Borka Creative Team

Artistic Director, Sue Moore, is a seasoned opera performer and a specialist in directing, performing for, and working with young people. Formerly Artistic Director of W11 Opera, Sue directed The Price (Eastman/Hepplewhite) for them in 2016. She revived Tim Yealland’s production of Shackleton’s Cat in 2018 for English Touring Opera & directed/designed the World Premiere of The Casket Girl (Eastman/Hepplewhite) for Jubilee Opera at the Jubilee Hall in Aldeburgh in 2019. Other W11 Opera productions include: Cutlass Crew (Sturrock/Hancock) and Shadowtracks (Jones/Grant). In response to the pandemic, Sue moved W11 Opera entirely online, creating a one hour film, Jukebox. In 2021 she developed a second film, It’s Your Move (Original Story & Script - Sue Moore, Song Lyrics - Tim Yealland, Music - Russell Hepplewhite). As a performer Sue has created the roles of Valentina (Laika), Mrs. Plumpster/Ferdinand (Borka), and Milly (Silver Electra) for English Touring Opera.

http://suemoore.co.uk

Librettist, Tim Yealland, read English at Trinity College Cambridge, then studied singing at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich.  As a singer and actor he performed for English Touring Opera, Opera 80, English National Opera, Opera North, the Royal Opera House, Glyndebourne, and the Chichester Festival.  He has directed participatory projects for most of the leading opera companies and orchestras, including the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Opera North, Glyndebourne as well as the London Symphony, London Philharmonic and Philharmonia orchestras.  He devised and led the outreach work of English Touring Opera for 16 years, for whom he wrote the libretti for and directed many operas for young people. He directed Ever Young for W11 Opera in 2019, and also wrote the lyrics for It's Your Move in 2021.  For the last three years he has devised work for the Primary Shakespeare Company (with composer Rachel Leach), most recently in 2022 Fly, Fleance, Fly, an opera based on Macbeth with 240 young people in Harrow and Islington.  Tim was appointed MBE in the 2019 New Year’s Honours.

https://www.timyealland.com

AV Designer, Crawford Wilson, is an experienced Designer within the Media, having worked with BBC, Channel 4 and, most recently, ITV, as their Deputy Head of Graphics & Senior Designer. His passion is to bring ideas to life, designing with flexible and diverse styles. He has many years of experience developing concepts and storyboarding, through to art direction, design, animation, and content.

Producer, Clio Burroughs, began her career as an arts administrator in the Exhibitions Department at The British Museum, supporting critically acclaimed projects in the Round Reading Room, Gallery 35 and The Sainsbury Exhibition Gallery.  She oversaw her department's fit-out and move into the BM's newly built World Conservation & Exhibition Centre. Following her passion for live performance, Clio made the move to take on a similar role at Hampton Court Palace in the Creative Programming & Interpretation Department at Historic Royal Palaces. In 2018 she began working as a freelance arts administrator. In addition, in 2019, she became the Company Manager for W11 Opera and supported their 2019 production Ever Young (Eastman/Hepplewhite) and helped to run their two online productions, Jukebox and It's Your Move (Moore/Yealland/Hepplewhite), during the pandemic. 

In addition to being the Producer, Clio is also the Company Director of Ignite Music.

Puppetmaker, Jess Kay, is a freelance puppetmaker and puppeteer and has created and puppeteered her creations in many theatrical productions, music videos, live music events, festivals and, most recently, children's television. She has a huge love for visual storytelling with a keen interest in the role that every detail plays in portraying a character, idea or story. 

Ian Taylor is a Technical and Production Manager with over a decade of experience in the theatre and events industry. Ian has an extensive background in stage management, production management, technical management and as managing director of eStage, a company dedicated to serving the entertainment industry’s needs.

His career began in stage management with Glyndebourne and The Royal Opera companies in 2004 and 2006, respectively, as an assistant stage manager. Within a few years, he became a stage manager for The Royal Opera in 2010. Other companies he’s stage-managed for include ROH2, Secret Cinema, Opera Holland Park and Pimlico Opera. He was also the Senior Stage Manager for Opera Holland Park’s Summer Festival for four years.

In 2012 he started production managing and has worked for Birmingham Rep, Sheffield Theatres, Bush Theatre, Hampstead Theatre, The Royal Opera, Southwark Playhouse, The Park Theatre, The Philharmonia Orchestra, W11 Opera, Arcola Theatre, Troupe Productions, Papatango and Secret Cinema. In 2021/22, Ian was appointed Technical Manager of The Bush Theatre in London before returning to full-time production management under eStage.

Having founded “eStage” in 2014, Ian deeply understands individual creatives and the arts industry in general; Ian has over a decade of expertise in managing OKEDIA eStage’s digital services offering and MiniStage, its 3D printing service. Both offer creative digital services to entertainers and arts organizations, including website design, hosting and physical 3D models.

In 2016 Ian founded the Backstage Professional Development Conference launched by the team at eStage to bring together industry professionals offering knowledge, advice, and guidance based on their careers in the industry. They provided genuine first-hand experience and tips through talks, workshops, and Q & A’s.

Ian holds a bachelor’s degree in stage management and technical theatre, with honours, from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.