Guy Withers is Artistic Director & CEO of Waterperry Opera Festival(2017-); a unique and innovative opera festival hosted at the beautiful Waterperry House & Gardens in Oxfordshire. The festival offers accessible and socially relevant productions, created and performed by a diverse community of artists, which bridge the gap between performer and spectator. Under Guy's direction, the company has completed 6 successful festivals for over 16,500 attendees. He has produced 32 productions, commissioned an industry-leading Young Artist Programme, and managed multiple touring and educational projects. WOF has received critical acclaim in The Guardian and Telegraph, particularly for its immersive production of Mansfield Park.
Devising & Directing
Alongside management, Guy Withers is an experienced deviser, director and theatre-maker, with work focusing on collaborative interdisciplinary practices within opera, music-theatre and puppetry. Directing credits for Waterperry Opera Festival include; 'Peter Rabbit's Musical Adventure' (2018/19), 'Cosi fan tutte' (2020), 'Peter and the Wolf' (2021/22), 'The Diary of One Who Disappeared' (2022), and 'Dido & Aeneas' (2023). Both 'Peter Rabbit' and 'Peter and the Wolf' have toured nationally to The Lichfield Festival, The Newbury Spring Festivaland Opera Holland Park. As a theatre-maker and deviser he has worked alongside Simon McBurney for Complicite/Aix-en-Provence Festival, He is heavily involved in developing work for young audiences, including; devising 'Paradise Planet' (2018) with Hanbury & Grovesfor English Touring Opera, devising and performing 'The Rattler' (2016) for Mahogany Opera Group, devising and performing '16 Singers' (2015) for Dance Umbrella/Bath Theatre Royal.
Learning & Participation
Guy Withers is committed and passionate about engaging communities and bringing them together with artists to share and explore the world around us. For Waterperry Opera Festival he has led Learning & Participation, overseeing a programme of talks, masterclasses and workshops, as well as assisting in the curation of the festival's Young Artist Programme. In 2022, Guy established an educational programme bringing together Oxfordshire young musicians from Oxfordshire County Youth Orchestra, and student dancers from Trinity Laban Conservatoire, for ongoing collaborative projects at Waterperry Opera Festival. Education work for other companies includes working with RAM Open Academy, Glyndebourne Education, English Touring Opera, Opera Holland Park Inspire and Clonter Opera to deliver projects and workshops.