Sir Frederick Ashton

Julia Trevelyan Oman's career in theatre design began when Sir Frederick Ashton telephoned her about some drawings she had done which attempted to interpret Elgar's Enigma Variations for ballet.She had discovered the music as a student at the Royal College of Art when she attended a prom in 1955, and had felt inspired to work out how the music could be made into a ballet.

She took her drawings to Sir Hugh Casson, Professor of Interior Design at the RCA, and he arranged for her to leave her portfolio at the Royal Opera House for the attention of Dame Ninette de Valois.When she collected the portfolio a few weeks later, it seemed that no one had looked at it, so she was surprised when, 12 years later, she received a call from Frederick Ashton inviting her to tea.The Enigma Variations (1968), which Ashton choreographed, was a triumph and from then on one success followed another.