David Sulkin

David Charles Chester Sulkin OBE (born 1 January 1949 in West Sussex)[1][2] is an English theatre and opera director and currently Director of Artist Development at the National Opera Studio.[3] In 2017 Sulkin received a Finzi Scholarship to work in Brno, Czech Republic to complete work on a play about Leoš Janáček and the composer’s relationship with his wife and other women: 'My Life with Janáček'[working title].[4] This is now being developed into a film script.

David Charles Chester Sulkin
Born (1949-06-01) 1 June 1949
West Sussex, United Kingdom
Alma materGuildhall School of Music and Drama
Rose Bruford College
Occupation(s)Theatre director; actor

Biography

Sulkin is the younger son of Emmanuel and Dorothy Sulkin. He was born and grew up in Worthing, West Sussex and decided to be an actor at the age of 8 when he saw his first professional play at the Connaught Theatre. His grandparents on his father's side were Jewish immigrants from Poland arriving in London in 1904.

Sulkin studied drama at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and at Rose Bruford College (RBC),[5] and graduated in 1973. Since then he has worked as an actor, theatre and opera director and producer. He has taught at RADA,[6] RBC and the Royal College of Music. He has held executive roles in three music charities – National Foundation for Youth Music, Help Musicians UK and the National Opera Studio. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in HM The Queen's 2014 New Year Honours for his work in the arts, education and charity.[7]

Early career

1975 – 1984: Actor, director, workshop leader and community activist

After working on contract at the Donovan Maule Theatre in Nairobi, Kenya,[8] and for the Bolshoi Ballet [9] in London, Sulkin became one of the co-founders of the Hoxton Theatre Trust [1975] where he was a resident actor, director, workshop leader and community activist. In 1980, he became director of the Young People's Theatre and the Young Writers' Festival[10][11] at the Royal Court Theatre working with Max Stafford-Clark. While at the Royal Court, Sulkin received an Anglo-Soviet Study Scholarship to investigate the impact of the long-established national network of Theatres of the Young Spectator across Russia [1983]. He helped start the International Festival of Young Playwrights in Australia [1985][12][13] and was the co-founder of the Baylis Programme[14] at English National Opera working with Rebecca Meitlis and the international opera director, David Pountney [1985].[15][16][17]

1986 – 1997: Opera Director

In 1987, the Baylis Programme commissioned him to write and direct Gretel and Hansel,[18] an opera with music by Alec Roth[19][20] for young people to perform, based on the opera Hansel and Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck and the fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. While at ENO Sulkin began working extensively in the Czech Republic and became associate director of Janáčkovy Hukvaldy[21] – the Janáček Festival where he directed Janáček's Liška Bystrouška (The Cunning Little Vixen), Benjamin Britten's Archa Noemova (Noye's Fludde) in collaboration with the Britten Pears Foundation, Zakladní škola, Hukvaldy and the Department of Alternative Theatre and Puppetry at DAMU, Prague. He later produced Hans Krasa's opera Brundibar.[22] He worked at the National Theatre of Prague directing Ilja Hurník's opera Dama i Lupiči [completed 1966][23] based on the Ealing comedy of 1955, The Ladykillers. He also directed Pozvání pana sloana (Entertaining Mr Sloane) at the Činoherni Studio, Ustí nad Labem. In 2006 Sulkin directed Dame Ethel Smyth's opera The Wreckers at the Hall for Cornwall [6][24] to mark the centenary of Smyth's completion of the work. The 2006 production was the first in Cornwall where the opera is set.

Later career

In 1999, Sulkin became the Director of Policy and Programmes at the National Foundation for Youth Music, supporting young people who would not normally have access to music training.[25] Genres included, among many, rock, jazz, hip-hop, folk, and classical music.[26][27][28] In 2008 Sulkin was invited to become Executive Director of Help Musicians UK,[29][30][31] which provides a wide range of services for musicians,[32][33] helps talented young artists get a foot on the ladder of success. A major achievement of his time at Help Musicians UK was the change of the charity's name from the Musicians Benevolent Fund to Help Musicians UK in 2014.[34] Help Musicians is 100 years old in January 2021. He continues to maintain his acting, directing and writing work.

Personal interests

Sulkin speaks some Czech and is studying Russian again after a long break. His personal interests include cookery and especially bread-making; motorcycling, early gramophones and acoustic recordings.

Voluntary roles. Sulkin has held numerous voluntary roles, which have included being a governor and chair of the Cripplegate Foundation,[35] a trustee of the De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea,[36] a trustee of the Association of Charitable Organisations,[37][38] a trustee of Nuance Music, trustee and chair of the Hastings and East Sussex Creative Partnership and a trustee of Theatre Centre. He was chair of the New London Children's Choir[1] and, for seventeen years, Chair of Governors of Clerkenwell Parochial C of E Primary School[39] in London.

In November 2020, Sulkin was invited to advise the National Theatre (Prague)[40] (Národní Divadlo) in Prague, Czech Republic, to create a new department for learning and participation for the opera ensemble.

Publications

Sulkin edited two collections of plays (1983 and 1984) by young writers as part of the Royal Court Young People's Theatre. Entitled Young Writers and Primary Sauce, they were plays mainly by primary school children.[41]

As the result of an Anglo Soviet Scholarship, he wrote a report called Young People's Theatre in the Soviet Union. An abstract was published in Drama – The Quarterly Theatre Review (1988. Vol. 1) under the title Russian Youth Theatre. Times Educational Supplement also published Sulkin's article entitled Art of the State (23 October 1987).

Amongst his publications are New Old – Thirty Thousand Years of Experience (1999) with Katrina Duncan.[42] This was a research project and report which makes recommendations about how artists might develop their careers after the age of 50 and what people who have had other working lives, but have creative urges, do to become fulfilled artists after 50. This report was published by SEA and funded by the De Hahn family [Saga].

