The team behind the hugely successful CUOS production of Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel is proud to present two charity performances of Poulenc's rarely-performed operatic triumph, Les Mamelles de Tiresias. Based on Guillaume Apollinaire's eponymous play, Les Mamelles de Tiresias (The Breasts of Tiresias) is a fabulously surreal tale of love and gender confusion. Therese, bored of her life as a woman, removes her breasts to become a man, Tiresias, setting off a sequence of events as hilarious as they are bizarre. Performances will be in French, but a vibrant new English translation will be provided. Do join us for what will undoubtedly be a wonderful musical experience.
Tickets and Booking
To book for a performance, just add tickets to your basket by clicking the buttons below. If you have any problems please email info@lesmamellesopera.com. All tickets will be collected on the door before the performance.
Cast and Team
Le directeur - Johnny Herford Thérèse - Ruth Jenkins Husband - John Robb Monsieur Lacouf - Gerald Beatty Monsieur Presto - John Barber Le Gendarme - Gareth John La Marchande - Raphaela Papadakis Son - Gerald Beatty
Production team
Director - Deborah Grayson Music director - Julian Black Producer - Sarah Bowden Designer - Leila Bright
Julian Black (musical director) is studying for a Bachelor of Music, having graduated from Christ’s College in 2007. He was a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain on the French horn and has conducted several concerts in Cambridge, including Vaughan William’s Fifth Symphony and Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony. Julian conducted the fully staged CUOS production of Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel and a performance of Handel’s Messiah with Christ’s College Music Society in February 2007. He also conducts with Christ’s College Chapel Choir, of which he is a member and with whom he sings on a regular basis. Future plans include conducting both CUMS orchestras in 2007-8 as well as Mahler’s 1st Symphony with Cambridge University Symphony Orchestra. He currently studies conducting with Sir Colin Davis.
Sarah Bowden (producer)graduated from Clare College in 2006 and is studying for a PhD in Medieval German Literature. She produced the widely acclaimed Three Portraits of Nero for Cambridge University Opera Society in June 2007, was president of Clare College Music Society for the 2005-6 season and has also been publicist and librarian for the Cambridge University Music Club. In 2008 she will produce West Side Story for Clare College Music Society and Noye’s Fludde for CUOS. As a clarinettist, she was a member of the National Youth Wind Orchestra for four years and has been co-principal with the Cambridge University Chamber orchestra, as well as performing widely as a soloist and chamber musician.
Deborah Grayson (director) graduated from St John’s College in Social Anthropology in 2007. While at Cambridge she co-wrote and directed the hugely successful Gardi’s: The Opera with Danyal Dhondy in November 2005 and June 2006, and directed Hansel and Gretel, the CUOS principle production, in February 2007. She also wrote the libretto for, and stage-managed, ‘Losing Nero’, a new opera by Danyal Dhondy. Since graduating she has worked for the Cambridge Summer Music Festival and begun working for GRIT productions, a new risk-taking non-profit Theatre Company committed to developing artists and new work in both the UK and international forums.
Johnny Herford (Le Directeur), baritone, was a Lay Clerk in the choir of St John’s College, Cambridge, having been a member of Gonville and Caius College choir for three years while studying music. During this time he also sang in the University Chamber Choir and other groups and appeared in various opera productions, most recently as Nero and Quintus in Three Portraits of Nero. Solo performances have included Mahler Rückertlieder, Handel Israel in Egypt, Bach St John Passion, Tippett The Child Of Our Time, Vaughan Williams Five Mystical Songs, and Brahms German Requiem. In recitals he has performed Wolf, Strauss, Brahms, Mahler, Ravel, Purcell, Britten and Webern and premières of new songs by himself, Courtney Lewis and Peter Foggitt. Future plans include Vaughan Williams Five Mystical Songs with the Bach Choir and David Hill. He is taught by David Lowe.
Ruth Jenkins (Thérèse) is in her third year studying Land Economy at Jesus College, where she sings as a choral scholar in the chapel choir. She began singing when she was a little girl in school, at church and out of the bedroom window to scare people in Newcastle upon Tyne where she grew up. She enjoyed performing in local pantomimes with her friends and subsequently performed many classical vocal recitals, singing at The Theatre Royal, The Unitarian Church, The Sage and The Gateshead Shipley Art Gallery. She sang with the Northern Praeclassica Choir and is a member of the National Youth Choir of Great Britain. Since coming to Cambridge, Ruth has given a solo recital at Kettles Yard, has participated in the CUOS 2006 production of The Marriage of Figaro as a member of the chorus whilst understudying the role of Susanna, has sung the part of the Queen in Handel’s Solomon performed at Kings College chapel and has played the part of Gretel in the CUOS 2007 production of Humperdinck’s opera Hansel and Gretel. She currently takes singing lessons from David Lowe and would like to study opera after graduating from Cambridge.
