About | electric voice theatre

Electric Voice Theatre

An award-winning contemporary music-theatre acappella ensemble, commissioning, creating, researching and performing vocal music by women composers for theatrical performance, participating in creative multi-disciplinary collaborations, and delivering workshops connecting children and adults to their local creative and cultural environment.
Since 2013 the company has focused on celebrating the lives and work of Women in STEAMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Maths and Medicine) with their project Minerva Scientifica.

ELECTRIC VOICE THEATRE are currently collaborating with their Artistic Director, Frances M Lynch, on her project “Voices for the Future” which is seeking to discover, honour, and promote female voices past and present and to inspire, guide and build diverse VOICES FOR THE FUTURE.

ELECTRIC VOICE THEATRE Registered charity no:1194881

Performances:
Highlights include appearing in Florence for Luciano Berio; award-winning film, TV and performance projects with Judith Weir; appearing as part of a Tracy Emin exhibition at MOMA, Oxford; and extensive touring to festivals in Japan, Europe, Scandinavia and the USA – with productions for Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Tete-a-Tete Opera Festival, ZKM in Germany, Gothenburg Opera, IRCAM, Radio France and a Gamelan Dubstep collaboration with the Hallé Orchestra. Current performance projects include Minerva Scientifica which is continuing to develop collaborations and touring throughout the UK.

Creative Learning:
evt has worked on many significant projects UK wide, including “Clothesburger” with Errollyn Wallen, Pegasus Opera, 417 children and the South Bank Centre, London; the Young Composer of Dyfed, Wales; Henley Festival; BBC Education Programmes; English National Opera; The Great Tapestry of Scotland and Historic Environment Scotland. We are currently working on performance and composition projects with a diverse group of primary and secondary schools which focus on the links between music and science.

Research and Development:
evt’s Minerva Scientifica project has seen us working closely with female composers and scientists at King’s College London and Newcastle University. Most recently we have collaborated with the SHINE Project, St. Andrew’s University and we are now progressing a project featuring biochemistry and Alzheimer’s with scientists from the Serpell Lab and the Centre for Research in Opera and Music Theatre at the University of Sussex.

Whos Who

EVT TEAM

Performers

Frances M Lynch – Soprano
Samantha Houston – Mezzo Soprano
Jenny Miller – Mezzo Soprano
Margaret Cameron – Mezzo Soprano
Laurence Panter – Tenor
Julian Stocker – Tenor
Gwion Thomas – Baritone
Lauren Lister – BSL interpreter
Sarah Ankers – BSL interpreter
Herbie Clarke – Sound

Production Team

Frances M Lynch – Artistic Director
Herbie Clarke – Technical Manager/PR
Miranda Melville – Design
Elizabeth Dawson – Costume Design

Frances M Lynch – Artistic Director, Soprano

Frances is a performer, composer, director, and workshop leader who has pursued an international career at the forefront of contemporary vocal music, specializing in Music-Theatre, Electronic Music, Opera, and Chamber Music. She was for many years an associate member of the Sond’Ar-te Electric Ensemble, Lisbon and has appeared as a soloist with Kent Opera, BBCSO, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Ensemble Moderne, The Lost Jockey, Communicado Theatre Company, Second Stride Dance Theatre, Extemporary Dance Theatre…..and many more, performing music by Kagel, Weir, Wallen, Viñao, to mention a few!

Lynch is a composer who has often been supported by PRSF with experience of writing for many levels of skill, working with choirs, orchestras and various instrumental ensembles, music theatre, art exhibitions and plays, and produces commercial recordings for Herbtracks.

www.francesmlynch.co.uk

Laurence Panter – Tenor & Pianist

Laurence enjoys a varied stream of musical endeavours involving singing, playing or conducting. He read music at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, and later completed an MMus in singing at Trinity Laban Conservatoire. Projects in 2023 included musically directing Rossini’s La Cenerentola for Barefoot Opera, singing the role of Cox in Sullivan’s Cox & Box for Handmade Opera, and joining the chorus for Longborough Festival Opera’s production of Wagner’s Götterdämmerung. Based in Warwick, he also directs the Rugby Philharmonic Choir, directs ‘The Harmoneers’ choir in Leamington Spa, coaches the choristers of St Mary’s Warwick, and teaches singing and piano at King’s High Girls’ School.

laurencepanter.co.uk/

Samantha Houston – Mezzo-Soprano

Samantha completed her post-graduate studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She has been a full-time member of the Opera North chorus, has sung for the choruses of Théâtre de la Monnaie (Belgium), English National Opera and Welsh National Opera, has sung roles for Grimeborn Festival, The Festival of London / ROH2, Opera South, Hera productions, and Electric Voice Theatre, and in concert has sung for the City of London Festival, the LSO St. Luke’s Discovery Series and “Voiceworks” (new compositions) at Wigmore Hall.

