Elizabeth Atherton

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Elizabeth Atherton is a British

Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama
with Patricia MacMahon. She is a winner of the Maggie Teyte Prize and the Handel Singing Competition.

Atherton is known for her versatility across a broad spectrum of music and her natural presence on stage. She first came to press attention whilst still at college with a Park Lane Group recital at the Purcell Room in 2002. The Times noted, "her voice is already formidable. Each note is hit dead in the centre; the tone is warm, the projection vast... there’s a dramatic actress in chrysalis here".[1]

On leaving college, she made her professional debut with

Mozart's Pamina, Donna Elvira and Countess. Richard Morrision in The Times wrote, "Elizabeth Atherton's Countess is radiantly sung, especially her gorgeously poised Porgi amor."[2]

Operatic appearances since have included many roles with Opera North, including Fiordiligi, Michaela, Governess, Donna Elvira and Helena, appearances at the Aldeburgh, Southbank, Holland, Bregenz, Grange Park and Buxton Festivals and her return to WNO for Moses und Aron.

Atherton has a close relationship with Sir Harrison Birtwistle who has written two chamber operas for her and the British tenor Mark Padmore. The first of these, The Corridor, was premiered in 2009 at the Aldeburgh Festival to considerable critical acclaim. The Independent described it as "Startling, inventive and compelling, the soprano Elizabeth Atherton inhabits the role of Eurydice with an assuredness that suggests a deep understanding of the part."[3]

Birtwistle's second opera for Atherton and Padmore, always intended to go alongside The Corridor as the second half of a double-bill, was The Cure, which opened the 2015 Aldeburgh Festival and as a co-production with the

Kundry and a Salome compressed in a caldron of erotic enchantment as Medea [in Birtwistle's The Cure]."[5] According to the "Financial Times, Atherton's "singing finds a glinting radiance in both pieces"[6] while the London Evening Standard reported that the singers were "in blazing form, every note wrenched from their bodies with intensity".[7]

Atherton is a busy concert artist, regularly working with symphony orchestras in Britain, Europe and internationally, including appearances with the

Hong Kong Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and frequent engagements with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Conductors she has collaborated with include Sir Charles Mackerras, Pierre Boulez, Sir Richard Hickox, Sir Andrew Davis, Thierry Fischer, Harry Christophers, Carlo Rizzi, Richard Farnes, Sir Antonio Pappano, Laurence Cummings, Sir Neville Marriner and Martyn Brabbins
.

Atherton is also a recitalist, having appeared at

Auden’s words and Britten’s early unfettered lyricism."[8]

Atherton married in 2007 and lives with her husband and two sons.

References

  1. ^ Brown, Geoff (11 January 2002). "PLG Young Artist". The Times.
  2. ^ Morrison, Richard (13 February 2006). "Mozart played as Benny Hill? Not a happy marriage". The Times. p. 31.
  3. ^ Walker, Lynne (16 June 2009). "THE CORRIDOR Aldeburgh Festival, Aldeburgh". The Independent. p. 16.
  4. ^ Clements, Andrew (14 June 2015). "The Corridor/The Cure review – Birtwistle unveils lyrical sequel to Orpheus story". The Guardian.
  5. ^ Allen, David (16 June 2015). "Review: Harrison Birtwistle's 'The Cure' and 'The Corridor,' Myths With a Twist". New York Times. (subscription required)
  6. ^ Fairman, Richard (15 June 2015). "The Corridor/The Cure: OPERA". Financial Times. p. 17.
  7. ^ Kimberley, Nick (22 June 2015). "The Corridor/The Cure opera review: admirably direct but doesn't quite cohere". Evening Standard. p. 33.
  8. ^ Morrison, Richard (30 June 2009). "Concert Aldeburgh Festival Snape Maltings: first night". The Times. p. 16.

External links

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