Rowan Hellier

Possessing an extensive range, Scottish mezzo Rowan Hellier is a forward-looking artist of vocal and character-inhabiting versatility. On the operatic stage, she has appeared at the Berlin Staatsoper (Die Liebe zu den dreiOrangen, Die Zauberflöte, Babylon, Madama Butterfly, Der Kai ser von Atlantis, La Traviata) Grand Théâtre de Genève (Sleepless), Hamburg Staatsoper (Vanitas), Staatstheater Braunschweig (Götterdämmerung, Das Rheingold, Dead Man Walking, Dante, Die Zauberflöte, Sleepless, La Traviata) Welsh National Opera (Le nozze di Figaro), at the Royal Ballet and Opera as Frau Grubach / Waschfrau in the world premiere of The Trial by Philip Glass, roles she later reprised with Theater Magdeburg for the Romanian premiere of the work, and at the Salzburg Landestheater (Hänsel und Gretel, Orfeo ed Euridice, The Orphic Moment, Carmen, Il turco in Italia, Brokeback Mountain, Idomeneo, Don Giovanni) under the musical direction of Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla.

As a member of the International Opera Studio at Staatsoper Unter den Linden, overseen by artistic director Daniel Barenboim, Rowan was the grateful recipient of a Liz Mohn Kultur und Musikstiftung scholarship.

Rowan has appeared in concert with many of the world's leading orchestras including the BBC Symphony Orchestra (Shadows on the Wall - Five Hauntings) at St Magnus International Festival conducted by Alexander Verdernikov, London Philharmonic Orchestra (Das Rheingold) under Vladimir Jurowski over multiple seasons, Royal Scottish National Orchestra (Carmen title role), the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra (Christmas Oratorio) conducted by John Butt, the Seattle Symphony (Mozart Requiem) under Itzhak Perlman, with conductor Nicholas Collon at both the Bregenz Festival (in orchestral song cycle woman.life.song) and with the BBC Symphony Orchestra (Grania and Diarmid), and at LSO St. Luke’s with conductor André de Ridder (woman.life.song).

She has performed at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, at Müpa Budapest conducted by Peter Eötvös, with The King’s Consort at Château de Versailles, with Trevor Pinnock and Friends, for whom she sang the title role in Dido and Aeneas at Wigmore Hall, the Dunedin Consort, most notably as mezzo soloist on their Gramophone Award-winning Mozart Requiem recording, with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (Giulio Cesare), and with Ensemble Resonanz in a live broadcast of the Christmas Oratorio in cooperation with Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and Bachfest Leipzig. Rowan made her Shanghai Concert Hall debut last season with the renowned Kuss Quartet.

Creator, director and eclectic programme curator of new opera and song-related formats, her work often centres women’s stories, blurring boundaries of genre, discipline and aesthetic.

A recent collaboration with composer Kate Whitley and Ted Hughes Award-winning poet Hollie McNish produced Gorgeous Beasts, commissioned by and premiered at Oxford International Song Festival 2021. The piece was subsequently performed as part of all- female composer programme wom3n at Wigmore Hall on International Women’s Day 2022. Her costumed concert-concept She Represents, based around the New Women of 1930’s Berlin, was featured on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row with Kirsty Wark in autumn 2024.

Further performances in song include recitals for Opéra de Lille, Perth Festival of the Arts, with the Prince Consort, and multiple appearances at Wigmore Hall. Rowan collaborates often with pianists Sholto Kynoch and Jonathan Ware.

Her discography includes the Gramophone Award-winning Mozart Requiem with the Dunedin Consort for Linn Records, The Trial by Philip Glass for Orange Mountain Music, Honegger's König David with the Prometheus Ensemble and Junges Ensemble Berlin for Rondeau Productions, and a disc of Wolf Lieder on Stone Records from Oxford Lieder, together with Roderick Williams, Katarina Karnéus, Neal Davies, Adrian Thompson and Sholto Kynoch.

Updated September 2025