Biography – Sophie Bevan MBE, Lyric soprano
About Sophie
Recognised as one of the leading lyric sopranos of her generation, Sophie Bevan studied at the Royal College of Music where she was awarded the Queen Mother Rose Bowl for excellence in performance. She was the recipient of the 2010 Critics’ Circle award for Exceptional Young Talent, the Times Breakthrough Award at the 2012 South Bank Sky Arts Awards, the Young Singer award at the 2013 inaugural International Opera Awards, and was made an MBE for services to music in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2019.
She works regularly with leading orchestras worldwide and with conductors including Sir Antonio Pappano, Daniel Harding, Andris Nelsons, Edward Gardner, Laurence Cummings, Sir Mark Elder, Ivor Bolton and Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla. Recent and future highlights include Ah! Perfido, Haydn’s The Seasons, Knussen Whitman settings and Ryan Wigglesworth’s Augenlieder with the London Philharmonic Orchestra; Strauss’ Four Last Songs with the Philharmonia; Les Illuminations with the BBC Philharmonic, the Aurora Orchestra and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra; the Fauré Requiem and Haydn’s Nelson Mass with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic; Schubert’s Mass No. 6 and the St Matthew Passion with the Concertgebouw; and an evening of Viennese repertoire with the BBC Concert Orchestra at the BBC Proms.
An acclaimed recitalist, she has appeared with pianists including Julius Drake, Malcolm Martineau, Ryan Wigglesworth, Christopher Glynn and Graham Johnson at venues including the Concertgebouw, the Aldeburgh Festival, Oxford Lieder Festival, and Wigmore Hall in London.
Sought after for her work in opera, recent and future engagements include Ilia (Idomeneo), Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Dalinda (Ariodante), and Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) at the Royal Opera House; Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte) for Welsh National Opera; Ellen Orford (Peter Grimes) at the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome; Hermione in Ryan Wigglesworth’s The Winter’s Tale and Telêïre (Castor et Pollux) for ENO; Mélisande (Pelléas et Mélisande) for Dresden Semperoper; Asteria (Tamerlano) for The Grange Festival; Freia (Das Rheingold) at Teatro Real, Madrid; and the Governess in The Turn of the Screw for Garsington Opera. She made her debut at Glyndebourne Festival Opera as Michal in Saul, and at the Salzburg Festival and Metropolitan Opera as Beatriz in Thomas Adès’ The Exterminating Angel.
Sophie lives in Oxfordshire with her family.
British lyric soprano Sophie Bevan MBE is recognised as one of the leading singers of her generation. A graduate of the Royal College of Music, she was the recipient of the 2010 Critics’ Circle Exceptional Young Talent award, the 2012 Times Breakthrough Award at the South Bank Sky Arts Awards, and the inaugural Young Singer prize at the 2013 International Opera Awards.
She has appeared at the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Welsh National Opera, Glyndebourne Festival, the Salzburg Festival, the Metropolitan Opera and the Concertgebouw, working with conductors including Pappano, Nelsons, Harding, Gardner and Elder. She was made an MBE for services to music in 2019.
Sophie Bevan MBE is one of the leading British lyric sopranos of her generation. She studied at the Royal College of Music and has appeared at the Royal Opera House, ENO, Glyndebourne, Salzburg Festival and the Metropolitan Opera. She was made an MBE for services to music in 2019.
Photos
Roles & repertoire
Opera
- Susanna · Le nozze di Figaro · Mozart
- Pamina · Die Zauberflöte · Mozart
- Ilia · Idomeneo · Mozart
- Sophie · Der Rosenkavalier · Strauss
- Fiordiligi · Così fan tutte · Mozart
- Ellen Orford · Peter Grimes · Britten
- Governess · The Turn of the Screw · Britten
- Mélisande · Pelléas et Mélisande · Debussy
- Michal · Saul · Handel
- Beatriz · The Exterminating Angel · Adès
- Freia · Das Rheingold · Wagner
- Asteria · Tamerlano · Handel
- Dalinda · Ariodante · Handel
- Mimi · La Bohème · Puccini
- Leïla · The Pearlfishers · Bizet
- Titania · A Midsummer Night’s Dream · Tytania
- Antigone · Œdipe · Enescu
- Hermione · The Winter’s Tale · Ryan Wigglesworth
- Vixen · The Cunning Little Vixen · Janacek
- Dido · Dido and Aeneas · Purcell
- Lady Penelope · Gloriana · Britten
- Poppea · L’Incoronazione di Poppea · Monteverdi
- Clorinda · La Cenerentola · Rossini
- Ninetta · La Gazza Ladra · Rossini
- Princess Ida · Princess Ida · Gilbert and Sullivan
- Yum-Yum · The Mikado · Gilbert and Sullivan
- Woodbird · Siegfried · Wagner
Concert & oratorio
- Four Last Songs · R. Strauss
- Les Illuminations · Britten
- St Matthew Passion · J.S. Bach
- Messiah · Handel
- Symphony No. 4 · Mahler
- The Seasons · Haydn
- Requiem · Fauré
- Nelson Mass · Haydn
- Gloria · Poulenc
- Stabat Mater · Dvorak
- Sea Symphony · Vaughan-Williams
- Requiem · Verdi
- Requiem · Mozart
- C Minor Mass · Mozart
- Vespers · Mozart
- Missa Solemnis · Beethoven
- Spring Symphony · Britten
- St John Passion · Bach
- The Kingdom · Elgar
- The Apostles · Strauss
- Dies Natalis · Finzi
- The Wine · Berg
- Baudelaires settings · Debussy/John Adams
- 2nd Symphony · Mahler
- Poemes pour Mi · Messiaen
- Op.27 · Strauss
- B Minor Mass · Bach
- Magnificat · Bach
- Jauchzett Gott · Bach
- Mass for St Cecilia · Gounod
- Whitman settings · Knussen
- Magnificat · Ryan Wigglesworth
- Till Dawning · Ryan Wigglesworth
- Requiem · Brahms
- Samson · Handel
- Solomon · Handel
- Alexander’s Feast · Handel
- Jephtha · Handel
- ACIS and Galatea · Handel
- La Resurrezione · Handel
- The Creation · Haydn
- Elijah · Mendelssohn
- Music from A Midsummer Night’s Dream · Mendelssohn
- Vespers · Monteverdi
- A Child of Our Time · Tippett
- Petite Messe Solennelle · Rossini
- The Fairy Queen · Purcell
- Gloria · Vivaldi
- Songs and Dances of Death · Mussorgsky
- Phædra · Britten