© Manuel Harlan
Gweneth Ann Rand trained at the University of Exeter, Goldsmith’s College and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. During her training she received the Maggie Teyte, Ian Fleming and Sybil Tutton Awards. She was a Vilar Young Artist at the Royal Ballet & Opera and in 2001 represented England at BBC Cardiff Singer of the World. She is currently an Associate Artist at Wigmore Hall.
In the current season she performs Mrs Grose in Isabella Bywater’s new production of The Turn of the Screw for English National Opera; and performs recitals at the University of Manchester and Wigmore Hall.
Among her recent highlights are acclaimed performances of 4.48 Psychosis (Royal Ballet & Opera/Lyric Hammersmith, Prototype Festival, Opéra national du Rhin, Philharmonie de Paris); Woman 3 The Blue Woman (Royal Ballet & Opera/Britten Pears Arts); Mother Bailey It’s a Wonderful Life, Serena in Porgy and Bess (English National Opera); Tiger Lily Peter Pan, the dark side (Teatro Comunale di Bolzano); Judith Bluebeard’s Castle (Theatre of Sound); and Messiaen’s Song Cycles in a concert residency at the Aldeburgh Festival.
Her operatic roles include Aida (English National Opera, Opera Holland Park, Theater Bremen, Oper Kiel, Finnish National Opera, Macedonian Opera, Opera Poznań, Oldenburgisches Staatstheater); Senta Der fliegende Holländer (London Lyric Opera/Barbican); Leonora La forza del destino (Oper Köln); Leonora Il trovatore (Welsh National Opera); Amelia Un ballo in maschera and Margherita/Helena Mefistofele (Theater Erfurt); Tosca (Teatro Nacional de São Carlos); Gutrune Götterdämmerung (BBC Proms); the title roles in La Gioconda and La Wally, Santuzza Cavalleria Rusticana (Opera Holland Park); Bess Porgy and Bess (Basel Chamber Orchestra, Macedonian Philharmonic); Ariadne Ariadne auf Naxos (Orchestre de Picardie); and appearances for the Royal Ballet & Opera in Elektra, Daphne and The Cunning Little Vixen.
In concert she has performed Schoenberg Gurrelieder (Orquesta Sinfónica de Mineria, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra); Tippett A Child of Our Time (NDR Hannover, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Göteborgs Symfoniker); Mahler Das klagende Lied (BBC Proms); the European premiere of Elliott Carter Of Rewaking , Vaughan Williams Third Symphony (CBSO); Verdi Requiem (Truro Cathedral, King’s College Chapel, York Minster); Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem, Strauss Vier letzte Lieder (Canterbury Cathedral); Poulenc Gloria (Three Choirs Festival); Zemlinsky Der König Kandaules (Gran Canaria); Dvořák Stabat Mater (Madrid); and Britten War Requiem (Warsaw).
Gweneth Ann is widely known for her acclaimed interpretations of Messiaen’s song cycles Harawi (BBC Proms, Cheltenham Festival, Opera North, Oxford International Song Festival, Wigmore Hall) and Poèmes pour Mi (BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Gürzenich Orchester Köln, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich). Her recordings include Mélodies Passagères, The Songs of Samuel Barber (Quartz Music); Janáček The Eternal Gospel with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (Hyperion); Messiaen Poèmes pour Mi (Sanctuary Classics); and John Metcalf’s Under Milk Wood (Ty Cerrd).
Mrs Grose / The Turn of the Screw / English National Opera / 2024
“Gweneth Ann Rand excels as the naive and over-burdened Mrs Grose, bringing to the role ample tones and a strong presence…”
(Opera Today)
“Gweneth Ann Rand a fully imagined Mrs Grose… this was as musically distinguished a Screw as one could hope to hear.”
(Opera)
“Mrs Grose (the excellent Gweneth Ann Rand)…”
(The Telegraph)
Tigrana / Edgar / Opera Holland Park / 2024
“…Gweneth Ann Rand offering a vampish, excitingly sung Tigrana.”
(Operalogue)
“Gweneth Ann Rand is powerful and affecting as Tigrana.”
(The Times)
“Gweneth Ann Rand brings passionate engagement to the tigerish Tigrana…”
(The Stage)
Messiaen Harawi / Aldeburgh Festival / 2024
“Without a shadow of doubt, Ms Rand’s ‘a grande soprano dramatique’ as Messiaen demanded for Harawi. The energy she put into her performance was truly magnificent while her voice control, phrasing and technique spoke volumes of her training and, indeed, her natural ability as a singer.”
(Planet Hugill)
“The songs call for a “grand dramatic voice”, in Messiaen’s words, and Gweneth Ann Rand fitted the bill, filling the Britten Studio with sound and capturing the passion and ferocity of this challenging cycle to the coruscating accompaniment of pianist Simon Lepper.”
(The Financial Times)
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