Meet the Artistic Team
Jeremy Haneman
BMusEd MMus (Cantab) FRSA
Artistic Director
Jeremy Haneman is a conductor and musical director who specialises in choral and operatic repertoire. Jeremy Haneman was the Community Chorus Director for the Royal Opera House Covent Garden 2011-2020 and is the Artistic Director of Thames Opera Company. He is also the Co-Director of Together Productions that produces ground-breaking work using music and the arts to inspire social change including the Singing Our Lives project that works every year with hundreds of singers from refugee and local backgrounds to compose and perform new music.
As well as musical director for the prize-winning Taylor Wessing and Linklaters choirs, he is the co-founder and conductor of the Mixed Up Chorus and he has led many other choirs including the National Symphony Chorus of Ireland, Morley College Choir and The London Gay Men’s Chorus. Jeremy has also been the musical director for One Day One Choir, a global annual movement for World Peace Day that involves over a million singers from all around the world, and he has been visiting Professor of choral conducting at the Guildhall School of Music working with vocal and composition students. Jeremy is a graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and he did the inaugural Master of Music in choral conducting at the University of Cambridge. He is a Practitioner Council member of the Association of British Choral Directors and a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts.
Ashley Beauchamp
Music Director
Ashley Beauchamp is a repetiteur, conductor, collaborative-pianist and coach based in London. He previously studied on the opera course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Alongside his work as a performer, Ashley is a passionate advocate of music education and outreach. He regularly runs workshops and projects all across the UK, introducing thousands of people of all ages and backgrounds to opera every year. He has a longstanding relationship with the learning and participation departments of the Royal Opera House and Glyndebourne, running countless outreach projects and working extensively with their respective youth opera companies and the former Royal Opera House Thurrock Community Chorus.
Ashley has also worked on projects with English National Opera, Grange Park Opera, Nevill Holt Opera, Garsington Opera, Blackheath Halls, The Brighton Dome, the British Red Cross, Together Productions and many other organisations, working to make opera accessible to all.
Samson
Chorus Good Boy
Samson is a founder member of Thames Opera Company, having previously been part of the Royal Opera House Thurrock Community Chorus since its inception. He plays a non-singing role and is head of Crumb Cleaning, Biscuit Begging and Spilling Water. Hobbies include taking sips of coffee from un-supervised mugs, ear scratching and sniffing where the sun don’t shine. His favourite composer is Bach.
Meet the Trustees
We are governed by a Board of Trustees who are all volunteers for the Thames Opera Company.
The Board of Trustees has ultimate responsibility for Thames Opera Company's vision, activities and performance and sets the strategic direction of the charity. Trustees also contribute their knowledge, expertise and experience to the many complex issues the organisation faces and play a vital role in our charity's work. They meet regularly to discuss our governance and operations.
Some Trustees have specific roles within the chorus, as outlined below.
Matt Smith
Chair
Fundraising
Artistic Vision
Policy
Matt is a certified opera nut with a real love of the art, especially if it is long, difficult and German. He is also a passionate and professional fundraiser with over 13 years experience in charity management and strategy. Thames Opera manages the difficult job of combining both of these loves!
When not watching or singing opera, or raising funds for good causes, Matt can often be found playing the ukulele badly, much to his wife's displeasure. He is also a huge fan of film,live music, cocktails, comedy and the Welsh Rugby team.
Daniela McDonach
Vice Chair
Membership
Website
Daniela has been a member of the chorus since 2012. Her day job is in education, and she looks after safeguarding for the chorus as well as doing publicity and membership admin. She joined when her children were small, hoping to get a couple of hours a week of “me time". She gained so much more: friends, self-confidence, wonderful performance opportunities and music skills. She became a trustee so she can help TOC to continue to flourish and grow. She is half Italian, so opera is in her blood; she’s committed to making opera accessible, and fun, for everyone.
Irene Hamilton
Recruitment
Publicity
Irene has enjoyed many years of singing with the Chorus, since it began as ROHTCC and its instigation as TOC. She believes it is an important part of social cohesion and offers great opportunities to increase mental and physical health.
Membership
Charity Liaison
Finance Liaison
Allen Jones
After having sung with ROHTCC for over ten years, it came as a shock to Allen when funding was withdrawn and the chorus disbanded. Realising that something important would be lost, he instigated the formation of a new opera chorus in July 2020. This was done by employing low cunning to lure others to his house with the offer of home baked Welsh Cakes. From these early meetings came a group determined to continue the singing, camaraderie and benefits of operatic music to members and community alike. This in turn led to the formation of the Thames Opera Company of which he is proud to be a founding director and trustee.
His ambition is to see TOC develop, build and become something really special in the Thames area and beyond.