American mezzo-soprano Annie Reilly’s 2023/24 season included debuts with Welsh National Opera as Niña Sola in Ainadamar, and the Royal Opera House Muscat as Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream in co-production with Teatro Carlo Felice Genoa. She covered Second Lady in The Magic Flute with English National Opera and covered Poppea in L’incoronazione di Poppea with The Grange Festival where she was awarded the 2024 Most Promising Young Singer Award.
Following her graduation, Annie became an Alvarez Young Artist with Garsington Opera and joined Scottish Opera for their 2021/22 season where she sang Zerlina in the Sir Thomas Allen production of Don Giovanni, Hippolyta (and covered Hermia) in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and in the ensemble for the tour of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Gondoliers (broadcast on BBC4). She finished the season with her debut at the Waterperry Opera Festival singing Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro), where she was described as “captivating and irrepressible” by Daily Info and with a performance of “great flair” by Opera Scene.
Annie returned to Scottish Opera for their 2022/23 season where she sang in the UK staged premiere of Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar, and for their Opera Highlights Tour in Spring 2023 with role excerpts including Serse (Serse), Orfeo (Orfeo ed Euridice) Ramiro (La finta giardiniera) and Lucretia (Rape of Lucretia). She also made her debut as an Emerging Artist with Longborough Festival Opera, where she sang Helena in Purcell’s The Fairy Queen including performed text from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream - with Plays to See describing her as a “delightful actress as well as a singer.”
In concert, Annie has sung as a soloist in works by Bernstein with the LA Phil (Barbican Hall & Philharmonie de Paris), and the BBC Symphony Orchestra (Barbican Hall & BBC Radio 3). Her recital work includes performances led by Julius Drake, Eugene Asti, and Richard Stokes for LSO Discovery (LSO St. Luke’s), the Machynlleth Festival, and the Americana Festival (St. John’s Smith Square). Annie is the recipient of a Guildhall Trust Award, a Knights of the Round Table Award, and was awarded a UK Exceptional Talent Visa in 2019 for her outstanding promise as an emerging artist.
Annie trained at the prestigious Royal Academy Opera programme at the Royal Academy of Music in London where her full roles included Dorabella (Così fan tutte), Hermia in (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Zweite Dame (Die Zauberflöte), and La Baronne (Chérubin). She holds a Master of Performance (Distinction) from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, an Advanced Diploma and Bachelor of Music (Hons) from the Royal Academy of Music, and was a scholarship student at the Cleveland Institute of Music.
September 2024
