Caroline studied with Dennis O’Neill CBE and Nuccia Focile, having received her MA Advanced Vocal Studies at the Wales International Academy of Voice with distinction. She coaches with Stuart Wild, head of music at Opera Holland Park.
Caroline completed her M(Mus) at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama under the tutelage of Janet Price and Suzanne Murphy. She has participated in masterclasses with Kathryn Harries, Mark Shanahan, Philip Langridge, Jeremy Huw Williams, Gail Pearson, Donald Maxwell, Roger Nicholls, Ryland Davies, Sally Burgess, Della Jones, Marie McLaughlin, Susan Bullock and Dame Kiri te Kanawa. She has also received coaching from Richard Bonynge CBE whilst studying at WIAV.
Caroline has worked extensively with Opera Holland Park, and is delighted to have made a role debut with them as Ruth in Ruddigore this summer, a co-production with Charles Court Opera.
Recent engagements include Caroline’s Wagner debut as Rossweisse in Regents Opera’s acclaimed Die Walküre, and Baba the Turk for Aylesbury Opera’s The Rake’s Progress. She covered Cousin Hebe in HMS Pinafore; another co-production between Opera Holland Park and Charles Court Opera, and returned to Grimeborn as Third Lady & Third Boy in Opera Alegria’s 5* Magic Flute. She sang the role of Tisbe La Cenerentola for both Guildford Opera and Aylesbury Opera, and also appeared as alto soloist for Windsor & Eton Choral Society’s Elijah with the Brandenburg Sinfonia conducted by Tim Johnson.
She has been touring over the summer with Rogue Opera’s latest pop-up show, Lovers, Losers and Larrikins.
Forthcoming work includes alto soloist in Elijah and St John Passion for Watford Philharmonic and Windsor & Eton Choral Society respectively, and Caroline will be returning to Regents Opera in Die Walküre for their full Ring cycle in November 2024. She will make a company and role debut as Miss Rose in Chelsea Opera Group’s Lakmé in February 2024.
Recent concert appearances include mezzo/alto soloist in Saint-Saens Oratorio de Noel, McDowall Magnificat, Lili Boulanger Hymne au Soleil, Rutter Feel The Spirit, Elijah, Mozart and Duruflé Requiems, Messiah, Haydn Nelson Mass, Karl Jenkins’ The Armed Man, and a new work composed by Richard Harker, Sitting Here Alone.
Other work includes joining Opera Ensemble for a socially-distanced Pagliacci at The Grange Festival, conducted by John Andrews and directed by Christopher Luscombe. Caroline then created the role of Nurse in The OperaMakers’ Hopes And Fears, a new work featuring the music of Debussy and telling the stories of two women diagnosed with cancer, which featured as part of the Grimeborn Festival 2021. Caroline also returned to Opera Rara for their December 2021 recording and performance of Leoncavallo’s Zingari, conducted by Carlo Rizzi.
Previous roles include premieres of Keith Burstein’s The Prometheus Revolution for Fulham Opera (Grimeborn Festival 2018) in which she played the role of Wona, and Keith Beal’s Merlin with Ensemble OrQuesta in autumn 2018, in which she played the role of Morgan le Faye. Caroline performed the role of Anne Boleyn in Guildford Opera’s award-winning Saint-Saëns’ Henry VIII, conducted by Lewis Gaston, and was one of four inaugural Young Artists for Opera In The City. She also joined the ensemble at Opera Rara under the baton of Sir Mark Elder for their 2019 recording and performance of Puccini’s Le Villi.
Other roles include Ragonde Count Ory, Carmen Carmen Ormond Opera, Suzuki Madama Butterfly Ormond Opera, Park Opera, The Fairy Queen Iolanthe Forbear! Theatre, The Sorceress Dido and Aeneas Surrey Opera, Kate and cover Ruth for Ormond Opera’s The Pirates of Penzance, Fenena Nabucco Kennet Opera, Flora Bervoix (cover) La Traviata Opera South, Carmen Carmen Opera at Bearwood, Olga Eugene Onegin OAB, Polina The Queen of Spades Park Opera, and Marthe Schwerlein in Swansea City Opera’s UK tour of Faust.
Aside from her vocal pursuits, Caroline is an experienced aerialist, and has been taking multidiscipline training for several years. She is competent in both aerial hoop and aerial sling.
An accomplished choral singer, Caroline is currently a member of Cantorion John S Davies Singers and the Delphian Singers, and is proud to have featured on the inaugural recording of Purcell anthems for the Dauphin Consort. She currently deputises on an ad-hoc professional basis for St John’s Wood Church, and has sung for Waltham St Lawrence Church, Reading Minster, the churches of the parish of Staines and St Columba’s, Knightsbridge. She is also a member of the London Funeral Singers.
Caroline was awarded a choral scholarship to the BBC National Chorus of Wales as a student, and has taken part in several recordings for Chandos, Sain, EMI Classics and Priory Records as ensemble, semi-chorus and solo performer. She has also appeared in numerous BBC & S4C radio & television broadcasts under the batons of Sir Richard Hickox, Tadaaki Otaka and Tim Rhys-Evans MBE amongst others. She featured as mezzo soloist in the world premiere of John Hardy’s Spaces – Beyond the End of The World, and has appeared on Songs of Praise and Dechrau Canu Dechrau Canmol with Vivace Singers and Serendipity respectively.
Caroline appeared as alto soloist in Mega Messiah, a massed choir event at Wales Millennium Centre conducted by David Lawrence, and also provided alto solos for Côr Penclawdd’s Mozart Requiem, Côr Caerdydd’s ‘Nelson’ Mass and the John S. Davies Singers in Bach’s Mass in G Minor and Vivaldi Magnificat in the beautiful cathedral of Saint David, Pembrokeshire. Caroline also presented the opening recital of 2014’s Radyr Festival alongside New Zealand tenor Alexander Wilson, accompanied by Jane Samuel.
She was a founder member of the critically acclaimed Welsh choir Serendipity, and performed with them as supporting chorus for Bryn Terfel, Dame Kiri te Kanawa, Dennis O’Neill and Jose Carreras in venues ranging from the Royal Albert Hall and the O2 arena to the pitch at the Millennium Stadium. Engagements included Criccieth Festival, Henley Festival, Royal National Eisteddfod and the Festival de Beaulieu sur Mer in the South of France.
Caroline’s sacred and art song soloist repertoire includes Dvorak Mass in D, Duruflé Requiem, Charpentier Messe de Minuit, Ethel Smyth Mass in D, Saint-Säens Oratorio de Noel, Bach Mass in G Minor, St John Passion, Handel Messiah, Karl Jenkins’ The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace, Mozart Requiem, Britten Ceremony of Carols, Haydn ‘Nelson’ Mass, Vivaldi Gloria, Magnificat, Schumann Frauenlieben und Leben, Dvorak Cigánske Melódie, lieder and mélodies of Strauss, Fauré, Poulenc and Mahler; and Elgar Sea Pictures.
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Caroline Carragher 