Welsh mezzo-soprano Angharad Rowlands studies at Royal Academy Opera under Raymond Connell and Iain Ledingham. She is gratefully supported by the Norman Ayrton Award, the Carr-Gregory Trust and the Josephine Baker Trust. Angharad is the winner of the 2022 Richard Lewis/Jean Shanks Award Song Prize, a member of the Academy Song Circle and a 2024 International Handel Singing Competition Finalist. This summer, Angharad joins the Glyndebourne Chorus and will cover the role of Praskowia in The Merry Widow.

At Royal Academy Opera, her roles include the title role in Handel’s Ariodante; Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro); Florence Pike (Albert Herring); cover Mother Goose (The Rake’s Progress); Agnes/Troll 3 (Freya Waley-Cohen’s WITCH) and 2nd Witch (Dido & Aeneas). In operatic scenes she has performed the roles of Béatrice (Béatrice et Bénédict - RAO Scenes); Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier - RAM Scenes); Charlotte (Werther - RAM Scenes); Annina (La Traviata - RAM Scenes); Dorabella (Così fan tutte - Trinity Laban Scenes), and Zerlina (Don Giovanni - Trinity Laban Scenes). Other roles include 2nd Bridesmaid (Le nozze di Figaro - Royal Opera House); Dido (Dido & Aeneas - Hurn Court Opera); cover Juno (Semele - Opéra de Lille); Quince/Fairy (The Fairy Queen - Longborough Festival Opera), and Nancy (Albert Herring - Byre Opera).

Under John Eliot Gardiner, Angharad has performed as an oratorio step-out soloist at the Salzburg Festival, Philharmonie de Paris, Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona and Kursaal in San Sebastián. A Josephine Baker Trust Artist, Angharad performs as an oratorio soloist across the UK. Highlights include Handel Messiah, Israel in Egypt and Dixit Dominus, Bach St John Passion, St Matthew Passion, Christmas Oratorio and B minor Mass, Mendelssohn Elijah, Rossini Petite messe solennelle and the Requiems of Verdi, Duruflé and Mozart. She is a regular soloist in the RAM’s Bach Cantata Series and has performed under leading baroque interpreters Philippe Herreweghe, Rachel Podger, John Butt, and Peter Whelan.

Angharad is an alumna of both the Oxford International Song Festival and Leeds Lieder Young Artist Programmes. In October 2023, she and her duo-partner Joseph Cavalli-Price made their recital debut at the International Lied Festival Zeist. Angharad recently made her debut at Wigmore Hall as part of the Academy Song Circle alongside pianist Chunmeng Ge.

She has participated in masterclasses with Dame Sarah Connolly, Susan Bullock, Mark Padmore, Christian Gerhaher, Amanda Roocroft, Florian Boesch, Lucy Crowe, and with Nelly Miriciou at Wigmore Hall.

A native Welsh speaker, Angharad grew up singing in the Welsh folk tradition, competing regularly in the National Eisteddfod of Wales. In 2022 she gained an MA in Performance with Distinction from the Royal Academy of Music. In 2020 she completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Performance with Distinction from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance where she was the 2019/20 recipient of the Drapers’ de Turckheim Award. Prior to her performance studies, Angharad read Art History at the University of St Andrews. 

Biography and images only to be reproduced upon request.