrook
Jenny
Ellie Westbrook an interdisciplinary performer working at the intersection of opera, physical theatre, clowning, & experimental music. She is artistic director of her Hastings-based theatre company TUFT, most recently producing, directing and starring in a modern reworking of Titus Andronicus. She is currently events producer at Hastings Castle. She’s performed across the UK & internationally incl. Southbank Centre to La Mama (New York), Waste Paper Opera Company, Kneehigh Theatre, & Belarus Free Theatre. Her original performance works have featured at Eavesdropping Festival, Soho Theatre’s Fool’s Moon & the De La Warr Pavilion. This October she has a residency at ‘USF Verftet’ in Bergen to develop a new piece of solo work which will be toured in 2027.
Ellie studied devising & performance at LISPA (now Arthaus.Berlin) & vocal studies at Trinity Laban Conservatoire. She is delighted to be part of Grimeborn this year, also playing as the Devil in the upcoming Bitter Visions: By Order of Hildegard.
-
Kristina Ammattil
Helen
Kristina Ammattil
Helen
Kristina Ammattil is a south-Indian soprano and a recent recipient of the Tracey Chadwell Memorial Award from the Guildhall School. Notable engagements include: Waterperry Opera Young Artist, and Soloist for Indian Premier of Haydn’s The Creation (2024); Soloist for Julian Anderson’s Mitternachtslied with BCMG at the V&A Museum, Chorus/Echo in Handel’s Giustino at the Royal Ballet and Opera Linbury Theatre and title role in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea with Hampstead Garden Opera (2025). This year, Kristina is an Opera Prelude Artist, Pegasus Opera Young Artist and spending the summer as an Alvarez Emerging Artist with Garsington Opera: Chorus in Verdi’s La Traviata and covering the role of Melanto in Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria. She has been generously supported by the Leverhulme Arts Trust and Inlaks Foundation. Kristina also holds the position of Junior Choir director at her local church and contributes to the field of music therapy.
-
Salome Siu
Ellen
Salome Siu
Ellen
Salome Siu is a Hong Kong-born mezzo-soprano based in London. A distinction graduate of Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, where she was awarded the Eva Malpass Scholarship and the Director’s Prize for Excellence in Voice, she is delighted to play Ellen in Ned Rorem’s Three Sisters Who Are Not Sisters as part of The Opera Makers’ comedy double bill. Known for her instinctive physicality and spontaneous connection between singing, dancing, and acting, Salome brings fearless energy and sharp comic timing to the stage. In Opera Makers’ Turandot at the Grimeborn Festival 2023, she played the gender-swapped role of Ping (Ming) dancing energetically while singing with playful abandon. In Park Opera’s Carmen, she combined singing, dancing, and playing castanets simultaneously. Most recently, as Flora in St Paul’s Opera’s La Traviata, she delivered a bold, physically dynamic portrayal filled with flamenco dancing and commanding dominatrix energy. Opera Magazine praised her “spontaneous stage energy” that “grabbed the show and shook it to life”. She is excited to bring this instinctive spirit to The Opera Makers’ witty double bill.
-
Eamonn Walsh
Samuel
Eamonn Walsh
Samuel
Irish tenor Eamonn Walsh recently graduated with a Masters in Music Performance (First-Class Honours) at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance where he was supported by the Kathleen Creed Scholarship. In 2025 he toured the UK as a Wild Arts Young Artist, covering Nemorino in The Elixir of Love with performances culminating at Opera Holland Park. He subsequently performed the role of Arturo in Barefoot Opera’s UK tour of Lucia di Lammermoor, including performances at London’s Arcola Theatre (Grimeborn 2025). Eamonn recently made his Wigmore Hall debut in a masterclass with tenor Nicky Spence and has performed with the Irish National Opera Chorus in Fidelio and Carmen. International appearances include performances in Italy with Vox Integra. In October 2026 he will perform two roles in Wexford Festival Opera’s season, continuing his growing career across opera and the concert platform.
-
Masimba Ushe
Sylvester
Masimba Ushe
Sylvester
Masimba Ushe holds a Master’s degree in Vocal Studies from the Royal Academy of Music. He has worked with companies including Regents Opera, Opera Up Close, National Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company, Opera North, Grange Park Opera and Waterperry Opera. He has sung bass chorus, covers, and roles with English Touring Opera on their Spring Tours 2023-2025. He was part of the Pegasus Mentoring Programme 2023/2024 in partnership with Glyndebourne and an Opera Holland Park Young Artist 2024, performing Don Basilio in Il Barbiere di Siviglia. He has recently performed the Caterpillar in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland with Opera Holland Park.
