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The Scottish mezzo-soprano, Beth Taylor, graduated from The Open University (2011-2012) and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (2012-2016; 2016-2018) and. Her teachers include Jennifer Larmore, Margaret Izatt and Iain Paton. She has participated in master-classes with Sarah Connolly, Susan Graham, Sir Thomas Allen, Sophie Daneman and Dame Emma Kirkby. She is a grand finalist of the 2023 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition, the winner of the 2022 Elizabeth Connell Award, 3rd Prize winner of the 2019 Wigmore Hall Competition and the winner of the 2018 Gianni Bergamo Classical Music Awards.
Lauded by The Guardian for her “dark and focused” voice, “sensational coloratura” and “spectacular singing” and by The Times for her “fierce, indeed terrifying, cane-swishing” characterisations, Beth Taylor is one of today’s most electrifying young mezzo-sopranos.
Recent performances on the opera stage have included Cornelia and Bradamante in George Frideric Handel's Alcina at Glyndebourne; Arsace in Semiramide, La Cieca in La Gioconda, Erda in Das Rheingold, Erste Norn in Götterdämmerung and Schwertleite in Die Walküre for Deutsche Oper Berlin; Giuliano Gordio in Eliogabalo at the Zürich Opera House; Falliero in Bianca e Falliero and Dardano in Amadigi di Gaula at Oper Frankfurt, Bradamante at the Nancy Opera House as well as staged versions of Felix Mendelssohn's Elias at the Opéra de Lyon and of J.S. Bach's Matthäus-Passion BWV 244 at Theater Basel.
On the concert platform, Beth Taylor has appeared as Anna in Les Troyens at the Salzburg Festival, Berlin Festival, BBC Proms and the Berlioz Festival; as Sorceress in H. Purcell's Dido and Aeneas at the Teatro Real Madrid, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Philharmonie Luxembourg and Philharmonie Essen; as Argia La Merope at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam; as Ursule in Béatrice et Bénédict at the Berlioz Festival; as Teseo in G.F. Handel's Ariana in Creta at the London Handel Festival and as Cornelia in Madrid and Basel. Other concert appearances have included Gustav Mahler's Symphony No 2 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall; W.A. Mozart's Requiem at the BBC Proms, Paris Philharmonie, Palau de la Music Barcelona and Valencia, Konzerthaus Dortmund, in Versailles, Bordeaux and Lausanne; W.A. Mozart's Krönungsmesse at the Concertgebouw, L.v. Beethoven's Missa Solemnis and Berlioz' Roméo et Juliette at the Gulbenkian Lisbon, Edward Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius in Dublin, J.S. Bach's Mass in B minor BWV 232 in Aix-en-Provence, Versailles, Belgrad and at the Thüringer Bachwochen Festival; J.S. Bach's Matthäus-Passion BWV 244 and Johannes-Passion BWV 245 in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Beth Taylor has sung under the baton of conductors such as Leonardo García-Alarcón, Roland Böer, Giuliano Carella, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Edward Gardner, Alessandro De Marchi, Andrea Marcon, Ingo Metzmacher, John Nelson, Raphaël Pichon, Ivan Repušić, Corrado Rovaris, Sir Donald Runnicles and Constantin Trinks. In recital, her recent collaborations with notable pianists and chamber musicians Julius Drake, Jonathan Ware, Marcia Hadjimarkos, Malcolm Martineau, Mathieu Pordoy and rising star Hamish Brown have led to several celebrated recitals in Denmark, Ireland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Italy.
In the 2024-2025 season, Beth Taylor makes her debut in the title role of La Cenerentola at the Opéra de Nancy, with performances following at the Grand Théâtre of Luxembourg, Théâtre de Caen and Opéra de Reims. Operatic performances on the concert platform include Lisea in Arsilda at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Auditorio Nacional Madrid and Cornelia in G.F. Handel's Giulio Cesare with The English Concert at Carnegie Hall, Barbican Hall and in San Francisco. In concert, she also appears in L.v. Beethoven's Symphony No 9 with the Berliner Philharmoniker at the Baden-Baden Easter Festival; L.v. Beethoven's Symphony No 9 and Haydn’s Harmoniemesse at the Paris Philharmonie; Harmonienmesse at the Konzerthaus Berlin; G. Mahler's Symphony No 3 with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, G. Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde with the Orchestre de Chambre Paris at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris; Alma Mahler’s Fünf Lieder with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal for her Canadian debut in Montréal; Michael Haydn's and W.A. Mozart's Requiem with the Handel and Haydn Society for her USA debut in Boston; Tippett’s A Child of our Time at Glyndebourne; Edward Elgar's Sea Pictures for BBC Now in Aberystwyth and Bangor and in de Falla’s El amor brujo with the Tonkünstler Orchester.
Beth Taylor is also an enthusiastic ambassador for arts education in environments catering to individuals with additional support needs, having worked as a tutor and practitioner for Paragon Music in Glasgow and as a member of the Live Music Now Scotland scheme. She hopes to devote more time in the near future working to ensure more of Scotland’s musicians have access to quality arts education, training, representation and mainstream performance opportunities. |
