Trinity Laban

Linda Hirst was born and grew up in Huddersfield, and studied flute and singing at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Her career began during the early music revival of the early seventies, with Roger Norrington, John Eliot Gardiner and David Munrow. From 1974-78 she was a Swingle Singer, she then co-founded Electric Phoenix. With both groups she travelled the world, leading to work with many living composers, and becoming internationally renowned, in particular for her performances of contemporary music.

She has performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras, conductors and chamber ensembles in festivals, broadcasts and recordings. Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire has been a constant thread through the last 25 years, and she has just completed a series for the Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House.

Recent concerts have taken her to the Buenos Aires Festival of Contemporary Music to sing Berio and Scelsi, and to Taipei for performances of Benedict Mason’s Chaplin Operas with the Ensemble Modern. This season she will sing Lachenmann in Cologne and Huddersfield with ensemble recherche.

Guildhall School of Music and Drama

Linda Hirst has worked in education throughout her career, has been Head of the Vocal Faculty at Trinity College of Music since 1995, and has given masterclasses in conservatoires, summer schools, the Teatro Colon, La Fenice and several American Universities.

• Ligeti (Aventures and Nouvelles Aventures - CD for Teldec)
• Berio (Folk Songs , Recital and A-Ronne - Proms, Geneva Festival)
• Henze (Elegy for Young Lovers - London Sinfonietta)
• Osborne (The Electrification of the Soviet Union)
• Knussen (Where the Wild Things Are for Glyndebourne)
• Muldowney (Lonely Hearts and Duration of Exile - Radio 3)
• Weir (Consolations of Scholarship and Hello Dolly, Goodbye Mummy - BBC 2)

• Fellow of Dartington College of Arts
• Hon Dlit, Huddersfield
• Trustee of the Hinrichsen Foundation