Caroline Coetzee

Originally from South Africa and now based in Cambridge UK, Caroline has worked in theatre and opera in South Africa, Germany and the UK. She is passionate about the essential nature of the arts in daily life and about the importance of the arts in the development of children and young people.

She is Artistic Director of Listen! – a new organisation whose mission is to create, produce and perform new musical works that connect people to the stories and places that shape our lives.

Listen’s first project, Hidden Star, The Story of Annie Walker, with libretto by Caroline, was introduced at the Tête-à-Tête Festival of contemporary opera in October 2025. The project combines opera, social history and astronomy to tell the story of Britain’s first professional woman observational astronomer.

From 2011 – 2025, Caroline was Artistic Director of Cambridge Youth Opera, a charity she founded, whose aim is to broaden the creative horizons of young people through opera