29. Graham Vick, Birmingham Opera Company
Name: Graham Vick
Position: Director, Birmingham Opera Company
Sector: Arts & Culture
2007 Placing: new entry
Graham Vick is one of Britain's most internationally-renowned opera directors, regularly working with the world's finest singers in its most renowned opera houses.
His productions have been seen at La Scala, Milan; Metropolitan Opera, New York; Kirov Opera, St Petersburg; Maggio Musicale, Florence and many more.
His production of Verdi's Falstaff opened the newly re-furbished Royal Opera House, and between 1992 and 2000 he was director of productions at Glyndebourne. He has won many international awards including the Premio Abbiati in Italy (three times) and The South Bank Show Award (twice).
Since his early days with Scottish Opera, when he founded a small touring company to take opera to the Highlands and islands, he has had a fierce commitment to small-scale community-based work. He founded Birmingham Opera Company in 1987, originally as a national touring company.
In 2001 the company was reconfigured to concentrate on productions in Birmingham in which casts recruited from the community perform alongside professionals, usually in non-theatrical venues.
Past productions have included Beethoven's Fidelio in a tent in Aston Park (which was broadcast live on BBCTV) and Bernstein's Candide in a since-demolished factory in Eastside.
Last year his production of La Traviata from Arena di Verona, which also featured a community cast, came to Birmingham for two almost sold-out performances at the National Indoor Arena.
Vick faced one of his biggest challenges in January when the Arts Council announced its intention of removing its grant to Birmingham Opera Company because of dissatisfaction with its business model.
After a vigorous campaign and further negotiations funding was restored, enabling next month's production of Mozart's Idomeneo in a former rubber factory in Ladywood to go ahead.
La Traviata won an award for audience development in the Royal Philharmonic Society Awards - British classical music's equivalent of the Oscars.
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He has been loyal to the Birmingham community since 1987 in involving amateur community people in outstanding professional productions.
With hundreds of people experiencing the thrill of performing he has managed to build up a body of work not by spending millions of pounds but all on a very strict budget and a very lean company that is able to react to different venues in a very unique way.
Don't miss the latest production of Idomeneo in a transformed rubber factory in Ladywood in August - and don't forget he continues to get the attention of the London media to the special Birmingham relationship he has built up.
I am just appalled that the Arts Council considered removing the grant to Birmingham Opera Company, considering the originality of their productions and their commitment to new audiences.