Janet Cowley

Janet recently spent a couple of years as Staff Director  for the touring company, CARL ROSA OPERA, overseeing seven productions as well as being one of their solo artists. For Carl Rosa, she has appeared as Pitti-Sing and Peep-Bo in ‘The Mikado’, in the title role in ‘Iolanthe’, as Kate and Isabel in ‘The Pirates of Penzance’ and Ida in ‘Die Fledermaus’. She was also Assistant Director to Michael McCaffery on his production of ‘The Yeomen of the Guard’ and to Jamie Hayes on ‘The Gondoliers’.
Her other recent work includes an open-air production of ‘Patience’ at Gawsworth Hall and performances of ‘Fires of Straw’, a show co-written and performed with Barry Clark and which concerns the love affair between the composer, Arthur Sullivan and two sisters, Rachel and Louise Scott Russell.Janet has worked for a wide variety of companies including CAMERON MACKINTOSH for whom she played Madame Giry in the production of ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ at Manchester Opera House.
For the last three years, she has appeared as Mrs Christmas in sell-out performances of ‘Christmas Toys’ at Leeds Grand Theatre and Newcastle Theatre Royal for MUCH LOVED PRODUCTIONS.Janet has also worked for OPERA NORTH, OPERA DELLA LUNA  as Amanda in ‘The Ghosts of Ruddigore’ and the GILBERT AND SULLIVAN OPERA COMPANY, both in Britain and America, playing roles in ‘The Mikado’, ‘Iolanthe’, ‘The Pirates of Penzance’ and ‘HMS Pinafore’.She has given many performances of her own work, ‘Dear Jessie…’, the life story of the Victorian mezzo-soprano, Jessie Bond, the creator of the important mezzo roles in the Gilbert and Sullivan operas. This work has been featured on ‘Woman’s Hour’ on RADIO FOUR.
She worked extensively for the BBC NORTHERN SINGERS, in world premiere broadcasts, under conductors such as Sir Charles Groves and Sir Georg Solti, in Tavener’s ‘To the Icon of the Beloved’ at the Proms, and in the television “soap-opera” version of Marschener’s opera, ‘The Vampyr’.She has also worked with the BRITTEN SINGERS, recording works under Richard Hickox and Simon Wright, and with the BBC SINGERS under Odaline de la Martinez, Sir Andrew Davis, Simon Joly and Pierre Boulez.Janet has enjoyed success as a Director of musical productions, including an open-air Broadway ‘Pirates of Penzance’ for BRADFORD INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL, and productions of ‘The Zoo’ and ‘Trial by Jury’ for the Buxton INTERNATIONAL G&S FESTIVAL. She has also written and performed a play with music, ‘The Gloucester Schubert’, based on the life of the poet/composer, Ivor Gurney.
Janet trained at Huddersfield University where her roles included The Contralto in Tom Johnson’s ‘The Four Note Opera’, and one of the four voice parts in the UK premiere of Andriessen’s ‘De Stijl’ at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.