Emma Bell
She trained at the RAM and NOS, and continues to study with Joy Mammen. Winner of the Kathleen Ferrier Prize in 1998, she was a BBC New Generation Artist in 1999. She is at the forefront of the younger generation of sopranos and is admired for her richly coloured voice and sensitive musicianship. In 2002 she joined the Berlin Komische Oper, where she has sung Pamina Die Zauberflöte, Micaëla Carmen, Countess Almaviva Le nozze di Figaro, the title role in Alcina, Agathe Der Freischütz and Mimì La bohème.
She has sung the title role in Rodelinda (GFO, GOT, Châtelet, Bilbao, Barbican, Vienna Konzerthaus); Female Chorus The Rape of Lucretia (Lausanne); Miss Jessel The Turn of the Screw (Geneva); Vitellia La Clemenza di Tito (ENO, Montreal); Leonore Maskarade (ROH); Elettra Idomeneo (La Scala). Other engagements include Rossini's Stabat Mater (Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Dresden); Violetta La traviata (ENO); Governess The Turn of the Screw (Leipzig); St John Passion (Châtelet) and Miss Jessel (Glyndebourne) in 2007; concerts at the Teatro Real Madrid and for the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse. She has also sung at the Barbican, QEH, RFH, Lincoln Center, Wigmore Hall, BBC Proms and Mostly Mozart Festival. She has worked with Bickett, Christie, Andrew Davis, Haim, Labardie, Mackerras, Pappano and Slatkin. Recordings include Handel's Saul with Jacobs and two solo discs (a recital of lieder by Strauss, Marx and Walter and Handel Operatic Arias for Linn Records) both supported by an award from the Borletti-Buitoni Trust for whom she has given recitals in London, Amsterdam and Vienna. In June 2008 she gave a recital of Strauss songs with Emanuel Ax at the Wigmore Hall.
She recently sang Alcina title-role (Opéra National de Paris) and Rossini's Stabat Mater (Rome and Siena) with Pappano.
Future plans include The Rape of Lucretia with Bostridge (Vienna and Cologne); Elettra (Madrid, Lisbon and Amsterdam); Donna Elvira Don Giovanni with Mackerras (ROH), War Requiem with Pappano and the Royal Opera House Orchestra & Chorus, Bach's St Matthew Passion with the Rotterdam Philharmonic and Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Countess Almaviva at the Liceu, Barcelona in 2008 and at the Metropolitan Opera, New York in 2009. In 2009 she will also sing Anne Truelove in The Rake's Progress at La Scala and in 2010 she will sing the Fox in Vixen with Mackerras at Covent Garden and Donna Elvira at La Scala, Milan with Langrée.
Promoters please note: if you wish to include this biography in a concert programme etc, please contact Hazard Chase to ensure that you receive the most up to date version.
Email: Kate Baylis
