British soprano Elisabeth Meister is an alumna of the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. She has performed on the stages of Royal Opera House, Lyric Opera Chicago and Teatro Municipal de Santiago and, most recently, at La Monnaie, where she stepped in at very short notice to sing the title role of Lucrezia Borgia:

“Meister’s command was so total and so overwhelming that there was an audible sense of electricity … she detonated one explosive high note after another, but then suddenly displayed staggering agility, stunning breath control, hushed and beautiful pianissimos and every other vocal weapon in her considerable arsenal.”  

- Antony Lias, Opera Britannia, March 2013

For the Royal Opera, Meister’s roles include Pale Lady The Gambler, Fox The Cunning Little Vixen, High Priestess Aída, Costanza L’isola Disabitata, First Lady Die Zauberflöte and Dama Macbeth. In addition, she covered the title roles in Der Rosenkavalier, Aída and Anna Nicole, as well as Polina The Gambler and Ellen Orford Peter Grimes. She made her international debut to great acclaim in the title role Aída for Teatro Municipal de Santiago, returning there later in the season in the title role Lucrezia Borgia.  She made her US debut at Chicago Lyric Opera in the role of First Lady Die Zauberflöte, and also covered the title role Ariadne auf Naxos. She returned to Santiago de Chile for her role debut as Elisabeth Tannhäuser.

A well-established concert artist, her repertoire includes Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, Dvořák Stabat Mater, Elgar’s Caractacus, The Dream of Gerontius and The Kingdom, Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Mozart’s C Minor Mass and Requiem, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle and Stabat Mater, Tippett’s A Child of our Time, Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony and Verdi’s Requiem, among many other works. She recently made her debut at the Royal Festival Hall with the UK premiere of Torsten Rasch’s Mein Herz Brennt, with René Pape and the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Jurowski.

As a recitalist, she has performed Britten’s Cabaret Songs, Grieg’s Opus 48, Strauss’ Opus 48, Ebel’s As I Walk From Her Grave (world premiere), Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder, Csanyi-Wills’ The Last Letter (world premiere) and Berg’s Sieben Frühe Lieder.

Engagements in the 2012-13 season include her return to the Royal Opera House as Helmwige, Third Norn and cover Sieglinde in the revival of Keith Warner’s production of Der Ring des Nibelungen, as Ker The Minotaur and covering Susan Bullock in the title role of Britten’s Gloriana. On the concert platform, she performs at the Royal Opera House’s Extraordinary Gala marking the Queen’s Jubilee alongside Roberto Alagna, Angela Gheorghiu and Bryn Terfel and makes her Carnegie Hall debut with performances of Beethoven Symphony No.9 and Missa Solemnis as part of a US tour with the Monteverdi Choir and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique under Sir John Eliot Gardiner.

Further highlights include the UK premiere of Shostakovich’s Orango with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Esa-Pekka Salonen, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony under Ryan Wigglesworth at the St Endellion Festival, and a recital of Wagner Lieder for the London Song Festival.  Future engagements include Lady Macbeth, Macbeth for Scottish Opera and the title role Turandot for Bilbao.