Caroline Clegg was born in Lancashire and moved to London aged 17 to study as an actor and dancer.  She enjoyed a successful career in West End musicals, regional theatre, TV and film before completing a master's degree in music and drama at the University of Manchester.  She began a freelance career in opera and theatre starting as a staff director at Welsh National Opera.  Alongside, Caroline is an independent producer and CEO/Artistic Director of the award-winning company Feelgood Theatre Productions which she founded in 1994.

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Current and forthcoming work includes the site-specific opera commission for Opera North, Song of Our Heartland (lib: Emma Jenkins, comp: Will Todd) and in 2021 the new commission for Welsh National Opera Blaze of Glory (lib:  Emm Jenkins, comp: David Hackbridge Johnson). 

 

Recent credits include; Die Dreigroschenoper at the Royal Academy of Scotland, (RCS), new site-specific commission Dracula - The Blood Count of Heaton for Feelgood, director of the world premiere of Rhonnda Rips it Up (Lena Langer) for Welsh National Opera (nominated for a Sky Arts South Bank Award and an International Opera Award 2019). At the RCS, director of the UK premiere of Dead Man Walking (Jake Heggie), cond, Jim Holmes RCS; director and choreographer for Orfeo and Euridice (Gluck), conductor Jonathon Swinnard for Scottish Opera Young Company; director of Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare) for Feelgood, director of the double bill of Savitri (Holst) and Emperor of Atlantis (Victor Ullman), conductor Lionel Friend for RCS, and Rigoletto,conductor Gad Kadosh for Longborough Festival Opera.

 

Caroline regularly works with director David Pountney and was movement director and associate director on Lulu (Berg) for WNO and revived it at Teatro Communale in Bolzano.  She revived his acclaimed production of Janacek's House of the Dead for WNO and at the Janacek Festival in Brno with conductor Thomas Hanus (also Savonlinna Opera Festival).   Caroline has a long relationship with Opera North and work includes director of Something Wonderful with Sally Burgess (tour and ENO), movement director on Rheingold (Dir Peter Mumford), revived David Pountney’s production of Paradise Moscow (Shostakovich) and at Bregenz festival.

 

She was dramaturg for the world premiere of Armitage/Kaner’s Hansel and Gretel (Goldfield Productions) and the world premiere of Tokaido Road (Nicola Lefanu) conductor Dominic Wheeler for the Cheltenham Festival and tour.   Enjoying the 'epic' scale she directed stadium productions of Aida and Carmen (Companions Opera, Holland) in Zurich and Hamburg).  For Buxton Opera Festival, she directed Donizetti’s   Il Campenello winning Best Opera Award and the world premiere site-specific promenade production of Burning Waters.  She founded the Bramall Hall Arts Festival and directed La Boheme al fresco in the inaugural year followed by a second La Boheme at La Tour, France with Jeff Lawton and conductor Robin Humphreys.

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Caroline directed the successful new musical From the Hart (David Kern) at the New End Theatre Hampstead and the world premier of the first opera about sex trafficking Anya17 (Gorb/Kaye) with Liverpool Philharmonic and Ten Ten Festival.  She has a long association with the Hallé Orchestra, including the farewell

gala at their iconic home at the Free Trade Hall and their opening Gala at the Bridgewater Hall. She directed the award nominated staging of Seven Deadly Sins (Weil) conductor Sir Mark Elder and Brundibar, the children’s opera by Hans Krása and Adolf Hoffmeister at the opening of the Imperial War Museum North with conductor Ed Gardner. She directed the first British staging of Shostakovich's opera The Silly Little Mouse and, with Manchester Camerata, the world premiere of Aesop's Fables for the opening of The Bridgewater Hall.

She has lectured at Royal Northern College of Music and as guest director work includes: Down By the Greenwood Side (Birtwistle) for the UK Los Angeles Festival (winner Best Opera Award) Dawnpath (Lefanu).; Singing in the Rain, Threepenny Opera, Guys and Dolls and Kiss Me Kate. 

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As an independent producer and director, she has created major special international events in collaboration with city councils and broadcast TV including the world wide broadcast of The Millennium Bug (BBC) and the acclaimed music theatre a capella Romeo & Juliet – Thando & Ruvhengo created in Zimbabwe (Feelgood) as a cultural collaboration (also an award winning documentary) for the Commonwealth Games in Manchester and the 2018 Somme Centenary commemorations.

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Feelgood with its diverse repertoire tours nationally, West End and internationally specialising in innovative new commissions and classics at site-specific and traditional venues in the UK, Africa and Europe.  Celebrating 25 years this year Feelgood produce theatre with a definite sense of risk and adventure and they have distinguished themselves with an array of award winning classics, new commissions and pioneering work with vocal a capella, opera, music theatre and drama, fusing unusual and imaginative disciplines in its broad canon of work.  Their unique shows at traditional and site specific venues inspiring adults and children of all ages with the surprise and sheer joy of live theatre.   Embedded in Feelgood's mission is their commitment to local community participation and creating outreach projects to parallel all their productions which have been pioneering in their outlook and breadth of appeal. 

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Feelgood's ground-breaking work has been presented to HRH The Queen, and in the House of Lords with the hard hitting play Slave – A Question of Freedom which won the inaugural Human Trafficking Foundation/Media Award (alongside the BBC) presented in the House of Commons; Best New Play Award at the Manchester Evening News Theatre Awards, and Best Director, Caroline has also won the inaugural Pete Postlethwaite Award, Best Opera and Best Production; she was honoured with the Annie Horniman award for outstanding services to live theatre, the John Thaw Fellowship at the University of Manchester and last year a Queens High Sherriff Award.

Feelgood is now the resident company in Europe's biggest municipal park - Heaton Park.    Caroline is currently undertaking a performance PhD at the RNCM in new music and drama in a site specific setting.

 

"As a director Caroline is an individualist with great flair and a fierce passion for telling a good story in a unique way.   As head of Feelgood she has her finger on the pulse and is a razor-sharp strategic producer".   Robert Robson, (former Artistic Director the Lowry Theatre)

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