Most recently, Samantha has been the English Language Coach at Ooppera Baletti (Finnish National Opera) for its productions of Billy Budd (Britten), Phantom of the Opera & Love Never Dies (Webber) and Innocence (Saariaho).

www.samanthahouston.co.uk

Jenny Miller – Dramatic Mezzo

A National Opera Studio alumnus, Jenny Miller sang as a mezzo soloist for major English companies, including Glyndebourne, Scottish Opera and Covent Garden, before moving to dramatic soprano repertoire, singing Brunnhilde (Ring Cycle), Tosca and Witch in Hansel and Gretel for Longborough Festival Opera, and developing a parallel career as a director. Her directing credits include Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Britten’s Noye’s Fludde, L’Incoronazione Di Poppea and ‘Hell Hath No Fury’(17th-century solo cantatas). Jenny has excelled in directing many Mozart Operas for Longborough Festival Opera, and Bizet’s Pearl Fishers for Opera South East. Future plans include developing repertoire for Barefoot Opera and creating Bizet’s Carmen for Barefoot Young Artists Tour. More info at www.barefootopera.com

Margaret Cameron – Mezzo-Soprano

Margaret studied at Trinity College of Music and the Royal College of Music Opera School. She has performed with Kent Opera, English Touring Opera, Music Theatre Wales, National Theatre Studio and for Aldeburgh and Longborough Festivals. She has toured internationally with the Monteverdi Choir and is a soloist on their recording of Vivaldi Gloria for Phillips. She also features on the EMI recording of Rachmaninov Vespers with the Choir of Kings College, Cambridge. A specialist in contemporary performance, as well as her many projects with EVT, she has premiered works by Errollyn Wallen and Andrew Poppy and is a member of the BBC Singers. At the other end of the musical spectrum, she has delved into the earliest known plainchants and melodies to devise a celebration of an Anglo Saxon saint, Eanswythe of Folkestone.

Julian Stocker – Tenor

Julian’s career involves a mixture of concert and recording work both as a soloist and choral singer, as well as performing in operas and musicals. He is a full time member of the Choir of Westminster Abbey, and appears regularly with the BBC Singers, The Tallis Scholars, The Sixteen, The Geoffrey Mitchell Choir, Opus Anglicanum and European Voices under Sir Simon Rattle. His repertoire includes works by Monteverdi, Handel, Bach, Britten, Mozart, Menotti and Arvo Pärt. He has appeared with Bournemouth Sinfonietta and Holland Park Opera and recorded with The Cardinall’s Musick. He has also given song recitals in French and English song and German Lied.

Gwion Thomas – Baritone

Born in Swansea and studied at the RNCM, Manchester where he won many song and opera prizes. An opera and concert soloist for many years – he has sung Figaro in The Barber of Seville for WNO. He has become particularly linked with contemporary opera and has created many new roles with companies such as Music Theatre Wales and Frances Lynch’s EVT. With the former he has sung Mr Punch in their widely acclaimed production of Birtwistle’s Punch & Judy and Dad in the recent award-winning Greek by Turnage. He has been involved in many new pieces with electric voice theatre, and he created the role of Mr Scipio in Weir’s Scipio’s Dream with them for BBC2. He also teaches singing at Birmingham Conservatoire.

Miranda Melville – Designer

Miranda studied at The Motley Theatre Design Course with Percy Harris, and has designed extensively for theatre, opera, film and dance. Film work includes Owen Wingrave by Benjamin Britten, Cross Channel with the Cholmondeleys and the Featherstonehaughs, & Outside In with Candoco. Design for dance includes productions for Vtol Dance Company, Yolande Snaith Theatre Dance, and PLanb Creative. She has co-designed a gold medal winning garden at Chelsea Flower Show and an earthwork at Westonbirt International Garden Festival. Other projects include the move-me booth, an interactive video/dance booth, for Ricochet Dance Company, an outdoor touring installation project for Volcano Theatre Co. and How to Live for Bobby Baker at Barbican Theatre.

Herbie Clarke – Techincal & Marketing Manager

Herbie works alongside Artistic Director Frances M Lynch on all the projects for electric voice theatre and Minerva Scientifica as a guitarist, sound engineer, music producer, photographer, video editor and concert promoter. He is also an actor and model and has appeared in many Films, Television Adverts and Poster Campaigns. Herbie composes music for several music media companies and his tracks are used worldwide. www.herbtracks.co.uk