Elizabeth Roberts - Biography
Shorter biography suitablefor programmes
Elizabeth Roberts 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 has studied privately and in masterclasses with Philip Langridge, Lillian Watson, Yvonne Howard, Mary Plazas, Janis Kelly, Donald Maxwell, and with Nicoletta Conti in Bologna. She now studies with Colin Baldy.
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 under Leon Botstein; and Josef Marx’s Herbstchor an Pan under Jirí Belohlávek.
She was honoured to be chosen as soprano soloist at the entry of the Olympic Flame and the lighting of the cauldron for the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Elizabeth’s oratorio repertoire spans from Monteverdi’s Vespers to Tippett’s A Child of Our Time via Mahler’s Fourth Symphony and Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915. 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 sop Mozart Mass in C Minor) and Hexham Abbey (Haydn Nelson Mass), Marlborough College Chapel (Beethoven Missa Solemnis).
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. In 2012 she performed Orff’s Carmina Burana in Beijing with the Peking Sinfonietta.
She made her Italian stage debut in 2006 as Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi) (directed by Vernon Mound, conducted by Nicoletta Conti) at the Teatro di Monteleone di Spoleto and touring Umbria. Other operatic roles include: Salome (Hérodiade) in Valladolid, Spain; Tosca (Tosca) for New London Opera Players; Mimì (La bohème) for Opus One Opera; Countess of Dunmow (A Dinner Engagement) for Minotaur Music Theatre; Contessa (Le nozze di Figaro), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Musetta (La bohème), The Plaintiff (Trial by Jury) and Mabel (Pirates of Penzance) 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).
Elizabeth is also an accomplished recitalist and has taken part in recital series in London and throughout the UK with Christopher Glynn, Christopher Gould and Kelvin Lim, performing repertoire such as Schumann’s Frauenliebe und Leben, Mahler’s Des Knabenwunderhorn, Britten’s On This Island, Strauss’s Vier letzte Lieder. In 2010 she was honoured to be one of seven singers selected for a week of intensive study with Malcolm Martineau at Crear.
