About

Volante Opera Productions was founded by Julian Boyce in 1999, originally bringing opera gala performances to Wales and England.

Volante Opera Productions fulfils a valuable role by staging performances in historic buildings and churches, as well as in concert halls and theatres. One of our main aims is to take live music into the community and enable a wider audience to hear varied and exciting repertoire.

In addition, over the years, Volante Opera Productions has helped to raise many thousands of pounds for charities, doing performances in dementia homes, schools and churches.

We also provide entertainment for corporate functions at highly competitive rates. Also, we have supplied soloists and ensembles for a wide range of music performances and events.

Since 2018 we expanded our work into the world of recording with an aim to release new or previously unrecorded pieces, either commercially in collaboration with Prima Facie or via our online videos on YouTube and Facebook.

In the lockdowns of 2020 our remotely recorded Musical Advent Calendar helped to raise thousands of pounds for Shelter Cymru.

Julian Boyce

Baritone

Simon Crosby Buttle

Tenor

Whilst studying Drama at the University of Kent Julian won the Canterbury Cathedral Bursary Award for singing. He is a graduate of The Opera School (Wales) and received a major award from the James Pantyfedwen Foundation to fund his postgraduate studies at the Welsh College of Music and Drama, where he was awarded the Della Windsor Memorial Prize.

Julian joined the Welsh National Opera Chorus in 2005. Roles for WNO include Bogdanowitsch (Merry Widow - televised by the BBC), Montano (Othello - Televised by S4C), Le Dancaire (Carmen), Steuermann (Tristan & Isolde), Customs Officer (Boheme), Antonio (Nozze di Figaro), Yakuside (Madam Butterfly) Enzo (Sweetness and Badness), Dog (Cunning Little Vixen) ,Fiorello (Barber of Seville), Diener (Lulu), Elder (Moses and Aaron), Surgeon (Forza del Destino) and understudy Schaunard (Boheme), Angelotti (Tosca), First Streltzy (Khovanshchina), Zuniga (Carmen), Ceprano (Rigoletto), Bonze (Madam Butterfly), Ortel (Meistersingers) and 1st Streltzy (Khovanshchina).

Julian has also appeared as a soloist for WNO in Messiah at St. David’s Hall, ‘Chorus!’, Carbon 12 and performs regularly in outreach work for WNO Youth and Community. He is in demand as a soloist in oratorio, works include Handel’s Messiah and Jephtha, Bach’s Magnificat, Stravinski’s Pulcinella, Schubert’s Mass in G, Haydn’s Creation, Mozart’s Requiem, Faure’s Requiem, Brahms’ Requiem, Dvorak's Te Deum, Verdi’s Requiem and Carmina Burana.

Operatic roles outside of WNO include Sharpless (Madam Butterfly), Sacristan/Sciaronne (Tosca), Papageno (The Magic Flute), Sorceress (Dido and Aeneas), Betto (Gianni Schicci), Guglielmo (Cosi Fan Tutte), Fiorello (Barber of Seville), Drunken Poet and Coridon (The Fairy Queen), Nilakantha (Lakme), Figaro/Bartolo (Le Nozze Di Figaro), Dottore/Marquis (La Traviata). He has performed with Central Festival Opera, Curtain Call Productions, Candlelight Opera, Swansea City Opera and Opera Box. Most recently Julian sang Scarpia (Tosca) in a semi-staged concert with Crosby Symphony Orchestra.

Future engagements include Dr. Metvier (War and Peace) with WNO and recital with Volante Opera Productions for the Wirral Arts Festival.

Simon was born in West Yorkshire and studied at the Royal Northern College of Music with Jeffrey Lawton. Whilst there he was a recipient of the Anne Ziegler Award and was funded by the Countess of Munster Musical Trust.

He has performed the roles of Pinkerton Madama Butterfly (Mananan Festival & Rhosygilwen Festival), Ruggiero La Rondine (RNCM), Lensky Eugene Onegin (RNCM), Candide Candide (RNCM), Ishmael Nabucco (Hull Choral) and Tikhon Katya Kabanova (Scottish Opera).

Simon joined the Welsh National Opera Chorus in 2009, and since joining he has performed the roles of Priest Magic Flute (WNO), Sailor/Shepherd Tristan und Isolde (WNO), Giuseppe La Traviata (WNO), Woodpecker Cunning Little Vixen (WNO), 1st Nobleman Lohengrin (WNO), Edmondo Manon Lescaut (WNO), Tootles Peter Pan (WNO), Sir Bruno i Puritani (WNO), German Soldier/Runner In Parenthesis (WNO), Malcolm Macbeth (WNO), Goro Madama Butterfly (WNO), 1st Lackey/ 1st Waiter Der Rosenkavalier (WNO), Kuzka Khovanshchina (WNO), Kedril From the House of the Dead (WNO) and Borsa Rigoletto (WNO).

In concert, Simon has performed with many choral societies, in works including: Messa di Gloria Puccini, Petite Messe Solennelle Rossini, Te Deum Bruckner, Requiem Lloyd Webber, Creation Haydn, Hiawatha's Wedding Feast Coleridge-Taylor, Nelson Mass Haydn and Eternal Light Goodall.