Mary Bevan

Praised by Opera for her “dramatic wit and vocal control” in stand-out performances of Baroque, Classical and contemporary repertoire, Mary Bevan appears regularly with leading orchestras and ensembles around the world. She is a winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Young Artist award and UK Critics’ Circle Award for Exceptional Young Talent in music and was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s birthday honors list in 2019.

Bevan’s engagements for the 2023/24 season include her house and role debut as Cleopatra Giulio Cesare with the Opera di Roma, Dido Dido and Aeneas in Denmark with Barokksolistine and her debut with the Zurich Opera House as La Folie Platée. In 2022/23 she made a return to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as Morgana in a new Richard Jones production of Alcina conducted by Christian Curnyn, appeared in LIGHT: Bach Dances with the Hofesh Shechter Company at the Philharmonie de Paris, sang Eurydice Orfeo and Eurydice at Teatro La Fenice and made her debut with the Bayerische Staatsoper as the title role La Calisto.

Previously for the Royal Opera House she sang Lila in David Bruce The Firework-Maker’s Daughter, performed the title roles of Rossi Orpheus at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse and of Turnage Coraline at the Barbican, and made her main stage debut as Barbarina Le nozze di Figaro. Elsewhere, opera highlights have included Rose Maurrant in Weill Street Scene for Opera de Monte Carlo and Teatro Real Madrid, Eurydice in Offenbach Orpheus in the Underworld and Zerlina Don Giovanni for the English National Opera, Bellezza Il Trionfo del tempo e del desinganno and her role debut as Marzelline Fidelio for the Royal Danish Opera, and her debut at the Bolshoi Theatre as Dalinda in David Alden’s production of Ariodante.

Bevan’s many recent concert appearances have included her Carnegie Hall debut as Dalinda Ariodante with the English Concert, Creation at the Barbican with the Academy of Ancient Music, Sally Beamish The Judas Passion with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and her return to the 2022 BBC Proms with Mass in B Minor. She has toured extensively across Europe, Australia, Asia and the US with the Kammerorchester Basel, Australian Chamber Orchestra and English Concert (Harry Bicket); and she has performed numerous world premiers, including Sir James MacMillan Christmas Oratorio at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, A. Bliss Rout with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Roxanna Panufnik Faithful Journey with the CBSO. She has also performed with the Handel and Haydn Society Boston, Philharmonia Baroque, and the BBC Symphony and BBC Concert orchestras, and appears regularly in recital at Wigmore Hall, and the Leeds Lieder, Lammermuir, Osafestivalen and Oxford Lieder festivals.

Bevan’s wide-ranging discography includes her art song album Voyages, Lieder by Schubert, Haydn and Wolf with pianist Joseph Middleton, and Handel’s Queens for Signum Records, with whom her latest disc, a recording of French Song entitled Visions Illuminées, was released in 2023. She has also recorded Handel's The Triumph of Time and Truth and Ode for St Cecilia’s Day with Ludus Baroque, Vaughan Williams Symphony No.3 and Schubert Rosamunde with the BBC Philharmonic, and Mendelssohn songs for Champs Hill Records.

Updated: 29/09/2023