BIOGRAPHY
‘Brilliant vocal control’
Carmen, La Tragédie de Carmen, Landestheater Linz, Kronen Zeitung
Mezzo-soprano Sophie Kidwell is the most recent winner of the Young Welsh Singer of the Year competition. She is a member of OperAvenir at Theater Basel for the 2024/25 season, where her roles include Flosshilde (Das Rheingold, Wagner), Grimgerde (Die Walküre, Wagner), Flosshilde (Götterdämmerung, Wagner), Carmen (cover) (Carmen, Bizet), Flora (La Traviata, Verdi), Lucinda (Into the Woods, Sondheim), and Die Försterin (Das schlaue Füchslein, Janáček). On the concert platform, Sophie will sing the mezzo-soprano solos in a new oratorio commissioned by FIFA (Die Tiefe des Raumes - Ein Fussballoratorium, Eggert) with the Sinfonietta Basel and the Theater Basel Chorus at the Stadtcasino Basel.
This season will also see Sophie make her house debut at Stadttheater Bühnen Bern in the role of Pauline (La Vie Parisienne, Offenbach).
Following her critically acclaimed debut in the role of Carmen at Schlossfestspiele Ettlingen in 2022, Sophie was engaged to sing the title role again at Landestheater Linz in the Austrian premiere of La Tragédie de Carmen with the Bruckner Orchestra. Praised in the German and Austrian press for her “impeccable voice” with an "impressive usable range" and "sonorous lower register", Sophie has been described as "a name that opera fans should remember".
Sophie then went on to Switzerland, where in the 2023/24 season, she sang her first Ring Cycle along with the roles of Maddalena (Rigoletto, Verdi), Frédéric (Mignon, Thomas) and Alto Soloist (Requiem, Mozart) at Theater Basel.
Her further operatic roles include: Mago (Rinaldo, Handel), Wanda (Wanda Walfisch, Wenzel), Plantina (Melusina, Kreutzer), Treszka (Ein Herbstmanöver, Kálmán), Lehrbube (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Wagner) for Landestheater Linz, Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel, Humperdinck) for ABPU Linz, Blumenmädchen (Parsifal, Wagner) for The Richard Wagner Association, Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro, Mozart), Ottone (L’incoronazione di Poppea, Monteverdi) for Berlin Opernfest, Marcellina (Le Nozze di Figaro, Mozart), Erster Herr (Juliette, Martinů) for HMTM-Hannover, Dorina (La Diavolessa, Galuppi) for New Chamber Opera Oxford, Ganymed (Die Schöne Galathée, von Suppé) for the Puchheimer Taschenoper, Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus, Strauss), Aunt Norris (Mansfield Park, Dove), Orfeo (Orfeo ed Euridice, Gluck), and Proserpina (Orfeo, Monteverdi).
Sophie also has extensive international concert experience, including in prestigious venues such as The Royal Festival Hall and The Royal Albert Hall. Her repertoire includes Bach Cantatas BWV 109 and 161, Bach Christmas Oratorio, Beethoven Choral Fantasy, Duruflé Requiem, Dvorák Stabat Mater, Handel Messiah, Haydn Stabat Mater and Nelson Mass, Mozart Requiem.
Sophie graduated from Durham University with a BA Hons in Combined Honours in Arts (Music, English Literature and German). She was a Samling Academy Scholar, where she worked with leaders of the Royal Opera House and was encouraged to pursue a career professionally. She then moved to Germany and completed a BMus in Singing, followed by an MMus in Opera at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover with Prof. Marina Sandel. Whilst engaged at Landestheater Linz for the 2022-23 season, Sophie continued her Masters through the ERASMUS programme at the Anton Bruckner University where she was in the class of renowned mezzo-soprano, Prof. Ruxandra Donose, who she continues to be mentored by.
Sophie’s studies were generously supported by the Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung and the Deutschlandstipendium. She was also a scholarship holder for the Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now e.V. program, through which she regularly performed for people in care homes, hospitals, prisons and hospices.
Sophie has worked with conductors such as Markus Poschner, Ivor Bolton CBE, Jonathan Nott, Steven Devine, Olga Pavlu, Ulrich Maier and Francesc Prat. Directors include Romeo Castellucci, Benedikt von Peter, Vincent Huguet, Nina Brazier, Solvejg Bauer and Gregor Horres.
She has performed in masterclasses with many esteemed artists, including Anne Sofie von Otter, Brigitte Fassbaender, Hedwig Fassbaender, Catherine Wyn Rogers, Dame Emma Kirkby, David Butt Philip, Roderick Williams, Sir Thomas Allen and Thomas Hampson.
Sophie is forever indebted to her teachers over the years: Dominic Barberi, Stephanie Bodsworth, Ruxandra Donose, Marina Sandel and Janet Williams.
‘Effortless.’ ‘One was amazed at the flexible voice of this young singer.’
Das Opernmagazin, 2023