people

TRUSTEES

ABIGAIL TOLAND creative director

Abigail, a co-founder of Second Movement, is the company’s creative director and a trustee. She created and produces rough for opera, Second Movement’s groundbreaking platform for new opera which has supported new work by more than 50 composers since its first edition in 2011. Recent credits as producer include 12:42, a documentary film exploring creative processes, isolation and digital connections (in partnership with the National Opera Studio) and Opera-tic – a digital opera in 15 scenes co-created by composer Michael Betteridge and a group of adults with Tourette Syndrome, with film by Alisdair Kitchen, produced by Second Movement and Tourettes Action, shortlisted for the 2023 Royal Philharmonic Society Impact Award, supported by OUP Music in its centenary year. In 2023/24 she is executive producer for the Aphasia New Music Group, a multi month music making programme for adults with Aphasia and their loved ones, in partnership with Oedipa and in collaboration with the UCL Communications Clinic. She studied English at Cambridge and Russian and East European Literature and Culture at UCL- SSEES. From 2015-2021 she was a board member of the Opera and Music Theatre Forum. From 2021-2023 Abigail was Chair of the Board of Trustees of OperaUpClose.

CHARLOTTE MORGAN (chair)

Charlotte is an experienced board chair in arts, education and commercial businesses. She is a Chartered Accountant and Corporate Treasurer. Her current roles include trustee and Finance Committee chair at the London Sinfonietta, a governor of Westminster University, and non-executive director and Audit Committee Chair of UK Export Finance. Previous board roles include FCE Bank plc (Ford Credit Europe), SMBC Bank International plc , the Association of Corporate Treasurers, the Oxford School of Drama and the Methodist Independent Schools group. Her career in the City, which started at Price Waterhouse, has included senior finance roles with Standard Chartered. Charlotte was appointed Chair of the Second Movement Board of trustees in October 2010.

PETER BRATHWAITE

Peter Brathwaite is an opera singer. After his degree at Newcastle University he trained at the Royal College of Music and Flanders Opera Studio, Belgium. Recent and future engagements include performances with the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Glyndebourne, La Monnaie, Nederlandse Reisopera, Opéra de Lyon and Opera North. His wider professional interests include new work, diversity in arts education and mentoring. His involvement with Second Movement began as a performer in the company’s 2012 Cultural Olympiad opera Zátopek! He is a Churchill Fellow, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Trustee of the Gate Theatre, London, and a BBC Radio 3 Next Generation Voice. www.peterbrathwaitebaritone.com

CHARLES CLARK

Charles Clark is a partner consultant at Linklaters, the international law firm, in London, having read law at Trinity College, Cambridge. He is also a member of the London Symphony Orchestra’s Advisory Council and is chairman of the London Symphony Orchestra Endowment Trust and The National Youth Strings Orchestra.

SARAH HOLFORD

Sarah Holford spent 40 years in practice as a barrister at the Bar of England and Wales specialising in Maritime and Commercial Law. She also holds an MSc in business studies from the London Business School. She founded and ran an opera festival (Les Azuriales Opera) and its associated young artists’ programme in the South of France for 24 years. She is chairman of Azuriales Opera Trust which continues to support its alumni and new emerging artists. Since winding down her practice in 2014 she has served as trustee on a number of Arts charity boards and has gained expertise in Charity law, UK Immigration law, charity governance and GDPR. She has also successfully organised a number of fundraising events which have together raised about £500.

FOUNDING ARTISTIC DIRECTORS

NICHOLAS CHALMERS

Nicholas is principal conductor of the National Youth Choir (18-25 years), associate conductor: learning of the BBC Singers and in September 2024 will take up the Royal Academy of Music Fernside Chair of Choral Conducting. He was founding artistic director of Nevill Holt Opera and is a co-founder of Second Movement.

OLIVER MEARS

Oliver is Director of Opera at the Royal Opera House. From 2011-2017 he was artistic director of Northern Ireland Opera. He is a co-founder of Second Movement.

ADVISORY COUNCIL

CHARLES CLARK (chair)

EZRA BURKE

Ezra is a music teacher and has taught at both primary and secondary level in London schools. He received a BA in Music and Education and a PGCE from Cambridge University and was a Choral Conducting student at the University of Toronto.

ASHUTOSH KHANDEKAR

Ashutosh Khandekar was the Editor of Opera Now. He worked in Hong Kong as a broadcaster for the leading classical music channel and as Deputy Arts Editor of the South China Morning Post’s Sunday edition. He was Deputy Editor of Rhinegold Publishing’s Classical Music Magazine, and was appointed Editor of Opera Now in 1997. He is also a consultant editor for the British Council.

ROBERT MIALL

DAVID MINTZ