Elizabeth Atherton

Soprano

• Biography
• Reviews
• Repertoire
• Photos

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  “Startling, inventive and compelling” (The Independent), Elizabeth Atherton is equally at home on the opera stage or the concert platform. Her versatility as a musician and as an actress means that she has sung roles ranging from Monteverdi, Handel and Mozart through to Verdi, Bizet and Britten, and she had the roles of Eurydice in Sir Harrison Birtwistle’s opera The Corridor and Medea The Cure created for her to considerable critical acclaim.

  Having won several prestigious prizes including the Maggie Teyte Prize, Elizabeth’s debut was as Helena in Midsummer Night’s Dream for English Touring Opera. She subsequently became an Associate Artist at Welsh National Opera for three years, performing roles including Mozart’s Countess and Pamina, and has since gone on to become a regular performer at Opera North enjoying much success with roles including Mozart’s Fiordiligi and Britten’s Governess.

  In concert, Elizabeth has worked with such eminent conductors as Sir Richard Hickox, Sir Andrew Davis, Sir Charles Mackerras, Antonio Pappano, Sir Neville Mariner, Pierre Boulez, Carlo Rizzi, Harry Christophers and Thierry Fischer. She appears frequently with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and other highlights include performances with the BBC Symphony, London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, Orchestre de Paris, Hong Kong Philharmonic, The Sixteen and Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

  Recent and upcoming engagements include Thomas Adès’ new opera The Exterminating Angel at the ROH, concerts with BBC NOW under Pascal Rophé, LPO under Vladimir Jurowski, RSNO under Laurence Cummings, St Paul Chamber Orchestra under Paul McCreesh, Handel’s Saul with Harry Christophers and the Handel and Haydn Society in Boston, song recitals with Roger Vignoles, a recording of Stravinsky Cantata with the SCO and a reprise of the roles of Eurydice and Medea for the Holland Festival.

  Elizabeth Atherton is represented worldwide by Ben Rayfield at Rayfield Allied.
  This biography is for information only and should not be reproduced.

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  • Handel’s Saul
    Handel & Haydn Society, Boston Symphony Hall (May 2015)

    For the three other principal roles, Christophers wisely returned to the same singers featured on his recording: ... Elizabeth Atherton as a limpid Merab ... It would be hard to picture a more satisfying conclusion to these seasons of bicentennial programming.

    Jeremy Eichler, Boston Globe

    Five principal soloists without a weak link or a dull moment. ... Evenly competent, or more properly, brilliant, describes the soloists, chorus, and orchestra. ... Elizabeth Atherton sang a very expressive Merab.

    David Schulenberg, The Boston Musical Intelligencer

  • Handel’s Saul
    BBC Singers, Milton Court (April 2016)

    Elizabeth Atherton was mesmerising as Merab, capturing the curving lines in her part to perfection.

    Sam Smith, musicOMH *****

  • Anderson’s Shir Hashirim and Dutilleux’s Les Temps l’horloge
    BBC National Orchestra of Wales (January 2016)

    [Julian Anderson’s Shir Hashirim’s] balancing of the solo soprano’s expansively lyrical outpouring with the brilliant orchestral writing was always finely judged and the dramatic tension of the final part of the work delivered with much flair by Elizabeth Atherton. ... The serious yet witty playing with the passing of time and ultimately a philosophical depth [in Dutilleux’s Le Temps l’horloge] were realised with much sensitivity by Rophé and BBCNOW, with Atherton again excelling. ... Here and in the Anderson, we were treated to highly accomplished singing.

    Rian Evans, The Guardian ****

    These are model compositions, matched here by some wonderful singing by Elizabeth Atherton.

    Stephen Walsh, The Arts Desk *****

    With the exceptional playing of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales under conductor, Pascal Rophé, together with the lovely musical intelligence of soprano, Elizabeth Atherton, the work glowed with a vigour belying the advanced years of its composer. Not a note is wasted in Le temps l’horloge (2006-9), nor a vocal inflection or colour ill-judged. ... [In Shir Hashrim], Atherton and musicians were luminous in conveying this seductive score, with its lush colouration and trailing vocal melismas. Now shimmering from within a lake of rippling reflections, now a comet with a fiery, harmonic tail, the soprano was by turns semi-engulfed by and ringing clearly above Anderson’s rich, surging textures. The effect was both magical and strongly rigorous...

