Biography
Hailed as ‘simply wonderful’ by the New York Times and ‘remarkable’ by The Times, British mezzo-Soprano Anna Harvey won both the Toonkunst Oratorio Prize and Audience Prize at the International Vocal Competition s’Hertogenbosch 2017 in the Netherlands, having previously been awarded the London Bach Society Bach Singers Prize 2015, a Leonard Ingrams Foundation Award from Garsington Opera and a Dame Kiri Te Kanawa Scholarship.
A graduate of the University of Cambridge and the Royal Academy of Music in London, Anna studied on the Opera Course under Elizabeth Ritchie and Iain Ledingham, was a RAM/Kohn Foundation Bach Cantata Scholar and a member of Academy Song Circle, and graduated with the Alumni Development Award for a singularly distinguished studentship. Anna continued her studies as a Britten-Pears Young Artist and a member of the Verbier Festival Academy and L’Académie du Festival d’Aix-en-Provence.
In 2018 Anna joined the ensemble of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, and in the 2019-2020 season roles there include Floßhilde Das Rheingold and Götterdämmerung, Hänsel Hänsel und Gretel, Suzuki Madama Butterfly, Tisbe La Cenerentola, Polina / Daphnis Pique Dame, and L'enfant L'enfant et les sortilèges. Outside of the ensemble she returns to the role of Cherubino The Marriage of Figaro with Welsh National Opera under Carlo Rizzi, and on the concert platform she sings Vivaldi’s Gloria and Beatus vir in C with the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart, Handel’s Messiah with the Orchestre d'Auvergne and Mendelssohn's Die erste Walpurgisnacht with the Duisburger Philharmoniker.
In the 2018-2019 season, alongside her performances at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Anna debuted with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra in concerts at the Palau de la Música Barcelona and L'Atlàntida Vic, and with the Dortmunder Philharmoniker in Mozart's Messe in c-moll, sang Second Witch Dido and Aeneas with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Roger Norrington live on BBC Radio 3, and returned to Nevill Holt Opera to perform Hippolyta A Midsummer Night's Dream with Britten Sinfonia.
In the 2017-2018 season Anna was the Welsh National Opera Associate Artist and recipient of The Chris Ball Bursary, and she made her debut with the company as Prince Orlofsky Die Fledermaus in a national tour. Other significant debuts in the season included those with the Al Bustan Festival in Beirut, Xi’an Symphony Orchestra in China, Orquestra XXI in Lisbon, Actus Humanus Festival in Gdansk, Manchester Camerata and Three Choirs Festival. Other highlights included Ramiro La Finta Giardiniera at the Lammermuir and Chiltern Arts Festivals, Nerone L’Incoronazione di Poppea for Longborough Festival Opera, and concerts with The English Concert, Gabrieli, Arcangelo, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and at the Wigmore Hall.
The 2016-2017 season saw Anna make her Aldeburgh Festival and BBC Proms debuts (at Last Night of the Proms under Sakari Oramo), as well as her Swiss and German operatic debuts. At the Verbier Festival in Switzerland Anna performed IV/Schleppträgerin Elektra under Esa-Pekka Salonen and Larina Eugene Onegin under Stanislav Kochanovsky, and in Germany Anna performed at the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar (Zulma L’Italiana in Algeri, Zweite Dame Die Zauberflöte, Groom/Theatregardrobiere/Gymnasiast Lulu, Kay Die Schneekönigin), Landestheater Altenburg / Bühnen der Stadt Gera (Leonard Evers Gold!), Theater Nordhausen (Page Salome) and Theater Chemnitz (Goffredo Rinaldo). Anna’s performances in the UK during the season included cover Octavian Der Rosenkavalier for Welsh National Opera, Ramiro La Finta Giardiniera for Ryedale Festival Opera, concert performances with La Nuova Musica and the Royal Choral Society, and a recording for Hyperion with Arcangelo.
In the 2015-2016 season, operatic engagements included La Grosse Dame Les mamelles de Tirésias (Dutch National Opera), Cherubino Le nozze di Figaro and Bradamante Alcina (Longborough Festival Opera) and cover Serafin Figaro Gets a Divorce (Welsh National Opera). In concert, Anna performed at the Royal Festival, Royal Albert and Cadogan Halls, and at the Spitalfields, Gstaad and Beaune Festivals.
Highlights in previous seasons include the title role Ariodante at the London Handel Festival, a programme of Bach cantatas under Masaaki Suzuki at Lincoln Center, New York, and performances with opera companies and orchestras including Birmingham Opera Company, West Green Opera, Tête à Tête, Garsington Opera, BBC Concert Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, London Mozart Players, English Chamber Orchestra and the Hallé at The Bridgewater Hall.
A keen exponent of song repertoire, Anna has performed at the Oxford Lieder Spring Weekend, Schubertiade Schwarzenberg and Wigmore Hall.
Artist descriptions on Last.fm are editable by everyone. Feel free to contribute!
All user-contributed text on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply.
