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The English mezzo-soprano, Rachael Lloyd, studied singing at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and graduated four years later with a Bachelor of Mussic degre with Honours. Whilst there she made her BBC Proms debut singing the role of the Queen in Felix Mendelssohn’s Elijah conducted by Kurt Masur and her debut singing Edward Elgar’s Sea Pictures at St John’s, Smith Sq. From the Guildhall she went on to join the chorus at Glyndebourne Opera House. In her time there she understudied many roles and made her professional debut with them in 2005 singing the role of Shelley in the world premiere of Jonathan Lunn’s opera Tangier Tattoo. In the same year she was also the recipient of the Glyndebourne Wessex Award for promising young singers and in 2006 left the chorus to pursue her solo career.
Since then Rachael Lloyd has sung roles with many major opera companies both in the UK and in Europe. Her roles have included Cornelia in Giulio Cesare for Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Meg Page in Falstaff for Glyndebourne On Tour, Mme Anderssen in A Little Night Music for Theatre Chatelet in Paris, Maddalena in Rigoletto for Iford Arts, Dido in Dido and Aeneas for Theater Thuringen in Germany, Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly at the Royal Opera House, Aristea in L’Olympiade for Buxton Festival, Amastris in George Frideric Handel's Xerxes for English Touring Opera and the title role in Georges Bizet's Carmen for Raymond Gubbay Ltd at the Royal Albert Hall.
For English National Opera, Rachael Lloyd has sung Pitti Sing in The Mikado, Third Lady in W.A. Mozart's The Magic Flute, the role of Woman/Mother in the UK premiere of Jonathan Dove's post apocalyptic opera The Day After, Miss Jessel in Benjamin Britten's Turn of the Screw and Dido in Dido and Aeneas. Recent roles at the Royal Opera House include Alisa in Lucia di Lammermoor, Wellgunde in Das Rheingold and Die Götterdamerung, Emily in 4:48 Psychosis and Selene in Berenice by G.F. Handel.
Rachael Lloyd regularly performs in concerts around the country. Highlights have included G.F. Handel’s Messiah with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and The Sixteen, both Ravel’s Trois Poemes de Stephane Mallarme and a Shakespeare400 concert with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, a recital of Robert Schumann’s Frauenliebe und Leben and E. Elgar’s Sea Pictures at Lille Opera House, a series of Messiah’s in Kristiansund, Norway, Rossini’s Stabat Mater and Gala concert with Ulster Orchestra, Amastre in a concert performance of Xerxes with Christian Curnyn and the Early Opera Company at St John’s, Smith Sq and Grimgerde in Die Walküre with Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Rachael Lloyd is to be found on a number of recordings. In her early twenties she was one of the soloists on the number one album of Karl Jenkins The Armed Man-A Mass for Peace and the mezzo soprano soloist on a disc of Humphrey Clucas’s Crucifixus. In 2012 she recorded the mezzo soprano solos in Patrick Hawes’s Lazarus Requiem and the role of Dido in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas with the Armonico Consort both under the record label Signum Classics. Most recently she performed in the premiere recording of Gary Davison’s beautiful Requiem with Wells Cathedral Choir which was released in 2018.
Future plans include Emily in Philip Venable’s 4:48 Psychosis for the Opera National du Rhin in Strasbourg, Aglaonice in Philip Glass’s Orphèe for ENO, and her reprisal as Alisa in Katie Mitchell’s Lucia di Lammermoor at the ROH. |