    Steph Power, Wales Arts Review

    Soprano Elizabeth Atherton joined the proceedings on two occasions, beginning with Julian Anderson’s setting of words from the Biblical Song of Songs, Shir Hashirim. ... The opening was particularly sumptuous: dreamy, heady, ecstatic, an intoxicating atmosphere that persisted even when things dissolved into a more gestural melée. Atherton’s fittingly sweet voice ... her melismas floating high above the orchestra, Anderson coating them in shifting shades of colour. ... Articulating lines of Tardieu, Desnos and Baudelaire, Elizabeth Atherton’s voice was the constant in material that struck an impressive balance between clarity and obfuscation, mischievously slipping just out of reach. Following a high point in the brief third movement – dark and unsettlingly complex, yet utterly gorgeous – Dutilleux introduced a new assertiveness into the soprano writing, Atherton signing off both the cycle and the evening with an amusing brusque outburst, melody finally breaking down entirely at Baudelaire’s adjuration to the world: “Get drunk!”

    Simon Cummings, bachtrack

    [Elizabeth Atherton's] French diction was excellent.

    Paul Corfield Godfrey, Seen and Heard International

  • Birtwistle’s The Cure & The Corridor Double Bill
    Aldeburgh Festival, Linbury Theatre (June 2015)

    It’s Eurydice, however, who grabs the attention. In Atherton’s mesmerising portrayal she is a sardonic, even embittered woman…

    Richard Morrison, The Times

    Atherton seemed to have the perfect luminous instrument for Birtwistle’s expressionistic lines.

    Paul Driver, The Sunday Times

    Elizabeth Atherton’s singing finds a glinting radiance in both pieces.

    Richard Fairman, The Financial Times

    Elizabeth Atherton is both a wonderfully realistic Euridice and a fine Medea.

    Andrew Clements, The Guardian

    All praise… to the superb… Elizabeth Atherton (Eurydice and Medea).

    Rupert Christiansen, The Telegraph

    Each piece, taken from Ovid, has two singers, the equally superb tenor Mark Padmore and soprano Elizabeth Atherton.

    Fiona Maddocks, The Observer

    Each scena could stand alone, but each benefits from the other, and from the shared thread of commanding performances. The soprano Elizabeth Atherton sings her roles with abandon: knowing and sarcastic as Woman; distant and lonely as Eurydice; a Kundry and a Salome compressed in a cauldron of erotic enchantment as Medea.

    David Allen, The New York Times

  • Moses und Aron
    Welsh National Opera (June 2014)

    The supporting roles (and few of them have much scope to emerge as individuals) were well sung and sharply characterised; Elizabeth Atherton’s sportswear-clad Young Maiden stood out.

    Richard Bratby, Birmingham Post ****

  • The Yellow Wallpaper
    BBCNOW (October 2013)

    Elizabeth Atherton delivered a performance of instrumental clarity and perfect articulation.

    Rian Evans, The Guardian ****

  • Brahm’s German Requiem
    Royal Northern Sinfonia (September 2013)

    Under Thomas Zehetmair’s conducting, orchestra, chorus and two excellent soloists – bass-baritone Matthew Brook and soprano Elizabeth Atherton – did full justice to a work which betrays a winning lightness of touch.

    David Whetstone, The Journal

  • Carmen
    Royal Albert Hall (February 2013)

    Elizabeth Atherton’s pure-voiced and pleading Micaela is a delight.

    Richard Morrison, The Times

  • Gloria / Ballad of the Heroes
    Oxford Bach Choir (December 2012)

    The soprano Elizabeth Atherton deserves special praise for the gravitas she brought to Psalm 130, Ballad of Heroes and especially to the Poulenc.

    Simon Collings, Oxford Times

  • Zemlinsky’s Lyric Symphony
    BBC National Orchestra of Wales / Van Steen (November 2012)

    ...but it was Elizabeth Atherton who made her songs come alive, finding colours and tone to match the words' emotional tenor. In the penultimate poem, where the orchestration is at its most spare and telling, she found both ‘intimacy and anguish'.

    Rian Evans, The Guardian

  • Don Giovanni
    Opera North (September 2012)

    Opera North veteran Elizabeth Atherton gives a terrific portrayal of Donna Elvira, from striking condemnations to moving arias.