Raphaela Papadakis (La Marchande) is now in her second year reading English at Clare College, where she is a choral scholar. As well as regularly touring Europe and recording with Clare Choir, she is also a member of the University Chamber Choir and Rodolfus Choir. She recently sang the title role of Dido in a sell-out Clare College Music Society production of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, having also performed the role in 2004 at the City of London School for Girls, where she held two music scholarships. She performs solo regularly in Cambridge, and is looking forward to a solo recital this term in Clare Chapel; next term, she will understudy the role of Zerlina in the CUOS production of Don Giovanni. She is currently studying with Nicola-Jane Kemp.
John Robb (Husband) has just finished three years as a choral scholar at King’s College, which gave him experiences from singing the duets in John Dunstable’s Magnificat on a Wednesday evensong in Cambridge to singing the solo part in Jonathan Harvey’s Come Holy Ghost at the Esplanade in Singapore. John began singing as a choirboy at Winchester College before moving on to the college as a music scholar. As a soloist, he played Acis in Handel’s Acis and Galatea in Trinity College chapel in 2004, performed Vaughan Williams’ On Wenlock Edge in his home town in Somerset last year, and sang in a Listziad in King’s in May.
After graduating from Clare College with a BA in Theology and Religious studies in 2006 Gerald Beatty (Monsieur Lacouf) spent the last academic year as a lay-clerk in St John’s college chapel choir. During his time at Cambridge he performed a number of lead roles in Cambridge operas, including Rameau’s Les Incas des Pérou and Emily Smith’s Cinderella in 2006 and the newly commissioned Three Portraits of Nero in 2007. Outside of Cambridge Gerald has performed as a soloist in both the London Bach Festival under Tim Brown and the Munich Opera Festival under Ivor Bolton. He recently returned from Paris, having completed a TEFL qualification there, and hopes to travel further afield come November. Aside from singing Gerald enjoys reading autobiographies and novels by Stephen Fry and John Grisham, making sushi and mowing his beard. He studies singing with David Lowe.
Gareth John (Gendarme) graduated in Geography last year from St John's
College, where he was a choral scholar for 3 years. This year, he continues
to sing with the choir as a Lay Clerk. He has recently been appointed as
musical director of the Gentlemen of St John's. As a soloist, Gareth has
performed in and around Cambridge including the Sagitarian Consort's John
Passion, and Collegium Laureatum's Mozart and Haydn Requiems in West Road
Concert Hall. Gareth has been in productions of Macbeth and Cav and Pag with
with London-based opera company, Riverside Opera. Later this term, Gareth
performs Schumann's Dichterliebe as part of the SJCMS recital series.
Julian Black (musical director) is studying for a Bachelor of Music, having graduated from Christ’s College in 2007. He was a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain on the French horn and has conducted several concerts in Cambridge, including Vaughan William’s Fifth Symphony and Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony. Julian conducted the fully staged CUOS production of Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel and a performance of Handel’s Messiah with Christ’s College Music Society in February 2007. He also conducts with Christ’s College Chapel Choir, of which he is a member and with whom he sings on a regular basis. Future plans include conducting both CUMS orchestras in 2007-8 as well as Mahler’s 1st Symphony with Cambridge University Symphony Orchestra. He currently studies conducting with Sir Colin Davis. 
Sarah Bowden (producer) graduated from Clare College in 2006 and is studying for a PhD in Medieval German Literature. She produced the widely acclaimed Three Portraits of Nero for Cambridge University Opera Society in June 2007, was president of Clare College Music Society for the 2005-6 season and has also been publicist and librarian for the Cambridge University Music Club. In 2008 she will produce West Side Story for Clare College Music Society and Noye’s Fludde for CUOS. As a clarinettist, she was a member of the National Youth Wind Orchestra for four years and has been co-principal with the Cambridge University Chamber orchestra, as well as performing widely as a soloist and chamber musician. 
