This week on TMDTA, Becca and Hattie chat with Guy Withers, Artistic Director, founder and CEO of Waterperry Opera Festival, about this year's upcoming festival which will celebrate it's fifth anniversary with an innovative eight-day open-air collection of eight productions in Waterperry, Oxfordshire. As usual, Becca and Hattie want to know more about what's going on behind the shiny facade of such a successful festival and they chat with Guy about not only the festival's journey to fruition but also his personal experiences and how they have informed his current role. Guy shares with us the some of the trials and errors he's experienced whilst working at the festival and talks about them with such humility and such obvious passion for his work. Thank you Guy for your honesty and openness with us! Transcript for this episode “To celebrate our fifth anniversary as a festival, we have created an ambitious season of eight productions. With returning favourites, and exciting new ventures, our broad programme has something for everyone, with each offering as unique and thrilling as the next. We are taking artistic risks to create the exciting operatic experiences that will captivate the next generation of audiences as well as our loyal followers. Our focus this year as a company is creating new audiences for opera with inventive and accessible work, inspiring local young people with free tickets for those under 16, and developing emerging talent with our Young Artist Programme. We want to make sure there are no barriers to any young person enjoying or engaging with classical music and opera.” - Guy Withers, Artistic Director & CEO Waterperry Opera Festival: https://www.waterperryoperafestival.co.uk Things Musicians Don't Talk About website: https://www.thingsmusiciansdonttalkabout.com TMDTA Twitter Facebook Instagram If you would like to support our work, why not buy us a Kofi? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.