    Richard Wilcocks, Bach Track

    Elizabeth Atherton sings Donna Elvira's big, heartfelt arias with admirable clarity and poise.

    Richard Morrison, The Times

    Making a similar impact is Elizabeth Atherton, whose beautifully-sung Donna Elvira is more human than most.

    Ron Simpson, WhatsOnStage

    Elizabeth Atherton as Elvira gave a powerful performance.

    Opera Now

    Elizabeth Atherton’s Donna Elvira rose above the confusion with touching performances of her arias, reminders of the humanity behind the high jinks.

    Martin Dreyer, Opera Magazine

  • On This Island with Malcolm Martineau
    Onyx Records (December 2011)

    The soprano Elizabeth Atherton also struck up a wonderful rapport with her audience in Britten’s On this Island. Atherton’s voice is now not just a lush instrument but a superbly communicative one: she caught exactly the subtle moods – bittersweet, ironic or heartfelt – of Auden’s words and Britten’s early unfettered lyricism.

    Richard Morrison, The Times

    Elizabeth Atherton was lustrous and dramatic in On this Island.

    Paul Driver, The Sunday Times

    Elizabeth Atherton gives a musically alert and intelligent interpretation of another early work, the enchantingly fresh and youthful On this Island

    Rupert Christiansen, Daily Telegraph

    Allan Clayton and Elizabeth Atherton give superb accounts of the declamatory Michelangelo Sonnets and the settings of Auden's On This Island respectively

    Andrew Clements, The Guardian

    the bright soprano of Elizabeth Atherton sings out the ‘florid music’ of Britten’s Auden settings in On this Island…Britten’s 15-year-old response to Dans les bois, irresistibly sung by Atherton.

    BBC Music Magazine ****

  • Saul
    The Sixteen (December 2011)

    Elizabeth Atherton flung herself wholeheartedly into Merab’s music.

    Rupert Christiansen, The Telegraph

    Atherton displayed a nice line in temperament as the haughty Merab.

    Robert Hugill, Opera Today

    at her best [Elizabeth Atherton’s] coloratura soared, her dexterous high notes even more impressive...than Ms. Harvey’s. She brought genuine hauteur to ‘What abject thought a prince can have’, her snarling demeanor granting her a truly theatrical presence on stage.

    John E. de Wald, Opera Britannia

• Elizabeth Atherton’s Concert Repertoire

  ANDRIESSEN

  • De stijl

  BACH

  • Magnificat (1st and 2nd sopranos)
  • St. John passion
  • St. Matthew passion
  • B minor mass (2nd soprano)
  • Christmas oratorio, parts I-III
  • Cantata numbers 1, 11, 38, 51, 63, 140, 146, 202, 208

  BEETHOVEN

  • "Choral" Symphony no.9
  • Mass in C

  BERG

  • Sieben frühe Lieder
  • Altenberglieder
  • Der Wein

  BERLIOZ

  • Les nuits d’été

  BOULEZ

  • Le soleil des eaux

  BRAHMS

  • Requiem

  BRITTEN

  • Les illuminations
  • Spring Symphony

  DEBUSSY

  • Trois ballades de François Villon
  • Le Martyre de San Sebastian

  DURUFLÉ

  • Requiem

  ELGAR

  • Coronation ode, op.44
  • The Spirit of England

  FAURÉ

  • Requiem
  • Messe basse

  GOUNOD

  • Messe solonelle St. Cecile

  HANDEL

  • Messiah
  • Let the bright seraphim
  • Silete venti
  • German arias
  • Solomon
  • Saul

  HASSE

  • Te deum

  HAYDN

  • The creation
  • The seasons
  • Nelson mass
  • Missa cellensis
  • Paukenmesse
  • St. Nicholas mass
  • Theresienmesse
  • Harmonienmesse

  HOLT

  • The Yellow Wallpaper

  JENKINS

  • The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace

  KNUSSEN

  • Ocean de Terre

  KODALY

  • Missa brevis

  LISZT

  • Via crucis
  • Missa choralis

  MAHLER

  • Symphony no. 2
  • Symphony no. 4

  MENDELSSOHN

  • Elijah
  • Hear my prayer

  MESSIAEN

  • La mort du nombre

  MOZART

  • Requiem
  • Ch'io mi scordi di te, K.505
  • Vado, ma dove?, K.583
  • Exsultate jubilate
  • Coronation mass
  • Sparrow mass
  • Mass in C minor
  • Missa brevis in D
  • Missa brevis in F
  • Laudate dominum

