This season British Soprano Claire Lees will return to Opera North and Garsington Opera in the Summer of 2027. She will also make her debut with the Academy of Ancient Music for Handel’s Brockes-Passion. Last season saw Claire return to Garsington for Minerva/ Amore in Il ritorno d’Ulisse, conducted by Laurence Cummings. She also reprised the role of Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro for Opera North.
Previous highlights include Pamina in The Magic Flute for Opera North, Mozart’s C Minor Mass with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and Despina in Così fan tutte for the Nevill Holt Festival, for which she received widespread critical acclaim- ‘She is the star of the evening.... She sparkles on the stage’ (Seen & Heard International).
Her roles for Garsington Opera include Susanna Le Nozze di Figaro, La Musica Orfeo and Naiad Ariadne auf Naxos. Elsewhere highlights include Lisette La rondine (Opera North), Barbarina Le Nozze di Figaro and Oscar Un ballo in maschera (Opera Holland Park), Adina L’elisir d’amore (Iford Opera) and Venus Venus and Adonis (Blackheath Opera). In 2023 she returned to Glyndebourne Festival Opera to cover the title role in Semele.
Claire is a graduate of both the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She is a Samling Artist, winner of the 2019 Wil Keune Mozart Prize at the Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition and a recipient of an Opera Awards Foundation bursary. In 2023 she won the Leonard Ingram award at Garsington Opera for her performance as Naiad in Ariadne auf Naxos.
September 2026
