Andrew Sparling met Simon as a result of their shared fascination with opera and Deborah Jones. As guest-principal clarinet for The Orchestra of the Age of Englightenment he played in the new production of Don Giovanni at Glyndebourne in 2010 and Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride at Covent Garden in 2007. For fourteen years he played for Almeida Opera in Islington, including productions of two operas by Michael Nyman. and he has also played for New Kent Opera, Broomhill Opera and English Bach Festival, whose production of Xenakis’ Oresteia inaugurated the Linbury Theatre at Covent Garden. He played in The Opera Group’s award-winning production of Weill’s Street Scene at the Young Vic and Buxton Festival, as well as mini-operas in various departments of Selfridges in London and Manchester. On different occasions he has played 3 of the 4 off-stage clarinet parts in the wings of the Coliseum for Jonathan Miller’s Rigoletto.