Buddug Verona James
An acclaimed mezzo soprano as well as an
actress, Buddug trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
and National Opera Studio.
She has worked with Almeida Opera, Cleveland Opera (USA),
Complicite, English Pocket Opera, English Touring Opera,
Glyndebourne, Lanternhouse International, Netherlands Opera, Opera
Atelier (Canada), Opera Circus, Opera North, Opera Northern
Ireland, Opera Theatre Company (Dublin), Opera 80, Operavox
Cartoons, Mid Wales Opera, Music Theatre Wales, Siobhan Davies
Dance Company, Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru, Torch Theatre Company and
Theatr peña.
Buddug has premiered roles in operas by Gerald Barry, Jonathan
Dove, Deirdre Gribbin, Julian Joseph, Wolfgang Rihm and John
Woolrich and is a Welsh Singers Competition Winner. In
collaboration with Cardigan’s Theatr Mwldan and the Arts Council of
Wales, she has commissioned two one-woman shows;
Castradiva by Mark Ryan and A Knife at the Opera
by Chris Harris.
Since 1999 Buddug has been a vocal tutor at the Royal Welsh College
of Music and Drama. She has directed Pirates of Penzance,
Ruddigore, Acis and Galatea, Dido and Aeneas, Orpheus in the
Underworld and Hercules for RWCMD.
Recordings include songs by Thomas Chilcot with Andrew
Wilson-Dickson and the Welsh Baroque Orchestra, Arias by Handel and
Gluck featured in Castradiva, The James Sisters sing Gospel,
Caneuon y Werin/Songs of the People, and The Intelligence Park
(Faranesi) by Gerald Barry.
In 2011 Buddug will premiere songs based on Lorca poems composed
for her by Jonathan Dove with the kind support of the PRS
Foundation.
For more information see www.buddug.co.uk