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The Team

Meet our Staff, Board Members, and Patron.

Chief Executive and Artistic Director

Cameron Menzies

Australian born Stage Director, Cameron Menzies works consistently across Opera, Music Theatre, Theatre, Cabaret and with many International Festivals.  His work has been seen throughout Australia, United Kingdom, Europe, USA, South Africa, Japan and China.  He has worked for Shakespeare’s Globe, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Opera Australia, Victorian Opera, Malthouse Theatre, Sydney Theatre Company, Short Black Opera Company,  Melbourne Symphony Orchestra & Sydney Symphony Orchestra.  He is also the Associate Artist (Direction) for Diva Opera UK.

General Manager

Laura Salt

Laura studied Music at the University of Ulster and later completed her PGCE in Music back at UU. She has previously worked with Camerata Ireland, the Ulster Youth Orchestra and New Irish Arts. Laura has a passion for young people in the arts and this is evident in her long association with the Education Authority Music Service and the Northern Ireland Concert Band. As a freelance horn player, Laura has supported many ensembles in Northern Ireland and is a founding member of all female horn quartet ‘CODA Horns’.

Head of Marketing and Development

Julia O’Hara

Julia read English at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and spent more than a decade working in book publishing in London specialising in marketing at Macmillan Publishers (working primarily on The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and The Grove Dictionary of Art), and International Rights and Special Sales at Virgin Books and Phaidon Press.

Since moving to Belfast, Julia worked in marketing in the property industry before joining NI Opera in 2018

Production and Events Coordinator

Matthew Bradley

Matthew studied Film at Queen’s University Belfast, going on to further study Media Techniques through BBC.

He has previously worked with BBC and Cahoots NI, as well as working with local and international arts festivals like Belfast Film Festival and Milwaukee Irish Fest.

After this he took a few years out of the arts to work as part of the accounts team at Specialist Group, developing his financial skills. Matthew enjoys film, music and theatre and with this love for the arts, joined NI Opera in 2024.

Administrator

Hels Jenkins

Hels read French and Spanish at the University of Wales, Swansea, and has had a varied career path. She started her professional life as an air hostess with British Airways, and following this, completed her PGCE and worked as a language teacher.  More recently, she has worked as an Event Manager and School Secretary, joining NI Opera permanently in 2024.

Our Patron

Sean Rafferty

Sean Rafferty was born in Belfast and brought up in Newcastle, Co. Down. He studied law at Queen’s University. Belfast, and soon after began his career in broadcasting. Sean is a respected arts broadcaster, having presented a variety of radio and television programmes on BBC Radio 3, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Radio Ulster. Since 1997 Sean has been the regular presenter of In Tune on Radio 3.

The Board

Roy Bailie OBE Chairman

Dame Fionnuala Jay-O’Boyle DBE Vice-Chairman

Gavin Boyd

Stephen Kingon CBE

Ken Lindsay

Richard McBride

Professor Dolores O’Reilly

Mairéad Regan

Karen Shearer

Jane Wells MBE