Caroline Clegg hails from Lancashire and moved to London at the age of 17 to pursue her studies in acting and dance. She enjoyed a successful performing career encompassing a wide array of roles in musicals, regional theatre, television, and film. She completed a master's degree in music and drama at the University of Manchester and recently a PhD at the Royal Northern College of Music. She began her career in opera with the Welsh National Opera in 1998.
Parallel to her freelance portfolio Caroline founded Feelgood Theatre Productions in 1994 and she remains their dedicated CEO and Artistic Director continuing to push the boundaries of international touring and grass roots music and theatre. Because of this Caroline’s work has a keen eye to the audience gaze and a deep understanding of the demands of the operatic stage and the modern theatre audience. Her work with Feelgood can be seen on their website here.
As well as Welsh National Opera she has gone on to work in the UK with Opera North, Scottish Opera, Buxton International Festival, Longborough Festival and the Linbury Studio, and also internationally for Teatro Massimo, Sicily; Teatru Manoel, Malta; Bregenz Festival, Austria, Teatro Communale, Bolzano and most recently for Cincinnati Opera, USA.
Caroline enjoys challenge; her dynamic career is an eclectic fusion of opera, theatre and music theatre that aims to delights audiences of all ages with the sheer joy and surprise of live art. She is passionate about cross art-form collaborations, new commissions and site-specific work, a genre that Caroline has pioneered and perfected with over 30 years of award-winning work. She approaches her work with a definite sense of risk and adventure, willing to explore our perceptions of current societal issues through music and drama in order to change hearts and minds.
Caroline embraces her dance background utilising physical storytelling to create detailed dramaturgy set within beautifully crafted intimate and epic stage pictures. She is celebrated for creating dynamic ensemble work with a multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural approach. In this way, she has successfully fused the classical canon with a capella singing, drumming and film techniques to create productions that offer audiences a visceral experience within a sonic and visual matrix.
Caroline is passionate that art should be a right for everyone, not a luxury. Thus she works at multiple levels to unite professional performers and community groups to share the joy of music and the wellbeing that it promotes. She lectures at universities and conservatoires worldwide and in the UK has directed at the Royal Academy of Scotland, the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and the Royal Northern College of Music.
Caroline holds a PhD from the Royal Northern College of Music and Manchester Metropolitan University, a Masters Degree from the University of Manchester where she was the John Thaw Fellow. She holds a Post Graduate Certificate in Education, is a member of Equity, lives in the north of England and rides a Triumph Bonneville.
Awards
Caroline was awarded The Horniman Award for ‘lifetime achievement’ and ‘outstanding services to live theatre’
Four Manchester Evening News Awards for Best Opera, Best Director, Best New Play, Best Production.
She holds the Angel Award for Artistic Excellence, a Queens High Sheriff Award for ‘outstanding service to the community’ and her productions have been nominated twice for an International Opera Award, a Sky Arts Award and UK Theatre Award.
She was awarded a prestigious AHRC North West Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership for her PhD performance portfolio and research in site-specific music and drama at the Royal Northern College of Music.
Productions
2024
The Liverpool Oratorio – Paul McCartney and Carl Davies - Cincinnati Opera, 18 – 27 July
Slave – A Question of Freedom - Clegg / Fegan Feelgood Theatre Productions
The Lowry and UK tour, 9 October – 10 November
Double Bill - Gianni Schicchi (Giacomo Puccini), La Bella Dormente Nel Bosco (Ottorino Respighi),
Carlo Rizzi, c., Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
2023
Blaze of Glory, David Hackbridge-Johnson, Stephen Higgins c.
World Premiere, (Welsh National Opera), nominated for the International Opera
Award and UK Theatre Award Best New Opera
2022
Marilyn Forever, Gavin Bryars and The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat
Michael Nyman, William Cole c., (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland).
2021
Song of Our Heartland, Will Todd, Holly Mathieson c.
World Premiere, (Opera North) This was a site-specific filmed production due to Covid restrictions.
2020
Die Dreigroschenoper, Kurt Weill, Philip White c., Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
2019
Orfeo and Euridice, Gluck, Jonathon Swinard c., (Scottish Opera, Young Company).
Dead Man Walking (Jake Heggie), Jake Holmes c.,
Royal Conservatoire of Scotland - UK premiere.
Dracula - The Blood Count of Heaton, Peter Clifford, md. Thomas Hopkinson
World premiere, (Feelgood Theatre Productions) an immersive site-specific production.