Deborah Grayson (director) graduated from St John’s College in Social Anthropology in 2007. While at Cambridge she co-wrote and directed the hugely successful Gardi’s: The Opera with Danyal Dhondy in November 2005 and June 2006, and directed Hansel and Gretel, the CUOS principle production, in February 2007. She also wrote the libretto for, and stage-managed, ‘Losing Nero’, a new opera by Danyal Dhondy. Since graduating she has worked for the Cambridge Summer Music Festival and begun working for GRIT productions, a new risk-taking non-profit Theatre Company committed to developing artists and new work in both the UK and international forums.
Johnny Herford (Le Directeur), baritone, was a Lay Clerk in the choir of St John’s College, Cambridge, having been a member of Gonville and Caius College choir for three years while studying music. During this time he also sang in the University Chamber Choir and other groups and appeared in various opera productions, most recently as Nero and Quintus in Three Portraits of Nero. Solo performances have included Mahler Rückertlieder, Handel Israel in Egypt, Bach St John Passion, Tippett The Child Of Our Time, Vaughan Williams Five Mystical Songs, and Brahms German Requiem. In recitals he has performed Wolf, Strauss, Brahms, Mahler, Ravel, Purcell, Britten and Webern and premières of new songs by himself, Courtney Lewis and Peter Foggitt. Future plans include Vaughan Williams Five Mystical Songs with the Bach Choir and David Hill. He is taught by David Lowe.
Ruth Jenkins (Thérèse) is in her third year studying Land Economy at Jesus College, where she sings as a choral scholar in the chapel choir. She began singing when she was a little girl in school, at church and out of the bedroom window to scare people in Newcastle upon Tyne where she grew up. She enjoyed performing in local pantomimes with her friends and subsequently performed many classical vocal recitals, singing at The Theatre Royal, The Unitarian Church, The Sage and The Gateshead Shipley Art Gallery. She sang with the Northern Praeclassica Choir and is a member of the National Youth Choir of Great Britain. Since coming to Cambridge, Ruth has given a solo recital at Kettles Yard, has participated in the CUOS 2006 production of The Marriage of Figaro as a member of the chorus whilst understudying the role of Susanna, has sung the part of the Queen in Handel’s Solomon performed at Kings College chapel and has played the part of Gretel in the CUOS 2007 production of Humperdinck’s opera Hansel and Gretel. She currently takes singing lessons from David Lowe and would like to study opera after graduating from Cambridge.
Raphaela Papadakis (La Marchande) is now in her second year reading English at Clare College, where she is a choral scholar. As well as regularly touring Europe and recording with Clare Choir, she is also a member of the University Chamber Choir and Rodolfus Choir. She recently sang the title role of Dido in a sell-out Clare College Music Society production of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, having also performed the role in 2004 at the City of London School for Girls, where she held two music scholarships. She performs solo regularly in Cambridge, and is looking forward to a solo recital this term in Clare Chapel; next term, she will understudy the role of Zerlina in the CUOS production of Don Giovanni. She is currently studying with Nicola-Jane Kemp.
John Robb (Husband) has just finished three years as a choral scholar at King’s College, which gave him experiences from singing the duets in John Dunstable’s Magnificat on a Wednesday evensong in Cambridge to singing the solo part in Jonathan Harvey’s Come Holy Ghost at the Esplanade in Singapore. John began singing as a choirboy at Winchester College before moving on to the college as a music scholar. As a soloist, he played Acis in Handel’s Acis and Galatea in Trinity College chapel in 2004, performed Vaughan Williams’ On Wenlock Edge in his home town in Somerset last year, and sang in a Listziad in King’s in May. 
After graduating from Clare College with a BA in Theology and Religious studies in 2006 Gerald Beatty (Monsieur Lacouf) spent the last academic year as a lay-clerk in St John’s college chapel choir. During his time at Cambridge he performed a number of lead roles in Cambridge operas, including Rameau’s Les Incas des Pérou and Emily Smith’s Cinderella in 2006 and the newly commissioned Three Portraits of Nero in 2007. Outside of Cambridge Gerald has performed as a soloist in both the London Bach Festival under Tim Brown and the Munich Opera Festival under Ivor Bolton. He recently returned from Paris, having completed a TEFL qualification there, and hopes to travel further afield come November. Aside from singing Gerald enjoys reading autobiographies and novels by Stephen Fry and John Grisham, making sushi and mowing his beard. He studies singing with David Lowe.