STAGE DIRECTOR
As a stage director - predominantly of opera - Thomas’ conceptual style and approach found their earliest footholds throughout almost a decade of creating shows in the trial-and-error world of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Born and raised in the city, Thomas’ productions ranged from established repertoire of the operatic canon to work of his own writing, devising and usually his own set designs. The result of exploiting this testing ground for several years has been brave concepts and bold designs which have always captivated audiences. His last production to appear at the Edinburgh Fringe was a newly-commissioned musical for which he was both Director and Bookwriter. It was an official Fringe Sell Out in 2018 and then again in 2022, before touring to Washington DC and Atlanta where in won a United States Public Health Service Award for its wider impact: the story was based around Alexander Fleming’s discovery of Penicillin, and the production involved an auditioned volunteer chorus of healthcare professionals from each city on the tour who work daily with the threat of bacterial resistance to antibiotics.
In 2024 - whilst also working as an assistant director with Scottish Opera, English National Opera and The Royal Opera House - Thomas directed two of his own productions, both of which completely sold out. These were a world-premiere dramatisation of selected Jonathan Dove song-cycles for Waterperry Opera Festival called ‘Nights Not Spent Alone’ - entirely devised and designed by Thomas himself. The other was a semi-staging of ‘Madama Butterfly’ in Birmingham Symphony Hall with The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra for their season’s closing performance.
Thomas’ more formal training focussed on what he sees as two distinct threads which tied neatly together upon discovering opera in particular: Firstly, the literary and linguistic thread which led him to read a Master of Arts in English at the University of Aberdeen and subsequently train as a Secondary English teacher, only to then use his earnings from his first year as a newly qualified teacher to study Italian in Florence for several months and gain a Diploma (C2 Level); Secondly, the musical thread which formally began with classical training at the age of eight in a specialist music school whilst also a cathedral chorister - a style of singing he continues to this day when time permits - but informally began with his upbringing in the Scottish and Irish folk tradition which he continues today as a fiddle player.
As an assistant director, Thomas has worked with and learned from such directors as David McVicar, Christopher Alden, Jo Davies, Harry Fehr, Anna Morrissey and Michael Richardson, across companies such as The Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Welsh National Opera, Scottish Opera, Nevill Holt, Waterperry Opera Festival and Buxton International Festival.
‘…the innovative direction of Thomas Henderson,’
- The Herald, 2016 (****)
TEACHER
Parallel to his directing work, Thomas works as an acting teacher for undergraduate singers at the Royal College of Music and has previously directed their 3rd Year Opera Scenes. Given that he usually only tutors each year group for one academic year (during which time the students’ dominant focus is their vocal training) his priority is to immerse them in a variety of ‘straight’ acting techniques, exercises and scenes from plays. The theory behind this approach is to deliberately equip them with the experience of having complete freedom over pacing, timing and genuine emotional reactiveness in order to furnish their future operatic performances where the music and vocal demands limit these particular freedoms.
Thomas has also coached several individual singers ahead of auditions, exams and recitals which ranges from detailed focus on dramatic implications in the musical writing of any given moment, to wider contextual discussions of plot and character which inform the performance of a single song or aria. His proficiency in Italian, French and German means that he is best placed for coaching pieces set in these languages or English.
To contact Thomas for more information about group workshops or individual coaching sessions please click below and use the contact form
