Australian soprano Lauren Fagan has grown into one of today’s most accomplished sopranos, admired by international critics for her “glossy, commanding sound” and “magnificent dramatic power”. Fagan’s recent portrayals of Countess Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Helena (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Avis (The Wreckers) and Margarita Xirgu (Ainadamar) have solidified her position as one of the most impressive and versatile singing actresses on today’s operatic landscape.
A former member of the prestigious Jette Parker Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Fagan returns in the 2023/24 season as Gretel in Antony McDonald’s mischievous production of Hansel and Gretel under Mark Wigglesworth. Elsewhere in the season, she debuts as Gutrune in Andreas Homoki’s new staging of Götterdämmerung at Opernhaus Zürich under Music Director Gianandrea Noseda, returns to Agnès in concert performances of George Benjamin’s Written on Skin with Orchestre National de Lille under Alexandre Bloch, appears at Festspielhaus Baden-Baden and Berliner Philharmonie as 5. Magd in Elektra with Kirill Petrenko conducting the Berliner Philharmoniker and makes her Opera Australia debut as Angelica in Puccini’s Suor Angelica.
Recent seasons have seen an impressive array of appearances including her first Contessa Almaviva at Canadian Opera Company under Harry Bicket, Margarita Xirgu in Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar for Scottish Opera, Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, conducted by Dalia Stasevska at Glyndebourne Festival Opera and Giulietta in Andreas Homoki’s new production of Les contes d’Hoffmann under Antonino Fogliani at Opernhaus Zürich. As Norma in Marina Abramovic’s 7 Deaths of Maria Callas, conducted by Yoel Gamzou, Lauren Fagan made debuts at both Opéra de Paris and Bayerische Staatsoper and she sang Woglinde in Keith Warner’s Ring Cycle at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden under Sir Antonio Pappano.
In her earlier seasons, Lauren Fagan found success in a wide range of operatic roles including as Donna Elvira with NHK Symphony Orchestra under Paavo Järvi, Handel’s Alcina at the International Händel-Festpiele Karlsruhe, Mimì in Phyllida Lloyd’s classic staging of La bohème at Opera North, Musetta with Welsh National Opera and a Violetta who “mines unsuspected depths of emotion while singing the music with pearly ease.” (The Times, 2021) in Rodula Gaitanou’s production of La Traviata at Opera Holland Park.
Representing her country in the 2019 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, Fagan recently made her long-awaited Australian operatic debut as Violetta in La traviata at State Opera South Australia having previously performed Beethoven’s Ah! Perfido with Sydney Symphony Orchestra under Simone Young, and Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with Adelaide Symphony Orchestra under Dane Lam.
Elsewhere on the concert platform, Fagan appeared as Avis in Ethel Smyth’s The Wreckers with Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin under Robin Ticciati and Roxana in Szymanowski’s Krol Roger with Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Sir Antonio Pappano. She sang her first Handel Messiah with Toronto Symphony Orchestra under Music Director Gustavo Gimeno, joined the line-up for Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 with Oslo Philharmonic under Klaus Mäkelä, graced the Last Night of the BBC Proms under Sakari Oramo in Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music and performed Strauss’ Vier letzte Lieder with Malmö Opera under Karen Kamensek.
