The English mezzo-soprano, Claire Pascoe, read History at Durham University, before she won an Entrance Exhibition to study with Julie Kennard at the Royal Academy of Music. She attended the Opera School and graduated with a Dip. RAM in Opera.
Having joined the Chorus of Opera North in 1996, her roles for the Company include: Rosina in The Barber of Seville, Dorabella in W.A. Mozart's Così fan tutte, Mayor’s Wife in Jenufa, Lucia in The Thieving in Magpie, Lusya in Paradise Moscow, Third Witch in Dido and Aeneas, Mercedes in Georges Bizet's Carmen, Dame Hannah in Ruddigore, Innkeeper’s Wife and Chief Hen in The Cunning Little Vixen, The Fish Seller in Julietta, Beggar Woman in Benjamin Britten's Death in Venice, Virtue in The Coronation of Poppea, La Ciesca in Gianni Schicchi, Stage Manager in Kiss Me, Kate, Novice Mistress in Suor Angelica, Bobylikha in The Snow Maiden, Counsel for the Plaintiff in Trial by Jury, Ambulance Driver/Father in Not Such Quiet Girls, Emma Jones in Street Scene, Witch in Engelbert Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel (Whistle Stop Opera) and, next season (2021-2022), Melissa in George Frideric Handel's Alcina. She was also the Witch in the West Yorkshire Playhouse/Opera North co-production of Into the Woods.
Her oratorio work includes Felix Mendelssohn's Elijah at Truro Cathedral, G.F. Handel's Messiah at St. Edmundsbury Cathedral and, in 2012, recording the ‘Pie Jesu’ from Maurice Duruflé's Requiem with the Choir of Leeds Cathedral and Skipton Camerata. |