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Duncan Hayler
Duncan Hayler was a member of The National
Youth Theatre of Great Britain; acting in Bartholomew Fair,
and working as design assistant to John Halle. He was a child
soloist at Glyndebourne Opera House in John Cox's and Jonathan
Miller's production of Janacek's Cunning Little Vixen and
was coached in singing by Elizabeth Abercrombie. At the age
of sixteen he decided to train as a designer.
During his studies at Wimbledon School
of Art under Richard Johnson he was awarded the Thames Television
National Design prize for his work as set and costume designer,
following six weeks in West Africa studying dyeing techniques
and searching for an equivalent to the colour and mass of
fabric used by the Russian Ballet designer, Leon Bakst.
He graduated with an honours degree
in Theatre Design and was immediately offered assistant work
to Yolanda Sonnabend and Roger Butlin. In 1986 Duncan moved
to Berlin and spent three and a half years as assistant designer
at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, working for amongst others Peter
Sykora, Stefanos Lazarides and Paul Brown. He adapted, managed
and toured the set of Goetz Friedrichs famous Ring Cycle to
Tokyo and Yokohama (Japans first ever complete Ring production
receiving an astonishing 57 curtain calls on the first night
alone), to The Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts in Washington
DC and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, where he was made
associate designer for the production of Siegfried.
Duncan then went freelance and his
numerous design credits for ballet include: Rudolf Nureyev’s
Sleeping Beauty, Staatsoper Berlin, as set and lighting assistant;
set, costume and lighting for world dance premieres of H.Gorecki’s
Old Polish Music, Wielki Opera Warsaw and Penderecki’s
Third Symphony, Polish State Opera Ballet Poznan, choreographed
by Marek Rozycki and both performed in the presence of the
composers. His other design work for choreographer Marek Rozycki
includes: Peter and the Wolf, Staatsoper Berlin; Carnival
of the Animals, Polish State Ballet, Cracow; Flugelstuck,
Theatre of East Berlin, in a Peter Schaufuss workshop.
Duncan’s designs for opera include:
David Poutney’s and Nicola Raab’s production of
The Soldier and the Dancer, State Opera Prague, nominated
for ‘Event of the Year Award’ and the Tcheque
Theatre Award; Don Giovanni, Staatstheater Oper Munich; Turn
of the Screw, The Lighthouse, Curlew River and Ormindo, for
the Neue Operbühne Berlin; Cosi Fan Tutti and Wunschpunsch
(world premiere)directed by Henry Akina for the Berliner Kammer
Oper and the National Theatre, Hungary.
His designs for musicals include: German
premiere of Buddy,the Buddy Holly Story, directed by Larry
Fuller, Neue Metropole Hamburg; Camelot directed by Andrew
Neil, Cardiff; design assistant to Oscar-winning designer
Ray Klausen for Jazz Leggs, Friedrichstadt Palast, Berlin.
Duncan has also worked with lighting designers John B Read,
Bob Ryan and Hans Souquist.
He has given masterclasses in Opera
and Dance Design at: Wimbledon School of Art, Berlin Technical
University, Mountview Theatre School,City Lit University,
Southbank University, The Welsh Conservatoire, Croydon College
and Central School of Art and Design.
He has written a book (seeking publication)
on ‘Designing with Music’. This is Duncan's first
production for Northern Ballet Theatre, though he prepared
a new Nutcracker design for David Nixon while he was at BalletMet
Columbus. For the last year Duncan has lived and worked at
his "ruin" in France.
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