Das Rheingold, Wagner, movement director, (Opera North).
2018
Rhonnda Rips it Up, Lena Langer, Nicola Rose c.
World Premiere, (Welsh National Opera), nominated for the Sky Arts South Bank Award
and the International Opera Award 2019, Best New Opera.
Hansel and Gretel, (Dramaturge), Armitage/Kaner, Dominic Wheeler c., world premiere, (Goldfield Productions).
These Days – The Manchester Peace Song Cycle.
Nicola LeFanu, Ailis Ni Riain, Anna Appleby, Dr Emily Howard, Evangeline Mason, Carmel Smickersgill, Freya Ireland, Lucy Hale, Thomas Hopkinson c.
World Premiere, (Feelgood Theatre Productions) an immersive site-specific production.
Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare, md., Thomas Hopkinson (Feelgood Theatre Productions).
Sāvitri, Holst and The Emperor of Atlantis, Viktor Ullmann, Lionel Friend c.
Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
2017
House of the Dead, Janáček (revival director), Tomáš Hanus c.
Welsh National Opera, Janáček Festival, Brno.
2016
Whispers of Heaton: comprised of The Unknown Bugler, Peter Kerry and The Fight
Lindsay Williams and Cathy Crabb, music by Ailis Ni Riain, Spilled Ink, Tangled Dance Company
Music by Craig Frangleton, World Premiere (Feelgood Theatre Productions)
A site-specific immersive production
House of the Dead, Janáček (revival director), Tomáš Hanus c.
Savonlinna Opera Festival, Finland
2015
Rigoletto, Verdi, Gad Kadosh c., (Longborough Festival Opera).
Tokaido Road, Nicola LeFanu, Dominic Wheeler c.
World Premiere, Goldfield Productions.
2014
Seven Deadly Sins Kurt Weil, Sir Mark Elder c.
(Hallé Orchestra), Bridgewater Hall
Nominated for Best Opera, MEN awards
Lulu, Berg, (revival director), Anthony Negus c., (Teatro Communale, Bolzano).
2013
Lulu, Berg, (movement director/associate director), d. David Pountney, Lothar Koenigs c.
Welsh National Opera
Slave – A Question of Freedom, Fegan/Clegg, music by Carol Donaldson
World Premiere, (Feelgood Theatre Productions), winner of MEN Award Best New Play and Best Director
2012
Anya17 Gorb/Kaye, Clarke Rundell c., (Ten Ten Festival) Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
2011 – 2000
Aida, Verdi, (Companions Opera, Holland) stadium production, Zurich.
Carmen, Bizet, (Companions Opera, Holland) stadium production, Hamburg.
Il Campenello di Notte, Donizetti, Buxton International Festival, winner of Best Opera, MEN Award Best Opera
Dame Janet Baker, Kiri te Kanawa, Willard White and Montserrat Caballe staged galas
(Hallé Orchestra), Bridgewater Hall.
Burning Waters, Russell Keable, World Premiere, Buxton International Festival.
Mis Bach Du, John Hardy, Welsh National Opera (community opera).
Something Wonderful, (Opera North/ENO).
Look No Hands, Errollyn Wallen, (Mecklenburgh Opera), World Premiere, Battersea Arts Centre, BAC Festival.
Barber of Seville, Rossini, (Civit Hills), Opera.
Conference of the Birds, (Opera Circus), Portugal.
The Silly Little Mouse, Shostakovich, UK premiere, (Hallé Orchestra), Bridgewater Hall.
Founded Bramhall Arts Festival (1999)
La Boheme, Puccini, outdoor immersive production.
La Boheme, La Tour Festival, France.
Brundibar, Hans Krása, Ed Gardner c., the opening of the Imperial War Museum North.
Down By the Greenwood Side, Birtwistle, Royal Northern College of Music, and Los Angeles.
Winner of MEN award Best Opera.
From the Hart, David Kern, World Premier, New End Theatre London.
Aesop's Fables, Rodney Dunk c. World Premiere, Manchester Camerata.
The Bridgewater Hall opening.
Dawnpath, Nicola Lefanu, Clark Rundell c., Royal Northern College of Music.
2008 – 2018
As Director of Youth Perform, at the Royal Northern college of Music:
Singing in the Rain, Threepenny Opera, Guys and Dolls, Singing in the Rain, Kiss Me Kate, Cabaret,
Little Shop of Horrors and The Wiz.