Lauded by The Guardian for her “dark and focused” voice, “sensational coloratura” and “spectacular singing” and by The Times for her “fierce, indeed terrifying, cane-swishing” characterisations, Beth Taylor is one of today’s most electrifying young mezzo-sopranos.

In the 2024/25 season, Beth makes her debut in the title role of La Cenerentola at the Opéra de Nancy, with performances following at the Grand Théâtre of Luxembourg, Théâtre de Caen and Opéra de Reims. Operatic performances on the concert platform include Lisea (Arsilda) at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Auditorio Nacional Madrid and Cornelia (Giulio Cesare) with The English Concert at Carnegie Hall, Barbican Hall and in San Francisco. In concert, Beth also appears in Beethoven’s Symphony No 9 with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra at the Baden-Baden Easter Festival; Beethoven’s Symphony No 9 and Haydn’s Harmoniemesse at the Paris Philharmonie; Harmonienmesse at the Konzerthaus Berlin; Mahler’s Symphony No 3 with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the Orchestre de Chambre Paris at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris; Alma Mahler’s Fünf Lieder with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal for her Canadian debut in Montréal; Michael Haydn’s and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Requiem with the Handel and Haydn Society for her US debut in Boston; Tippett’s A Child of our Time at Glyndebourne; Elgar’s Sea Pictures for BBC Now in Aberystwyth and Bangor and in de Falla’s El amor brujo with the Tonkünstler Orchester.

Recent performances on the opera stage have included Cornelia and Bradamante (Alcina) at Glyndebourne; Arsace (Semiramide), La Cieca (La Gioconda), Erda (Das Rheingold), Erste Norn (Götterdämmerung) and Schwertleite (Die Walküre) for Deutsche Oper Berlin; Giuliano Gordio (Eliogabalo) at the Zurich Opera House; Falliero (Bianca e Falliero) and Dardano (Amadigi di Gaula) at Oper Frankfurt, Bradamante at the Nancy Opera House as well as staged versions of Mendelssohn’s Elias at the Opéra de Lyon and of Bach’s St Matthew’s Passion at Theater Basel.

On the concert platform, she has appeared as Anna (Les Troyens) at the Salzburg Festival, Berlin Festival, BBC Proms and the Berlioz Festival; as Sorceress (Dido and Aeneas) at the Teatro Real Madrid, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Philharmonie Luxembourg and Philharmonie Essen; as Argia (La Merope) at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam; as Ursule (Béatrice et Bénédict) at the Berlioz Festival; as Teseo (Ariana in Creta) at the London Handel Festival and as Cornelia in Madrid and Basel.

Other concert appearances have included Mahler’s Symphony No 2 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall; Mozart’s Requiem at the BBC Proms, Paris Philharmonie, Palau de la Music Barcelona and Valencia, Konzerthaus Dortmund, in Versailles, Bordeaux and Lausanne; Mozart’s Krönungsmesse at the Concertgebouw, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis and Berlioz’s Roméo et Juliette at the Gulbenkian Lisbon, Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius in Dublin, Bach’s B Minor Mass in Aix-en-Provence, Versailles, Belgrad and at the Thüringer Bachwochen Festival; Bach’s St Matthew’s Passion and St John’s Passion in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Beth is also a much requested recitalist, having performed with Malcolm Martineau at the Buxton Festival and with Hamish Brown at the Schubertiada in Vilabertran, among others.

The mezzo-soprano has sung under the baton of conductors such as Leonardo Garcia Alarcon, Roland Böer, Giuliano Carella, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Edward Gardner, Alessandro De Marchi, Andrea Marcon, Ingo Metzmacher, John Nelson, Raphaël Pichon, Ivan Repušić, Corrado Rovaris, Sir Donald Runnicles and Constantin Trinks.

Beth Taylor is a grand finalist of the 2023 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition, the winner of the 2022 Elizabeth Connell Award, 3rd prize winner of the 2019 Wigmore Hall Competition and the winner of the 2018 Gianni Bergamo Classical Music Awards.

A graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and The Open University, Beth Taylor’s teachers include Jennifer Larmore, Margaret Izatt and Iain Paton. She has participated in masterclasses with Sarah Connolly, Susan Graham, Sir Thomas Allen, Sophie Daneman and Dame Emma Kirkby.

October 2024