In 2000, Sulkin contributed to Reflections on the Rose Bruford College (2000) by Robert Ely, ISBN 1-903-454-00-X[43] and using his pseudonym, Dave Chester, he wrote a short story, Immigrant, published in a collection of stories called Rough Stuff (Alyson Books, 2000). ISBN 1 55583 520 1. The editors were Simon Sheppard and M. Christian.

In 2005, Sulkin acted as editor for the Singbook - Twelve Songs Worth Singing for Youth Music, published by Faber Music and supported by NASUWT and Arts Council England. ISBN 0-571-52398-6.[44]

In 2012, Sulkin edited a facsimile edition of the 1927 book The New River Head by G F Stringer,[45] to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Amwell Society. An article in the Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society[46] Summer 2012 Vol 2, No 2 describe the preservation of the New River Head site.

Sulkin contributed a section entitled Salomon Gruschka and candles to Traces of Jewish Presence in Prague 2 by Martin Šmok and a team of authors published by the City of Prague 2 in 2015.

Sulkin features in Nicholas Holden's academic thesis for the University of Lincoln (2018) Building the Engine Room: A Study of the Royal Court Young Peoples’ Theatre and its Development into the Young Writers’ Programme.[47]

Sulkin has been produced a film for the National Opera Studio which was released on 17 November 2020. The director is Alisdair Kitchen. 12:42 [48] traces the course of commissioning new opera works during the time of total quarantine caused by the Coronavirus. 12:42 is available for viewing at www.operavision.eu [49]

References
  1. David, Sulkin (17 December 2015). "New London Children's Choir". bizdb.
  2. "Sulkin, David Charles Chester, (Born 1 Jan. 1949), Executive Director, Help Musicians UK, 2009". SULKIN, David Charles Chester (born 1949), Executive Director, Help Musicians UK, since 2009. Who's Who. London: A & C Black. December 2014. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U278624.
  3. "Press Release: Announcing our new Director of Artist Development - National Opera Studio". www.nationaloperastudio.org.uk. Archived from the original on 25 September 2017.
  4. The Finzi Trust Award Holders 2017 http://www.geraldfinzi.org/award-holders.html
  5. "Help Musicians UK on Orchestras as Workplaces". Orchestras Canada. Archived from the original on 18 August 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  6. "International director heads to Cornwall". BBC Cornwall. 27 July 2006. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  7. "New Year honours 2014: the full list". The Guardian. 30 December 2013. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  8. "The Donovan Maule Theatre".
  9. "Bolshoi Ballet in London".
  10. "Maria Oshodi – Artistic Director and CEO". Extant. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  11. "News & articles | Research at the Open University".
  12. "Festival plays / with an introduction by David Sulkin ; edited by Margaret Mackey. – Version details". Trove. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  13. "Interplay Gives Youths the Stage". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  14. "Twenty New Operas". Opera Archive. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  15. "OPERA / Killing the cat: Pountney's Carmen revived". The Independent. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  16. "The lady's not for squashing OPERA". The Independent. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  17. "Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation | JOINING IN". Archived from the original on 30 October 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  18. "Fringe Performances". Opera Archive. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  19. "Stage Works by Alec Roth". alecroth.com. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  20. "The Big Sing".
  21. "Festival – Historie festivalu – Janáčkovy Hukvaldy". Janáčkovy Hukvaldy. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  22. "Survivinghorror to return in harmony". 4 July 1996.
  23. "We Hear That . . ". Opera Archive. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  24. "The Wreckers | Amanda Holden".
  25. "Annual Report 2005-06". Youth Music.
  26. "Trombone 'spurned by musical youth'". BBC News. 27 August 2002. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  27. Stepping into Music http://www.steppingintomusic.org.uk/books/
  28. "TransIP - Reserved domain".
  29. "David Sulkin". thirdsector.co.uk. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  30. "Executive Director David Sulkin on the launch of Help Musicians UK". Help Musicians UK. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  31. "Changing Faces".
  32. "Live Music Now News | Live Music Now".
  33. "FBT - the Business of Art: Introducing the Art Enterprise Diploma".
  34. "Help Musicians | Executive Director David Sulkin on the launch of Help Musicians UK".
  35. "Annual review". Cripplegate Foundation. 2009.
  36. "De La Warr Pavilion Charitable Trust in Bexhill on Sea, TN40 1DP". bizdb.co.uk. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  37. "The Association of Charitable Organisations in London, WC1X 8DP". bizdb.co.uk. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  38. "ACO Spring conference tackles today's problems head on | Philanthropy Impact".
  39. Sulkin, David. "Chair of Governors, Clerkenwell C of E Primary School Clerkenwell C of E Primary School". {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  40. "National Theatre Prague".
  41. Croft, Susan. "Black Playwrights in Britain in Print".
  42. Sulkin, David; Duncan, Katrina (1 January 1999). New old: thirty thousand years of experience: a report of findings of the Creativity of Older People project initiated by South East Arts. Tunbridge Wells England: South East Arts Association. ISBN 9780905593128.
  43. "Reflections: A Brief History of Rose Bruford College – Buy Online from Engineering Books Shop". engineeringbooks.in. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  44. "Singbook - Twelve Songs Worth Singing". Alfred Music.
  45. "The Amwell Society – The New River Head". amwell.org.uk. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  46. "Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society". clcomms.com. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  47. "Building the Engine Room: A Study of the Royal Court Young Peoples' Theatre and its Development into the Young Writers' Programme" (PDF).
  48. "12:42". 9 October 2020.
  49. "www.operavision.eu".
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