  PERGOLESI

  • Magnificat

  POULENC

  • Gloria
  • Mass in G

  RACHMANINOV

  • Vocalise

  RUTTER

  • Psalms

  SCHUBERT

  • Mass in E flat
  • Mass in G
  • Mass in B flat

  SPEARE

  • The angels

  STRAUSS

  • Vier Letzte Lieder

  STRAVINSKY

  • Mass
  • Les noces
  • Threni
  • Pulcinella

  TIPPETT

  • A child of our time
  • A vision of Saint Augustine

  VARESE

  • Offrandes

  VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

  • "Sea" Symphony
  • "Antarctic" Symphony
  • Mass in G minor
  • Serenade to Music
  • Dona Nobis Pacem

  VERDI

  • Requiem
  • Four Sacred Pieces

  VIVALDI

  • Gloria (1st and 2nd sopranos)
  • Nulla in mundo pax sincera

  WIEGOLD

  • Perfume of the desert

  ZEMLINSKY

  • Lyric Symphony

  Elizabeth Atherton’s Recital Repertoire

  Adès

  • Life story

  Argento

  • Spring
  • Sleep
  • Diaphenia

  Bennett

  • A garland for Marjory Fleming

  Berg

  • Sieben frühe Lieder

  Berkeley

  • Oh, lurcher-loving collier
  • Eyes look into the well

  Berlioz

  • Les nuits d’été

  Bernstein

  • I hate music

  Bingham

  • The shadow side of Joy Finzi

  Bridge

  • Various songs

  Britten

  • Les Illuminations
  • On this Island
  • The Salley Gardens
  • Little Sir William
  • The trees they grow so high
  • The ash grove
  • Oliver Cromwell
  • Folksong arrangements, volume 2: France

  Butler

  • Prelude (for sop. & trumpet)

  Chausson

  • Le temps des lilas

  Debussy

  • Cinq Poëmes de Baudelaire
  • Fêtes Galantes (1st collection)
  • Deux Romances
  • Trois ballades de François Villon
  • First four Ariettes Oubliees
  • Le son du cor s’afflige
  • L’échelonnement des haies

  Delius

  • To the queen of my heart
  • Love's philosophy
  • Indian love song

  Dove

  • Five Am’rous Sighs

  Dowland

  • Weep you no more sad fountains

  Dring

  • The cuckoo
  • It was a lover
  • Take O take those lips away
  • Come away, Death
  • Crabbed age and youth

  Duparc

  • Extase
  • La vie anterieure
  • Le manoir de Rosemonde
  • L'invitation au voyage

  De Falla

  • Siete Canciones Populares Espanolas

  Fauré

  • Le papillon et la fleur
  • Mai
  • La rose
  • Notre amour
  • Après un rêve
  • Au bord de l'eau
  • Automne
  • Chanson d'amour
  • En prière
  • Lydia
  • Au cimetière

  Gurney

  • Sleep

  Haydn

  • The mermaid's song
  • She never told her love
  • Piercing eyes
  • A pastoral song

  Hill

  • Philomel (for sop., rec., cello & pno)

  Howells

  • Various songs

  Ireland

  • Her song
  • The Salley Gardens
  • An aside
  • Epilogue
  • The soldier’s return
  • The trellis
  • Beckon to me to come
  • A thanksgiving

  Holloway

  • Wherever We May Be

  Joubert

  • The rose is shaken in the wind (for sop. & recorder)

  Lehmann

  • Various songs

  Liszt

  • Im Rhein, im schönen Strome
  • Die Lorelei
  • Kennst du das Land

  Maconchy

  • Sun, moon and stars

  Mahler

  • Frühlingsmorgen
  • Wer hat dies Liedlein erdacht?
  • Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen
  • Lob des hohen Verstands

  Mozart

  • An Chloe
  • Abendempfindung
  • Das Veilchen
  • Als Luise die Briefe
  • Der Zauberer
  • Komm, liebe Zither

