Soloists
Mary Bevan
Praised by Opera Magazine for her “dramatic wit and vocal control” in stand out performances on opera and concert platforms, Mary Bevan is a winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Young Artist award and UK Critics’ Circle Award for Exceptional Young Talent in music.
In the 2017/18 season, Bevan debuts at the Teatro Real in Madrid as Rose Maurrant in Weill’s Street Scene, and sings the title role in Mark-Anthony Turnage’s new opera Coraline
for the Royal Opera House at the Barbican Theatre. In concert, Bevan will join the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment as Mary in Sally Beamish’s The Judas Passion in the UK and on tour in the United States; sing Bach Christmas Oratorio on tour in Australia with the Choir of London and Australian Chamber Orchestra; and Handel Messiah with the Academy of Ancient Music.
Bevan recently garnered praise for her return to the English National Opera as Zerlina in Richard Jones’ new production of Don Giovanni under Mark Wigglesworth, as well as for her debut as Merab in Barrie Kosky’s production of Handel Saul for the Adelaide Festival. She made her Royal Opera House debut creating the role of Lila in David Bruce’s The Firework-Maker’s Daughter, (world premiere and co-commission with The Opera Group and Opera North) in the Linbury Studio Theatre in 2013, and has since returned to The Royal Opera as Barbarina Le nozze di Figaro on the main stage, Euridice Orfeo at the Roundhouse and the title role in Rossi’s Orpheus at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at Shakespeare’s Globe. Other operatic highlights include her critically acclaimed Susanna The Marriage of Figaro, Despina Così fan tutte and YumYum The Mikado at English National Opera, Elvira in Rossini L’italiana in Algeri for Garsington Opera, and Belinda Dido and Aeneas with Harry Bicket and The English Concert.
On the concert platform, Bevan recently headlined a tour of Asia with The English Concert and Harry Bicket, and subsequently made her Carnegie Hall debut with the ensemble in spring 2017 as Dalinda in Handel Ariodante as part of a tour of the United States and Europe, including performances at the Kennedy Center, Theater an der Wien, Elbphilharmonie, Théâtre des
Champs-Élysées, and at the Barbican. Bevan has performed Richard Ayres’ In the Alps with Nicholas Collon and the Aurora Orchestra, Silandra in Cesti Orontea with La Nuova Musica, a Handel Residency week with Emmanuelle Haïm at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, Bach Magnificat with the Britten Sinfonia, Mozart Requiem with the English Chamber Orchestra, Fauré Requiem with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Orquestra Sinfonica de Sevilla, and Mozart Coronation Mass with Southbank Sinfonia. In recital Bevan has performed at the Wigmore Hall, Oxford Lieder Festival, Leeds Lieder Festival, Danube Music Festival, St John’s Smith Square, Musée d’Orsay Paris, Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Rhinegold LIVE.
Bevan can be heard in such recent recordings as Handel in Italy with London Early Opera (Signum), Handel The Triumph of Time and Truth and Ode for St Cecilia’s Day with Ludus Baroque (Delphian), Ludwig Thuille songs with Joseph Middleton, and Mendelssohn complete songs with Malcolm Martineau (Champs Hill). Her solo disc with pianist Joseph Middleton is due for release in 2017.
Bevan trained at the Royal Academy Opera, and read Anglo-Saxon Norse and Celtic at Trinity College, Cambridge. She is an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music.