Biography

“This very fine young soprano has everything…obviously a singer to watch” – Melanie Eskenazi (musicweb.uk.net)

Claire graduated from the postgraduate opera course at the Royal College of Music with distinction in 2003 before beginning her studies with Iris Dell’Acqua. Her competition successes include the Lies Askonas Prize, Agnes Nicholls Harty Trophy, Ted Moss Lieder Prize and a Madeline Finden prize. She has had awards from the Wingate Foundation, David Lean Foundation, the Lynn Foundation and the Sir James Caird Trust, and is also a Samling Scholar. Claire has undertaken masterclasses with Sir Thomas Allen, Sir Donald McIntyre, Thomas Hampson, Sarah Walker, Philip Langridge, Gerald Finley, Paul Farrington, Patricia MacMahon, Malcolm Martineau, Roger Vignoles, Simon Over and Graham Johnson. Since graduating, Claire has sung worldwide as a soloist, including performances in Europe, South America, the Far East, Australasia and even Antarctica.

Claire made her Welsh National Opera debut in 2011 as Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni) and her Glyndebourne Festival Opera (GFO) debut as Helena (A Midsummer Night’s Dream). Other roles include: Tatyana(Eugene Onegin) for Riverside Opera, Opera by Definition and GFO/cover; Violetta (La Traviata) for Garden Opera and Kentish Opera; Gilda (Rigoletto) and Leïla (The Pearl Fishers) for Kentish Opera; Mimì (La Bohème) for Garden Opera, Opera Box and Glyndebourne Opera on Tour/cover; Governess (Turn of the Screw) (cover) for GFO and GOT; Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi) for GFO/cover; Countess (The Marriage of Figaro) Surrey Opera and Opera Project; Helena for Longborough Festival Opera; Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni) for Opera Project; Lady Harriet (Martha) for Northampton Festival Opera and Opera South; Karolka (Jenufa) for GFO/cover; Annina (La Traviata) for GOT/cover; Older Sister (Pig – Jonathan Dove) for Glyndebourne Jerwood Scheme; Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus) for Opera Box and Clonter Opera; Solo Soprano Fisherwoman (Peter Grimes) for Salzburg Easter Festival/Berlin with Sir Simon Rattle/Berlin Philharmonic; First Lady(Die Zauberflöte) and Lady Billows (Albert Herring) directed by Sir Thomas Allen both for RCM; Daughter of Zion (Brockes Passion) for the London Handel Society.

Concert performances include: Korngold Das Wunder der Heliane and Mahler Das Klagende Lied both with the London Philharmonic Orchestra/Vladimir Jurowski (Royal Festival Hall); Schumann Das Paradies und die Peri with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/Sir Simon Rattle (Royal Festival Hall, London; Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris; Lingotto, Turin; Béla Bartók Concert Hall, Budapest); Beethoven Missa Solemnis with London Mozart Players/Andrew Parrott (Wells Cathedral); Mahler Symphony No. 2 (London); Strauss Vier Letzte Lieder (London); Poulenc Gloria (Bath); Brahms Requiem(Czech Republic); Haydn Harmoniemesse; Rachmaninov The Bells with The Royal Choral Society/Richard Cooke (Canterbury Cathedral); Handel Judas Maccabaeus (St John’s, Smith Square); a recital of Strauss Lieder (St-Martin-in-the-Fields); a recital for the Two Moors Festival and Raymond Gubbay Last Night of the Spring Proms Concerts (venues include Symphony Hall and Bridgewater Hall).

Claire appeared as a guest artist for the 2010 S4C television series ‘Sopranos’, performing Sempre libera… (La Traviata) and Ebben? Ne andrò lontana… (La Wally) with the City of London Sinfonia under Stuart Stratford.