|
The English soprano, 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.
Elizabeth Roberts made her debut at London’s Royal Festival Hall and on BBC Radio 3 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in the London premiere of Harrison Birtwistle’s The Second Mrs Kong (Terror and First Woman), conducted by Martyn Brabbins and directed by Kenneth Richardson. She 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 Robererts' oratorio repertoire spans from Monteverdi’s Vespers to Tippett’s A Child of Our Time via Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 and Samuel 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 (W.A. Mozart's Requiem), Durham Cathedral (Haydn Maria Theresa Mass, W.A. Mozart's Regina Coeli K108), Truro Cathedral (Haydn's Stabat Mater), Leicester Cathedral (Felix Mendelssohn's Elijah), Sherborne Abbey (1st sop W.A. Mozart's Mass in C Minor) and Hexham Abbey (Haydn's Nelson Mass), Marlborough College Chapel (L.v. Beethoven's Missa Solemnis).
Outside the UK, concert performances have taken Elizabeth Roberts to All Saints English Church in Rome for J.S. Bach’s Johannes Passion (BWV 245), W.A. Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Johannes Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem; and to Darmstadt for Ralph 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.
Elizabeth Roberts made her Italian stage debut in 2006 as Lauretta in 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 in Hérodiade in Valladolid, Spain; Tosca in Tosca for New London Opera Players; Mimì in La bohème for Opus One Opera; Countess of Dunmow in A Dinner Engagement for Minotaur Music Theatre; Contessa in Le nozze di Figaro, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Musetta in La bohème, The Plaintiff in Trial by Jury and Mabel in Pirates of Penzance for Hand Made Opera; Adina in L’Elisir d’amore; Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro; Zerlina in Don Giovanni, conducted by Alistair Dawes; Queen of the Gypsies in The Bohemian Girl; and Clorinda in La Cenerentola.
Elizabeth Roberts 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 Robert Schumann’s Frauenliebe und Leben, Gustav Mahler’s Des Knabenwunderhorn, Benjamin 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. |
