Past Work

Past Productions

OUR MOTHER

Pergolesi's Stabat Mater

with new music by Alex Mills


Stone Nest

20th–23rd March 2024


An immersive production of the Stabat Mater by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736)

performed by women of multiple generations

with interludes (commissioned by Figure) by Alex Mills


Frederick Waxman Musical Director/Creative Producer

Sophie Daneman Director

Alex Mills Composer
Chris Burr Lighting Designer

Philip Barrett Assistant Producer


Dame Emma Kirkby Soprano

Catherine Carby Mezzo-soprano

Rowan Pierce Soprano

Alexandra Achillea Pouta Mezzo-soprano

Nadya Pickup Soprano


Oliver Cave Violin

Yaoré Talibart Violin

Thomas Kettle Viola

Samuel Ng Cello

John-Henry Baker Double Bass

Sergio Bucheli / Jonatan Bougt Theorbo


Makoto James Répétiteur




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  • "[Figure's] reimagination of Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater has a timeless directness and simplicity"


    ★★★★ The Guardian (Tim Ashley)

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  • "Sophie Daneman’s direction had many touching ideas, as when the simple shaking of a silk scarf came to represent our own redemption."


    ★★★★ The Observer (Fiona Maddocks)

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    "The singing was exceptional throughout, as the voices combined in different combinations, exploring the anguish in its highly chromatic lines, and the staging was elegantly restrained."


    ★★★★ The Arts Desk

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    "Sophie Daneman directed the production beautifully; the ensemble Figure excelled throughout, moving with chameleon-like ease across the Pergolesi/Mills divide."


    Seen and Heard International

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    "The piece itself has been expanded with a prelude and interludes by Welsh-born composer Alex Mills, in which rhythmic and melodic fragments from the original morph into passacaglias and threnodies that have a timeless directness and simplicity."


    ★★★★ The Guardian (Tim Ashley)

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    "All five performers were impressive, engaging and distinctive, and each brought their own sense of style to the music."


    Planet Hugill

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    "The singing is lovely. Kirkby can be extraordinarily touching, her voice now suggesting fragility as well as beauty."


    ★★★★ The Guardian (Tim Ashley)

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Photography © Kristina Allen | Instagram


A Midsummer Night's Dream

Shakespeare/Mendelssohn


Opera Holland Park

29th June – 1st July 2023


A production of William Shakespeare's much-loved comic play (1595-6),

accompanied by Felix Mendelssohn's enchanting incidental music (1826 & 1842)


Sam Rayner Director
Frederick Waxman Musical Director & Co-Producer

Philip Barrett Co-Producer

Emma Hollows Designer

Edward Saunders Lighting Designer

Jessica Burrage Associate Director


Ray Fearon Oberon/Theseus

Anna Leong Brophy Titania/Hippolyta

Joelle Taylor Puck/Philostrate

Johan Munir Demetrius

Eleanor Sutton Helena

Emmanuel Olusanya Lysander

Hannah Rose Caton Hermia

Jay Mailer Bottom/Fairy

Gail Sixsmith Quince/Egeus/Fairy

Jordan Laviniere Flute/Fairy

Susie Coutts Snout/Fairy

William Edden Snug/Fairy

Joyce Henderson Starveling/Fairy

Rowan Pierce First Fairy (soprano)

Madison Nonoa Second Fairy (soprano)


Chorus (also including children from Theatre Peckham Academy Glee Club)

Claire Ward Soprano

Danni O'Neill Soprano

Emma Roberts Mezzo-soprano

Laura Fleur Mezzo-soprano

Lorna Price Mezzo-soprano

Lydia Shariff Mezzo-soprano

Rebecca Leggett Mezzo-soprano

Rosamond Thomas Mezzo-soprano


Ben Christopher Children's Chorus master
Makoto James Répétiteur

Production team

Florence Breitstadt Company Stage Manager

Rachel Leveney Deputy Stage Manager

Olivia Zerphy Casting Associate

Amy Bentley Assistant Designer

Farha Quadri Casting Assistant




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Photography © Nick Rutter | Instagram | Twitter

