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| Rebecca Meltzer, Bertie Baigent & Guy Verrall-Withers with the Waterperry Opera Festival team in 2024 |
The arts administration world is relatively compact, which means that whenever someone moves there is a domino effect. The Grange Festival, riding on a high with record ticket sales, has announced that Guy Verrall-Withers is joining in a new role, Director of Audiences & Impact. Which of course, means that Waterperry Opera Festival, which Verrall-Withers co-founded, is now seeking a new CEO.
The aim of Verrall-Withers’ new role at The Grange Festival is to take ‘strategic approach to audience development and public engagement, spearheading initiatives to expand the audience base and extend the Festival’s reach’. 2025 is The Grange Festival’s first season under new chief executive Tyler Stoops and the festival’s diverse approach to programming, moving away from simply being an opera festival, has led to record ticket sales.
Guy Verrall-Withers is currently artistic director and CEO of Waterperry Opera Festival, and he will remain in that role until after Waterperry’s 2025 season, joining The Grange Festival on a part-time basis until late August. Verrall-Withers co-founded Waterperry Opera Festival in 2017 with conductor Bertie Baigent and director Rebecca Meltzer, and both Baigent and Meltzer remain in place. Now in its 8th edition, performances take place outdoors in locations across the beautiful Waterperry Gardens and Waterperry has welcomed over 22,500 attendees since 2017, creating 36 productions while employing 600 artists.
The Grange Festival features new productions of La traviata and Die Fledermaus; the UK premiere of a new staging of Rameau’s Les Indes galantes; the return of Ballet Black in a double bill of contemporary ballet; concerts including Summertime Swing, Bernstein on Broadway, Queen at the Opera and a gala event in aid of The Meath Epilepsy Charity. The Grange Festival runs from 4 June to 6 July
Waterperry Opera Festival features new productions of Don Giovanni and Semele, Juliana Hall’s A World Turned Upside Down: The Diary of Ann Frank, Winnie the Pooh’s Songbook with the music of Harold Fraser-Simpson, Mozart’s Gran Partita in concert, and a last night gala. Waterperry Opera Festival runs from 8-17 August 2025.
