Biography —

With a voice described by International Record Review as “one of the most beautiful Britain has produced in a generation” Elizabeth Watts is “now established as one of Britain’s leading sopranos” (The Guardian) and “a national treasure” (The Arts Desk). Her debut recording of Schubert Lieder for  SONY Red Seal, a Gramophone ‘Editor’s Choice’, was hailed for its “milky timbre & interpretative maturity” (FT) “technical mastery” (Gramophone) and “radiant delivery” (BBC Music).  Now a prolific recording artist, she has released discs of Bach Cantatas, Strauss Lieder, Mozart Opera Arias, Alessandro Scarlatti Arias (which she researched), CPE Bach’s Magnificat, JS Bach’s St John & St Matthew Passions, Handel Brockes Passion and Mahler Symphony No 4, to name a few, winning many awards and accolades along the way. Most recently her recording of Britten’s Spring Symphony with Sir Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra was named Orchestral Album of the year by Classica magazine. 

A former BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist, Elizabeth is much in demand as a recitalist.  She has given recitals at the UK’s leading venues, including Wigmore Hall, Bridgewater Hall, Purcell Room, Aldeburgh, Edinburgh, Hay and Cheltenham Festivals. Further afield, Elizabeth has performed at prestigious venues and festivals such as the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Hardanger Festival in Norway, with the Orquesta de Radio Televisión Española in Madrid, at the Bad Kissinger Summer Festival, at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris and at the Tonhalle, Zürich. 

On the concert platform, Elizabeth sings a broad repertoire, from Bach to Brahms and Strauss, through to premieres by composers such as Richard Blackford and Ryan Wigglesworth. Performances include Ligeti Le grand macabre and Ravel L’enfant et les sortileges with Sir Simon Rattle and the LSO, Mahler Symphony No 2 with BBCSO and Sakari Oramo for the BBC Proms, and with Andrés Orozco-Estrada and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra; The Last Night of the Proms with Sakari Oramo, Mozart Requiem with the London Symphony Orchestra and Boston Handel & Haydn Society with Harry Christophers (also a CD); Mass in C Minor with Akademie für Alte Musik and Daniel Reuss and with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Olari Elts; Brahms Requiem with the LPO and Yannick Nezét-Séguin (on CD); Bach St Matthew and St John Passions (concert and recording) with the Academy of Ancient Music and Richard Egarr; Beethoven Symphony No 9 and Haydn Scena di Berenice with the SCO; Mahler Symphonies 2 and 4 and Strauss Lieder with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra; No 4 with the LSO and Michael Tilson Thomas, the Philharmonia Orchestra and Vladimir Ashkenazy, and with the Hong Kong Philharmonic and Vassily Petrenko; Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony with the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC SSO and Kurtág Kafka Fragments for Soprano and Violin with the Hebrides Ensemble, as well as performances with Bachakademie Stuttgart and Hans-Christoph Rademan and with RIAS Kammerchor, Berlin; and Handel L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato with the Mark Morris Dance Group at Teatro Real, Madrid (on DVD). Her world premiere performance of Richard Blackford’s Songs of Nadia Anjuman with the Britten Sinfonia, in which she simultaneously conducted, received multiple 5-star reviews, was named a concert of the year in The Times and is available as a live performance on CD. 

Now firmly established as a lyric soprano, Elizabeth’s recent operatic roles include Aspasia in Mozart’s Mitridate (Garsington Opera) and  Countess Le nozze di Figaro (English National Opera). Previous operatic appearances include Zerlina Don Giovanni and Marzelline Fidelio for the Royal Opera, Covent Garden; Susanna Le Nozze di Figaro for Santa Fe Opera and Welsh National Opera, for whom Elizabeth has also sung Donna Elvira,  Pamina Die Zauberflöte and Fiordiligi Così fan tutte. On the concert platform her lyric repertoire now includes Britten’s War Requiem and Elgar’s The Apostles and The Kingdom, giving the Polish premiere of the latter.

,Elizabeth was a chorister at Norwich Cathedral and gained a First in Archaeology & Prehistory at Sheffield University, before attending the Royal College of Music. Among her many prizes are the Kathleen Ferrier Award, the MIDEM Classique Outstanding Young Artist Award  and the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Rosenblatt Recital Song Prize. A former member of English National Opera’s Young Singers’ Programme, she has been an Artist in Residence at the Southbank Centre, London and is the recipient of a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award. More recently, Elizabeth was made an honorary Doctor of Music by Sheffield University and a Fellow of the Royal College of Music.