Biography

Kirsty Hopkins read Music at Manchester University and then continued her post-graduate vocal training under Linda Hirst at Trinity College of Music in London where she won the Elizabeth Schumann Lieder Prize. She now enjoys a versatile career as a soloist and consort singer (she is a member of various groups including The Sixteen and Alamire), performing all over the world with some of today’s most exciting and renowned conductors and ensembles.

Operatic roles include Asphodéle in L’Etoile by Chabrier for Sir John Eliot Gardiner at the Opéra Comique in Paris and for François-Xavier Roth in Nimes, Galatea in Handel Acis & Galatea for Jerusalem Early Music, Cupid in Purcell’s King Arthur for New Chamber Opera, Spirit in Purcell Dido and Aeneas for Harry Christophers and The Sixteen, and the title role in a semi-staged production of Purcell Bonduca for The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment at King's Place, London.

Recent solo concert performances include Handel Dixit Dominus for Harry Christophers at Usher Hall in the Edinburgh Festival, Monteverdi Vespers for I Fagiolini at St John's Smith Square in London, Bach Lutheran Mass in G Minor for the Australian Chamber Orchestra directed by Richard Tognetti at the Maribor Festival in Slovenia, Handel Israel in Egypt for Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Haydn Creation at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral and at the Cornerstone Festival, Taverner Lament for Jerusalem at the British Library for The Choir of London, concerts for QuintEssential Sackbut and Cornett Ensemble in the Lake District Summer Music Festival and Bulgaria, concerts in London, Ireland and Austria for consort soloist ensemble Alamire, and Monteverdi Vespers for The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment conducted by Robert Howarth throughout the UK and Europe. Kirsty recently made her proms debut in the BBC "Inspire" Young Composers Prom with Aurora Orchestra conducted by Nicholas Collon. Recent performances as a consort soloist include Vecchi L'Amfiparnaso for I Fagiolini in Halle, Germany and community opera by John Barber "We are Shadows" for The Sixteen receiving rave reviews at Spitalfields Summer Festival.

Kirsty features on three recent recordings - a live recording of Monteverdi Vespers for Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment conducted by Robert Howarth, "Making Waves" by Bob Chilcott released on Signum Classics and "A Child's Prayer" and "O Bone Jesu" by James MacMillan from the album "Bright Orb of Harmony" by The Sixteen, released on their label Coro. Future releases include more recordings for Bob Chilcott, “Be Thou my Vision” and "Swete was the Song" as well as MacMillan “A Child’s Prayer" this time for the Gabrieli Consort. Television performances include recent appearances on Charles Hazelwood’s BBC series “The Birth of British Music” and Simon Russell Beale & The Sixteen's "Sacred Music at Christmas" on BBC4.

Forthcoming highlights include the world premiere of Howard Goodall's oratorio "Every Purpose Under the Heaven", two-to-a-part performances of Bach B Minor Mass for Musica Saeculorum in Italy, Handel Dixit Dominus for Harry Christophers and The Sixteen in Hong Kong, Sydney and Wellington and Purcell King Arthur again for Harry Christophers at the 2012 Edinburgh Festival.