THIS IS MY BODY

Buxtehude's Membra Jesu Nostri


Swiss Church, Covent Garden

14th-15th March 2023


An immersive production of

Membra Jesu nostri patientis sanctissima

by Dieterich Buxtehude (1637-1707)


Frederick Waxman Musical Director/Co-Producer

Philip Barrett Movement Director/Co-Producer

Chris Burr Lighting Designer

Joshua Tabti Animations & Artwork


Claire Ward Soprano

Katie Macdonald Mezzo-soprano

Tom Lilburn Countertenor

Michael Bell Tenor

Hugo Herman-Wilson Baritone


Dominika Fehér Violin & Treble Viol

Emilia Benjamin Violin & Treble Viol

Emily Ashton Cello & Tenor Viol

Chris Terepin Bass Viol

Kate Brooke Double Bass and Violone

Jonatan Bougt Theorbo




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Photography © Nick Rutter | Instagram | Twitter

Reflection and Remembrance

Requiems by Fauré and Charpentier


Union Chapel

Saturday 12th November 2022

Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704)

Messe pour les trépassés (Mass for the departed), H.2

Prose des morts (a setting of the Dies Irae), H.12


Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)

Requiem in D minor, Op.48


Poetry and Prose by writers including Dante, C. S. Lewis, Alice Oswald, and Philip Larkin

Donald Macleod Reader

Rowan Pierce Soprano

Ashley Riches Bass-Baritone

Frederick Waxman Musical Director/Co-Producer

Philip Barrett Co-Producer


Ana Beard Fernández, Claire Ward Soprano

Katie Macdonald, Alex Pullinger Alto

Harry Grigg, Philip Barrett Tenor

Hugo Herman-Wilson, Tristan Hambleton Bass



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  • "An unusual Saturday night but an undeniably glorious one: Figure’s aims of producing historically-informed and wholly-accessible classical music are achieved, whilst interlaced with thought-provoking writing. It is a secular act of worship for the arts, and one I would long to see repeated."


    The Indiependent

  • "an exquisite, meditative evening of music and readings... Figure present such an innovative interpretation that Faure’s work comes up freshly rinsed: it’s like hearing the work for the first time."


    The Reviews Hub

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Serse

George Frederic Handel

Opera Holland Park

Thursday 30th June 2022


A new production of

Serse (1738) by George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)

Frederick Waxman Musical Director/Producer

Sam Rayner Director

Emma Hollows Designer

Chris Burr Lighting Designer
Philip Barrett Associate Producer


 Cecelia Hall Serse

Sarah Tynan Romilda

James Laing Arsamene

Anna Cavaliero Atalanta

Timothy Nelson Elviro/Ariodate




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Photography © Nick Rutter | Instagram | Twitter

Gran Partita for winds

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

The Great Hall, St Bartholomew's Hospital

Tuesday 23rd November 2021


Serenade No. 10 for Winds in B flat major 'Gran Partita', K 361


Frederick Waxman Conductor


Leo Duarte*, Oonagh Lee Oboe

Katherine Spencer*, James Maltby Clarinet

Emily Worthington*, Louise Strickland Basset Horn

Joe Qiu*, Mark Wilson Bassoon

Isaac Shieh*, Peter Moutoussis, Anna Drysdale, Daniel de Souza Horn

Carina Cosgrave Double Bass


* Principal



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St John Passion
Johann Sebastian Bach

St Bartholomew-the-Great

Friday 17th September 2021

New Paragraph

St John Passion (1724) by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)


Frederick Waxman Conductor


Richard Robbins Evangelist

Tristan Hambleton Jesus/Bass

Thomas Lowen Pilate

Claire Lees Soprano

Emily Jane Gray Alto

Hugo Hymas Tenor




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