c e s c a e a t o n
e x e c u t i v e p r o d u c e r | d i r e c t o r
I studied piano and violin as a Junior Exhibitioner at the Royal College of Music, going on to gain a BA Honours Degree in Music from Lancaster University.
Upon leaving university I pursued a professional career as a singer, specialising in Early Music. I then spent 11 years in dark basements in Soho working as a film editor, cutting documentaries for Arena, Equinox, Horizon and Omnibus, along with operas, drama documentaries and pop promos. I then got bitten by the directing bug making my first documentary for Childrens’ BBC.
There followed many years producing/directing and Series Producing for BBC, ITV and C4 at some of the top Independent Production companies - Mentorn, Lion, Ricochet, Twenty Twenty, Fulcrum, Fulmar - where I produced and directed a vast range of documentaries including Cutting Edge, Dispatches, Paddington Green and Children’s Hospital.
I spent 2 years in Montreal, Canada, executive producing and series producing 3 international co-productions for Cineflix, working with American, Canadian and British broadcasters. Returning to the UK I joined the BBC where I was first Series Producer and then Executive Producer in charge of the Documentary output from Birmingham.
Upon leaving the BBC, I joined Films of Record spearheading the development department and executive producing 2 major series for the BBC. More recently at Twenty Twenty Television, I executive produced numerous series for BBC and C4, and created, series produced and directed a series for BBC TWO ‘Gareth Malone Goes to Glyndebourne’, which won the 2011 International Emmy Award for Best Arts Programming.
Amongst my greatest hits I produced, directed and edited a 90 minute documentary at Wingspan Productions for BBC FOUR ‘Angelic Voices: the choristers of Salisbury Cathedral’, produced, directed and edited ‘The Great British Paraorchestra’ at What Larks! for C4, produced and directed ‘Bach: a Passionate Life’ at Leopard for BBC TWO and produced, directed and edited '60 Years of Carols from King's' again for BBC TWO. Outside television I have been the UK contact for French Classical Music Agency, Satirino who represents, amongst others, Ensemble Clément Janequin, The London Haydn Quartet and Camerata Ireland. I was the Producer of a one-woman play written and performed by Natasha Wood, and spent an enjoyable year being the London Correspondent for the Music Show, ABC Radio National (Australia).
Music will always be my passion and I continue to sing as a member of the Baroque Collective Singers, Brighton16, BREMF Singers and the Esterhazy Chamber Choir in Lewes, East Sussex, the county in which I live.