In 2024 Northern Irish soprano Giselle Allen makes her debut at Sydney Opera House to reprise the role of Tosca with Opera Australia and returns to Opera North to sing Santuzza Cavalleria Rusticana. In 2023 she performed Praskov’ya Osipovna Nos (The Nose) at La Monnaie, Brussels, and 3rd Norn Götterdämmerung for Opernhaus Zürich. Celebrated for her strong character portrayals, highlights include Elektra for Irish National Opera, Miss Jessel The Turn of the Screw for La Monnaie (live-streamed) and Ellen Orford Peter Grimes in Aldeburgh Music’s Grimes on the Beach (broadcast on BBC4 and released on DVD).
Judith Howarth recently sang Lady Macbeth for Grange Festival to critical acclaim and first came to public attention when she joined the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as a Principal aged twenty one. She has since performed leading roles world-wide and has sung with many distinguished conductors on the concert platform, with a discography of more than 30 recordings. In 2024 Judith will sing Lady Billows Albert Herring for Opera North.
English-Japanese soprano Julia Mariko is currently recording Musetta in a new filmed version of Robin Norton-Hale’s Olivier award-winning production of La bohème. In 2023, she also performed Virtue and covered Poppea/Drusilla, The Coronation of Poppea for English Touring Opera and Shirley and Stella (covering Vera) The Land of Might Have Been for Buxton International Festival. In 2024 she will cover Anne Truelove The Rake’s Progress and perform Lamplighter Manon Lescaut for ETO alongside their next Learning and Participation opera The Great Stink.