Brahms – Ein Deutsches Requiem – 9 June 2012
studied music at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, winning the David Barlow Memorial Award, before going on to English National Opera’s young artist course ‘The Knack’. She is a member of the Co-Opera Co project and is participating in their training programme with artists such as Sally Burgess, Mary Plazas, Janis Kelly, Stephen Barlow, Stuart Barker and William Relton. She has studied privately and in masterclasses with Philip Langridge, Lillian Watson, David Wilson-Johnson and Nicholas Cleobury. She now studies with Colin Baldy, Jonathan Papp, Emanuela Ferrari, and with Nicoletta Conti in Bologna.
She made her debut at London’s Royal Festival Hall and on BBC Radio 3 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in the London premiere of Birtwistle’s The Second Mrs Kong (Terror and First Woman), conducted by Martyn Brabbins and directed by Kenneth Richardson.
Elizabeth also appears on two recordings with the BBC Symphony Orchestra: Chausson’s opera Le roi Arthus (2nd Soprano) under Leon Botstein (Telarc); and Josef Marx’s Herbstchor an Pan under Jiří Bělohlávek (Chandos).
Elizabeth’s oratorio repertoire spans a wide and varied range, from Monteverdi’s Vespers to Tippett’s A Child of Our Time. Working with conductors such as Paul McCreesh, Jonathan Willcocks and Adrian Partington, she has performed in many of the great venues and festivals throughout the UK, including St. John’s Smith Square (Mozart Requiem), Durham Cathedral (Haydn Maria Theresa Mass, Mozart Regina Coeli K108), Truro Cathedral (Haydn Stabat Mater), Leicester Cathedral (Mendelssohn Elijah), Sherborne Abbey (1st soprano Mozart Mass in C Minor) and Hexham Abbey (Haydn Nelson Mass). She has twice performed Mahler’s Fourth Symphony under Levon Parikian, on the second occasion partnering it with Barber’s Knoxville Summer of 1915. Outside the UK, concert performances have taken her to All Saints English Church in Rome for Bach’s Johannes Passion, Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem; and to Darmstadt for Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony with the Konzertchor Darmstadt and Philharmonie Südwestfalen under Wolfgang Seeliger.
Elizabeth is also an accomplished recitalist and has taken part in several recital series in London and throughout the UK, performing repertoire such as Schumann’s Frauenliebe und Leben, Mahler’s Des Knabenwunderhorn, Britten’s On This Island, Strauss’s Vier letzte Lieder. Her performance of the Strauss cycle and a selection of Mozart’s Concert Arias in the Vauxhall International Recital series with Christopher Glynn in November 2007 was especially praised. Future plans include a French programme with Christopher Gould.
She made her Italian stage debut in 2006 as Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi), directed by Vernon Mound and conducted by Nicoletta Conti at the Teatro di Monteleone di Spoleto and touring Umbria, where she has also taken the role of Violetta (La Traviata) in extensive staged scenes. Other operatic roles include: Mimì (La bohème) for Opus One Opera, conducted by Fraser Goulding; Contessa (Le nozze di Figaro), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Musetta (La bohème) and The Plaintiff (Trial by Jury); for Hand Made Opera; Adina (L’Elisir d’amore); Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro); Zerlina (Don Giovanni), conducted by Alistair Dawes; Queen of the Gypsies (The Bohemian Girl); and Clorinda (La Cenerentola).
