Meet the team

Pamela Leighton-Bilik (Director)

Pamela puts the “PB” into PB Theatricals. She is a veteran educator (Drama, English, Chorus, Special Education), graduated from the Interlochen (Michigan) Arts Academy. She earned a B.A. magnum cum laude from Ithica College (New York) and an M.A. in communication Arts and Theatre from the University of Maryland. An international Gilbert & Sullivan director, Pamela is a founder and stage director of PB Theatricals. She is a teaching/directing artist for ArtStream, a Washington D.C.-area based non-profit theatre organisation for performers with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Additionally, Pamela is a freelance vocal coach and speech/language arts tutor in the Washington D.C. metro area and the UK. She also conducts acting and public speaking workshops in the US and the UK

Martin Thiselton (Musical Director for the Youth Show and Assistant Musical Director for the Young adults show)

Martin joined PB Theatricals in 2023 and also runs the PBT Singers singing group.  Based in Sheffield he is a rehearsal pianist for Hallam Choral Society and Stannington Mixed Choir.  In his younger years he was MD for Fiddler on the Roof at Durham University, a viola player in Durham University Light Opera Group, and also in the Dore Gilbert and Sullivan Society.  He was MD for productions with Sheffield College including Westside Story and The Caucasian Chalk Circle.  He has also helped with Barnsley Youth Theatre.

Martin has written compositions for Sheffield Philharmonic Orchestra, Sheffield Youth Orchestra and also wrote a piece for the Trinity Grade 8 Keyboard syllabus.  He is also keen on creating music with Logic and Soundtrap.

thisdotmusic.com

James Gillett (Musical Director for the Young adults show and Accompanist for the Youth show)
Originally from Grimsby, James is a Manchester based pianist and conductor. He is currently in his final year as a Masters repetiteur student at the Royal Northern College of Music.

In 2020, James graduated from the University of Manchester with a first class music degree. It was at University that James’ interest in conducting, and later opera, was developed and cultivated. Recent operatic engagements have included Fortepiano Continuo player for RNCM’s production of Mozart, Le Nozze di Figaro, Young Artist Conductor for Waterperry Opera Festival, and musical director/project curator for Manchester Contemporary Youth Opera at Tête-à-Tête.

Although currently dedicating much of his time to operatic repertoire, James is a strong advocate for community music making. He is currently musical director of Oldham Symphony Orchestra and Abney Orchestra, and has previously worked with a range of choirs in Manchester and the surrounding area on an ad hoc basis.

Whilst much of James’ work is in performing existing repertoire, James is also involved in Manchester’s new music scene. Since 2019 he has enjoyed working with Manchester composers to workshop and perform their works, a process which he believes vital to the future of classical music. Most recently James has been fortunate in working as repetiteur for the world premier of Anna Appleby’s opera *Drought*, performed by the BBC Philharmonic in October 2022.

jamesgillett.co.uk

Jacob Plumtree-Jones (Accompanist for the Young adults show)
Originally hailing from Liverpool and West Lancashire, Jacob is a keyboard player based in the Midlands. His répétiteur work has taken him from its opera’s beginnings in L’Orfeo with Ex Cathedra, through Rossini’s Il Signor Bruschino with South Birmingham Opera (a company he acts as creative director of), to Sondheim’s A Little Night Musicat the University of Birmingham.

Jacob is primarily a harpsichordist and musicologist, focusing on the French keyboard of the late 16^th and early 17^th Centuries. He presented his research on Elizabethan keyboard music at the Biennial Baroque Conferences in 2021 and 2023, and performs as a harpsichordist, most recently accompanying the Birmingham Early Modern Vocal Ensemble. Jacob is also a blues and rock specialist, playing Hammond Organ plays Hammond Organ in bands across North London.

Having accompanied or conducted just about every single Gilbert and Sullivan show, he has also performed many of the bass and baritone roles, including John Wellington-Wells in The Sorcerer, Sir Roderic Murgatroyd in Ruddigore, and Private Willis in UBG&S’s production of Iolanthe, winning the Best Show award at the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival in 2022.