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 Festival Director for A Festival of Sex, Love and Death. Sophie can also regularly be found on speaker platforms and discussion panels.

Sophie's work as a director includes 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 writing at both the Park Theatre and Theatre503. Her film of Pauline Viardot's Cendrillon for the Northern Opera Group won Opera of the Year in the Classical Music Digital Awards 2020. She has worked as an Assistant Director for companies including Opera North, Welsh National Opera, Buxton International Festival, Iford Arts and Opera up Close as well as leading outreach and education projects for companies including the Royal Opera House, Opera North, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, and Leeds Conservatoire. Sophie's public speaking highlights include events for the Royal Opera House, Opera North, Buxton International Festival, Mosaic Collective, Operacast, Into Opera, the Arts and Cultural Management Conference, and Investec Wealth & Investment.

She has a BA Hons in Theatre & Performance Studies from the University of Warwick and is currently studying part-time for a Masters in Arts Management, Policy & Practice at the University of Manchester, where her research focus is on diversity and inclusion, leadership, and cultural policy.