“But it is Llewellyn, gorgeously toned and rapturous, who is the evening’s real star.”
Known internationally for her “rich, opulent voice” (The Times) as well as for her “beautiful depth of expression and emotional intelligence” (The Telegraph), Elizabeth was awarded an MBE in The Queen’s Birthday Honours 2022 for services to classical music and was made a Fellow of the Royal Northern College of Music in 2019.
The 2023/24 season has started with her highly-acclaimed debut as Ellen Orford in David Alden’s award-winning production of Peter Grimes at ENO. Further highlights this season include Strauss’ Vier Letzte Lieder with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Ravel’s Shéhérazade with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jérémie Rhorer, and Elizabeth’s debut recital at the 2024 Edinburgh International Festival.
Although Puccini has featured heavily throughout Elizabeth’s career - from her operatic debut as Mimi/La Boheme, taking in Giorgetta/ Il Tabarro, Suor Angelica, Manon Lescaut, Magda/La Rondine, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly – it is Elizabeth’s appearances as Verdi’s heroines which have cemented her reputation in Italianate repertoire: Aida, Luisa Miller, Alice Ford/Falstaff, Desdemona/Otello, and Amelia Grimaldi/Simon Boccanegra which earned Elizabeth a nomination for “Singer of the Year 2013” in OpernWelt magazine.
Other landmark role- and company-debuts have been Elsa/Lohengrin (Theater Magdeburg), Jenůfa (Welsh National Opera), and most recently the title-role in Ariadne auf Naxos (Opera North). Other roles include Margherita/Elena in Boito’s Mefistofele, Donna Elvira/Don Giovanni, Fiordiligi /Così fan tutte, and Contessa Almaviva/ Le Nozze di Figaro.
In 2014 Elizabeth made her house and role debut at the Royal Danish Opera as Bess in Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess,a role with which she made her US debut at Seattle Opera, and most notably her house debut at the Metropolitan Opera, New York where she reprised the role the following season.
Since the pandemic, Elizabeth has formed a recital partnership with renowned pianist Simon Lepper. They have performed regularly at London’s Wigmore Hall, Snape Maltings, Oxford Lieder Festival, West Wicklow Festival, and for Vocal Arts DC at the Kennedy Centre in Washington amongst others. In 2021, Elizabeth released her debut solo album Heart & Hereafter (recorded during lockdown) - a collection of twenty-five songs by the British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, fifteen of which were world-premieres – which reached the Top 5 in the iTunes classical album charts, was named “Album of the Week” in the Sunday Times and won “World Premiere Recording of the Year” in the Presto Music Awards 2021.
As a regular concert soloist, highlights have included the world-premiere of James MacMillan’s When Soft Voices Die at the First Night of the BBC Proms 2021, the UK premiere of Martinsson’s Ich Denke Dein, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and a live performance of Strauss’ Vier Letzte Lieder on BBC Radio 3 with BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, both under the baton of Donald Runnicles, Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with Esa-Pekka Salonen, Verdi’s Requiem, Britten’s War Requiem, Mahler’s Symphony No.4, and Tippett’s A Child of Our Time. Elizabeth’s discography includes Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and the role of Eigen in Elgar’s Caractacus for Hyperion, both under the baton of Martyn Brabbins.
1999
Recruitment consultant in the fast-growing telecomms industry
2009
Joins Glyndebourne Festival Opera in the chorus.
2 weeks later, offered a place at the National Opera Studio, London
By December 2009, offered the role of Mimi/La Boheme at English National Opera, London in 2010
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2014
Moves to Germany & makes notable debuts as Elsa/Lohengrin and as Tosca
2016-2017
Debuts as Suor Angelica and Madama Butterfly for the Royal Danish Opera
2019
Makes Metropolitan Opera, New York debut as Bess/Porgy & Bess
