SOPHIE GILPIN
DIRECTOR, PRODUCER, FACILITATOR

Sophie is an award-winning theatre, opera and film director, arts leader, and educator with an extensive portfolio career. Alongside her critically acclaimed work as a director in the UK and Europe, she is Co-Founder of SWAP’ra (Supporting Women and Parents in Opera), Artistic Director of HeadFirst Productions, and was Festival Director of A Festival of Sex, Love and Death at the Pleasance Theatre Islington in 2017. She recently directed Cesar Cui’s Little Red Riding Hood for Northern Opera Group, staged a dramatic concert production of Gluck’s Orfeo for Opera North, and was the Creative Producer for the SWAP’ra Retreat at Glyndebourne. 

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Sophie’s work as a director includes Acis and Galatea for the Vache Baroque Festival; La traviata at Teatro Garibaldi in Sicily; the SWAP'ra Gala at Opera Holland Park; Romeo and Juliet at the Rose Theatre Kingson; and Duet by Katharine Armitage at Wilton's Music Hall and Oxford Lieder Festival. She has also directed productions of La bohéme, Don Giovanni, Tosca, and Die Feldermaus as well as premieres of two new operas at the Arcola Theatre and new plays at both the Park Theatre and Theatre503. Her film of Pauline Viardot's Cendrillon for Northern Opera Group won Opera of the Year in the Classical Music Digital Awards 2020. She has worked regularly as an Assistant Director for companies including Opera North, Welsh National Opera, Garsington Opera, and Buxton International Festival and has directed numerous education projects for the Royal Opera House, Opera North, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, and Leeds Conservatoire.

 

A regular guest speaker and discussion panellist on directing, arts leadership, and diversity, Sophie's highlights include events for the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Music Studies (EDIMS) Network, the Royal Opera House, Opera North, Buxton International Festival, and the Mosaic Collective. She has a BA in Theatre & Performance Studies from the University of Warwick and is currently studying for a Master’s in Arts Management, Policy & Practice at the University of Manchester where her research focus is on diversity and inclusion, leadership, and cultural policy.

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