INTRO

Possessing an extensive range, Scottish mezzo Rowan Hellier is a forward-looking artist of vocal and character-inhabiting versatility. Rowan began her career at the Berlin Staatsoper. On the operatic stage, she has appeared at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, Hamburg Staatsoper, Staatstheater Braunschweig, Salzburg Landestheater, Welsh National Opera, and the Royal Ballet and Opera.

Rowan has appeared in concert with many of the world's leading orchestras including the Philharmonic Orchestra under Vladimir Jurowski over several seasons, the Seattle Symphony under Itzhak Perlman, the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alexander Vedernikov, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra conducted by John Butt, with conductor Nicholas Collon at both the Bregenz Festival and with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and with the BBCSO at LSO St. Luke’s with conductor André de Ridder.

She has performed at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, at Müpa Budapest conducted by Peter Eötvös, with The King’s Consort at Château de Versailles, with Trevor Pinnock and Friends at Wigmore Hall, the Dunedin Consort on their Gramophone Award-winning Mozart Requiem recording, with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and with Ensemble Resonanz in a live broadcast in cooperation with Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and Bachfest Leipzig. Rowan recently made her Shanghai Concert Hall debut with the renowned Kuss Quartet.

Creator, director and eclectic programme curator of new opera and song-related formats, Rowan’s projects often centre women’s stories, blurring boundaries of genre, discipline and aesthetic:

Baba Yaga: Songs and Dance of Death, a choreographed song recital, is a co-production between Beethovenfest Bonn and Oxford International Song festival. Including a new work by Elena Langer, “Nice Weather for Witches”—an OISF commission.

Rowan’s collaboration with composer Kate Whitley and Ted Hughes Award-winning poet Hollie McNish produced “Gorgeous Beasts”, performed as part of her all-female composer programme wom3n at Wigmore Hall on International Women’s Day 2022.

Costumed concert-concept She Represents, based around the New Women of 1930’s Berlin, was featured on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row with Kirsty Wark in autumn 2024.

Further performances in song include recitals for Opéra de Lille, Perth Festival of the Arts, with the Prince Consort, and multiple appearances at Wigmore Hall. Rowan collaborates often with pianists Sholto Kynoch and Jonathan Ware.

The Guardian wrote of her recent wom3n recital-programme, performed at Wigmore Hall: “Bring it on!”

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