-
Jonny Danciger
Director
Jonny Danciger
Director
Jonny Danciger is a stage director and creative technologist from London. He specialises in creating work with cutting edge technologies including video mapping, immersive audio and multi-sensory design. His work has been seen and heard at theatres including the Tokyo Metropolitan, London Peacock, Birmingham Old Rep, Theater Erfurt and Oxford Playhouse.
Before transitioning to directing and technical design, Jonny worked as an actor, appearing in West End productions of Billy Elliot (Victoria Palace Theatre) and Twisted Tales (Lyric Hammersmith). Jonny read music at Oxford University, where he specialised in electroacoustics and music theatre. From 2019 he trained in opera direction, taking placements at the Royal Opera House and British Youth Opera, where he assisted Keith Warner.
From April 2020 to August 2022 he was the Artistic Director of the OSO Arts Centre in South-West London. He is currently the director of Jam Jar Theatrical Productions alongside renowned poet Roger McGough. Their production of Money-Go-Round won the award for ‘Best Children’s Show’ at the 2023 Edinburgh Fringe.
Credits as director include: The Turn of the Screw, La Voix Humaine, Trouble In Tahiti (all for Cumbria Opera), Don Giovanni, The Golden Cockerel, Der Diktator (all for Orchestra Vox), Re-Wire (Birmingham Opera), and Die Fledermaus (St Paul’s Opera).
Credits as assistant director include: La Bohéme (Grange Festival, Dir. Peter Relton), Boris Godunov (Oper Frankfurt, Dir. Keith Warner), and Cosi Fan Tutte (English National Opera, Dir. Phelim McDermott/Ruth Knight).
-
Panaretos Kyriatzidis
Musical Director
Panaretos Kyriatzidis
Musical Director
A London-based pianist and conductor, Panaretos is in demand as a collaborative performer, vocal coach and musical director. He is a prizewinner of the Gerald Moore Award, the Emmy Destinn Vocal Awards and the London Song Festival, and has been a Britten Pears and Oxford Lieder Young Artist.
He completed his postgraduate studies with distinction at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, where he was awarded various prizes and was subsequently appointed Junior Fellow in Piano Accompaniment, and has since performed extensively across the UK, including live broadcasts on BBC Radio 3.
With a passion for smaller-scale and community opera, Panaretos has worked widely across the opera scene, receiving critical acclaim for productions including an Olivier Award nomination and two Off West End Awards for Best Opera Production. He is co-founder and Musical Director of The Opera Makers.
Panaretos is currently a vocal coach at Trinity Laban and has previously served as Head of Opera Studies at Morley College. He has worked with various companies and organisations, including Opera Holland Park, Pegasus Opera, Glyndebourne Youth Opera, Black British Classical Foundation and Grimeborn Festival.
Panaretos (aka Pan) holds a BA in law and is an avid food lover.
-
Antonia Gentile
Producer
Antonia Gentile
Producer
Antonia makes her professional producing debut with Murder Games, and is thrilled to be working with The Opera Makers to bring this double bill of murder mystery operas to the Arcola Theatre’s Grimeborn Opera Festival.
A versatile coloratura soprano, Antonia is a graduate of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and has studied privately with Neil Baker since 2016. She recently completed her training at Morley Opera School, where her roles included Comtesse Adèle (Le Comte Ory), Tytania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Alice Ford (Falstaff), Masha (Four Sisters), Armgard (Die Rheinnixen), and Amenaide (Tancredi). Previous operatic credits include Frasquita (Carmen) and The Governess (The Turn of the Screw).
Alongside performing, Antonia has become increasingly active behind the scenes—first taking an interest in costume design and wardrobe coordination before transitioning into producing. She is passionate about demystifying opera and cultivating new audiences, and remains deeply committed to dismantling barriers to the art form, creating inclusive spaces, and championing underrepresented performers and creatives.
Book your tickets
Event Instance Listings
-
Sat 1 Aug
3pm
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out -
Sat 1 Aug
7.30pm
Loading...Book now Last few Last few for Sold out
This production is supported by
Cupboard Love is presented with generous permission from Classical Vocal Reprints. Three Sisters Who Are Not Sisters is presented by arrangement with Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Limited.