reviews

“Hellier’s performance captivated, and she carried off Whitley’s demanding work – and the rest of the programme – with wit, aplomb and a consistently velvety tone.”

— The Guardian

solo recital programme wom3n performed at Wigmore Hall on International Women’s Day 2022 and Oxford Lieder

“Rowan Hellier … was the singer that impressed me the most. She possesses a wide mezzo range, with a dark edge in the lower register and clear, easy high notes in the top of her voice, which she is capable of sustaining above the orchestra with remarkable ease. Her tone is warm and varied and she also displayed an elegant, delicate legato line …”

— Seen and Heard International

“Mezzo soprano Rowan Hellier was compelling, with her rich, matt velvet tone, as she performed these haunted and expressive melodies with focus, drama and clarity.”

—The Herald

BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alexander Verdernikov at St. Magnus International Festival

“Mezzo soprano Rowan Hellier … proved that she possesses richly-nuanced vocal power. Her artistic achievement was to be admired, towards the end she had to sing crawling on the floor. Deservedly she received the most applause and bravo calls at the end of the performance.”

— Online Merker

Sciarrino’s Vanitas at Staatsoper Berlin

“… at the centre of everything, the Lucretia of … Scottish mezzo Rowan Hellier is totally gripping … superbly sung in a rich, expressive contralto-like timbre.”

— The Times

Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia

“Rowan Hellier … won over the audience completely with her extraordinarily warm voice, which has an astonishingly beautiful and introspective quality to it.”

— British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies

The Mozartists at Cadogan Hall

hIGHLIGHTS

Rowan has made appearances at the Staatsoper Berlin, Welsh National Opera, Staatsoper Hamburg, Opéra de Genève, Royal Opera House - Linbury Theatre and the Wigmore Hall.

Following performances of Das Rheingold with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Vladimir Jurowski over previous seasons, Rowan makes several further Wagner role debuts in the 2022 | 2023 season: Zweite Norn and Floßhilde in Götterdämmerung, and Floßhilde in Das Rheingold, under the baton of Srba Dinić.

Selected 2021 | 2022 highlights comprise Sleepless by Peter Eötvös at Staatsoper Berlin, Grand Théâtre de Genève and Müpa Budapest, and recital programme wom3n at Wigmore Hall. Her pre-pandemic season engagements included Babylon and Die Liebe zu den drei Orangen at Staatsoper Berlin and her concert debut at Elbphilharmonie Hamburg.

Rowan has performed as a soloist with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Seattle Symphony, at the Bregenz Festival and Château de Versailles, and worked with conductors such as Alexander Verdernikov, Itzhak Perlman, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Trevor Pinnock and Nicholas Collon. She is the mezzo soloist on Dunedin Consort’s Gramophone Award-winning Mozart Requiem recording.