Elizabeth Watts

Elizabeth Watts is now established as one of Britain’s leading sopranos. She came to attention with her debut recording of Schubert Lieder and has since become a prolific recording artist, 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.

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

On the concert platform, she sings a broad repertoire from Bach via Brahms and Richard Strauss, to premieres by composers such as Richard Blackford and Ryan Wigglesworth.

Now firmly established as a lyric soprano, her recent operatic roles include Aspasia (Mozart’s Mitridate) for Garsington Opera and the Countess (The Marriage of Figaro) forEnglish National Opera. Previous operatic appearances include Zerlina (Don Giovanni) and Marzelline (Fidelio)for the Royal Opera, Covent Garden; Susanna (The Marriage of Figaro) for Santa Fe Opera and Welsh National Opera, for which she has also sung Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Pamina (The Magic Flute) 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 Watts was a chorister at Norwich Cathedral and gained a First in Archaeology and 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, she was made an honorary Doctor of Music by Sheffield University and a Fellow of the Royal College of Music.

Soprano

Mae Elizabeth Watts bellach wedi’i sefydlu’i hun yn un o brif sopranos Prydain. Daeth i sylw gyda’i recordiad cyntaf o Lieder Schubert ac erbyn hyn mae hi’n artist recordio toreithiog sydd wedi ennill llu o wobrau ac anrhydeddau. Yn fwyaf diweddar, cafodd ei recordiad o Spring Symphony Britten gyda Syr Simon Rattle a Cherddorfa Symffoni Llundain ei enwi’n Albwm Cerddorfaol y Flwyddyn gan gylchgrawn Classica.

Mae hi’n gyn-Artist Cenhedlaeth Newydd BBC Radio 3 ac mae galw mawr amdani fel datgeiniad. Mae wedi rhoi datganiadau yn neuaddau mwyaf blaenllaw Prydain, gan gynnwys Neuadd Wigmore, Neuadd Bridgewater, Ystafell Purcell ac yng ngwyliau Aldeburgh, Caeredin, y Gelli a Cheltenham. Dramor, mae hi wedi perfformio mewn neuaddau a gwyliau mawreddog fel Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Gŵyl Hardanger yn Norwy, Gŵyl Haf Bad Kissingen, y Musée d’Orsay ym Mharis a Tonhalle Zurich.

Ar y llwyfan cyngerdd, mae ganddi repertoire eang yn ymestyn o Bach trwy Brahms a Richard Strauss, i premières cyfansoddwyr fel Richard Blackford a Ryan Wigglesworth.

A hithau bellach yn enwog fel soprano ysgafn, mae ei rhannau operatig diweddar yn cynnwys Aspasia (Mitridate Mozart) ar gyfer Opera Garsington a’r Iarlles (Priodas Figaro) i Opera Cenedlaethol Lloegr. Gynt, ymddangosodd mewn operâu fel Zerlina (Don Giovanni) a Marzelline (Fidelio) i’r Opera Brenhinol, Covent Garden; Susanna (Priodas Figaro) ar gyfer Opera Santa Fe ac Opera Cenedlaethol Cymru, lle mae hi hefyd wedi canu rhan Donna Elvira, Pamina (Y Ffliwt Hud) a Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte). Ar y llwyfan cyngerdd mae ei repertoire lleisiol bellach yn cynnwys WarRequiem Britten a The Apostles a The Kingdom (première Gwlad Pwyl) gan Elgar.

Roedd Elizabeth Watts yn aelod o gôr Eglwys Gadeiriol Norwich ac enillodd radd dosbarth cyntaf mewn Archaeoleg a Chynhanes ym Mhrifysgol Sheffield, cyn mynychu’r Coleg Cerdd Brenhinol. Ymhlith ei gwobrau niferus mae Gwobr Kathleen Ferrier, Gwobr Artist Ifanc Eithriadol MIDEM Classique a Gwobr Cân Datganiad Rosenblatt yn BBC Canwr y Byd Caerdydd. Yn gyn-aelod o Raglen Cantorion Ifanc Opera Cenedlaethol Lloegr, bu’n Artist Preswyl yng Nghanolfan Southbank, Llundain ac mae hi wedi derbyn Gwobr Ymddiriedolaeth Borletti-Buitoni. Yn fwy diweddar, fe’i gwnaed yn Ddoethur er Anrhydedd mewn Cerddoriaeth gan Brifysgol Sheffield ac yn Gymrawd y Coleg Cerdd Brenhinol.