  Pergolesi

  • Se tu m'ami

  Poulenc

  • Banalités
  • Deux Poemes de Louis Aragon
  • La grenouillère
  • Violon
  • Les chemins de l'amour

  Previn

  • Vocalise (for sop., cello & piano)

  Purcell

  • Music for a while
  • I attempt from love’s sickness
  • The blessed virgin's expostulation
  • Sweeter than roses
  • Quilter
  • Now sleeps the crimson petal
  • Fair house of joy
  • Love’s philosophy

  Rachmaninov

  • A dream
  • Spring waters

  Ravel

  • Cinq Poèmes Populaires Grecques

  Roe

  • My boy Jack

  Rossini

  • Duets: La regata Veneziana
  • La pesca

  Rushton

  • Palladas

  Scarlatti

  • Sento nel core
  • Schönberg
  • Four Songs, Opus 2

  Schubert

  • An Sylvia
  • An den Frühling
  • Im Frühling
  • Fischerweise
  • Hymne an die Jungfrau
  • Nacht und Träume
  • Der Einsame
  • Die junge Nonne
  • Des Mädchens Klage

  Schumann

  • Frauenliebe und –leben
  • Er ist’s
  • Marienwürmchen
  • Dein Angesicht
  • Kennst du das Land
  • Widmung
  • Mit Myrthen und Rosen
  • Schöne Wiege meiner Leiden
  • Frühlingsnacht

  Stevenson

  • Day is dune
  • To autumn (for sop. & recorder)

  Strauss

  • Vier Letzte Lieder
  • Die Zeitlose
  • Alphorn (for sop., horn & piano)
  • Morgen
  • Die Nacht
  • Drei Liebeslieder

  Tchaikovsky

  • None but the lonely heart
  • Can it be day?

  Walton

  • A Song for the Lord Mayor's Table
  • Anon. in Love
  • Daphne
  • Through gilded trellises
  • Old Sir Faulk

  Warlock

  • Sleep
  • Cradle song
  • It was a lover and his lass

  Webern

  • Eight Early Songs

  Weill

  • Stolz (Die sieben Todsünden

  Williamson

  • My bed is like a boat

  Wolf

  • Auch kleine Dinge
  • Mir ward gesagt
  • Wer rief dich denn?
  • Nun lass uns Frieden schliessen
  • Du denkst mit einem Fädchen
  • Mein Liebster ist so klein
  • Mein Liebster singt am Haus
  • Du sagst mir, dass ich keine Fürstin sein
  • Wohl kenn’ ich Eueren Stand
  • Ich hab’ in Penna
  • Heiss mich nicht reden
  • Elfenlied

  Elizabeth Atherton’s Opera Repertoire

  BIRTWISTLE

  • The Corridor (Eurydice)

  BIZET

  • Carmen (Micaela)

  BRITTEN

  • Rape of Lucretia (Female Chorus)
  • A Midsummer Night's Dream (Helena)
  • Turn of the Screw (Governess)

  GASSMANN

  • L’Opera Seria (La Stonatrilla)

  GLUCK

  • Iphigénie en Tauride(Iphigénie)

  HANDEL

  • Alcina (Alcina)
  • Amadigi (Melissa)
  • Saul (Merab)

  HOLST

  • Savitri (Savitri)

  MONTEVERDI

  • Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria (Minerva)

  MOZART

  • Idomeneo (Ilia)
  • Marriage of Figaro (La Contessa)
  • Magic Flute (Pamina)
  • Don Giovanni (Donna Elvira)
  • Così fan Tutte (Fiordiligi)

  PURCELL

  • Fairy Queen(Caroline)

  RAVEL

  • L’heure Espagnole (Conception)

  SCHOENBERG

  • Moses und Aron (Young Maiden)

  VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

  • Riders to the Sea (Cathleen)
  • Riders to the Sea (Nora)

  VERDI

  • Don Carlos (Thibault)

  WEILL

  • Dreigroschenoper (Polly)

• Photos

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    Photographer Credit: Kiran Ridley

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  • 
    Photographer Credit: Kiran Ridley

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  • 
    Photographer Credit: Kiran Ridley

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  • 
    Photographer Credit: Kiran Ridley

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  • 
    Photographer Credit: Kiran Ridley

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  • 
    Photographer Credit: Kiran Ridley

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