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Competition-winning alum earns chance to work with English National Opera

Wed 5 February 2020

2017 vocal graduate Lucy Elston has won in the Opera category of Wilton’s Music Hall’s Music4All competition for emerging artists, impressing adjudicators with her powerful interpretation of Je dis que rien ne m’épouvante from Carmen.

As an award-winner, Lucy will receive mentoring from the prestigious English National Opera (ENO), supporting her development as a professional opera singer. A trailblazer in the performing arts for nearly 90 years, ENO continues to present critically acclaimed opera productions both classic and contemporary.

Lucy comments –

“I am looking forward to continuing my journey towards achieving strength, elegance and vibrancy on stage… and to introduce myself to people from the industry and benefit from their expertise and mentoring”.

Lucy will showcase the results of her mentoring at Wilton’s Music Hall’s inaugural Music 4All Festival in May, where she will perform alongside other talented young artists. Excited by this prospect, Lucy says –

“I feel this will be a fantastic opportunity to meet other young artists of all different kinds, across different genres”.

A recipient of the Kathleen Roberts Scholarship Award, Lucy studied for an MMus in Vocal Performance at Trinity Laban, graduating with Distinction. Alongside fellow students, Lucy founded opera company Opera in the Meantime for which she has directed and produced three successful shows so far. Speaking of her Trinity Laban experience, Lucy says –

“I am so grateful for the time I spent at Trinity Laban. I had a wonderful singing teacher, Alison Wells, studied in a beautiful setting and worked with some of the world’s most talented coaches and musicians. The atmosphere at Trinity was really special. I made many lifelong friends and felt it to be a nurturing environment in which talent has a chance to grow and develop”.

Since graduating, Lucy has also been a finalist of the Douglas Rees Memorial Young Opera Singer of the Year 2019 and was awarded with an honorary mention by the panel of the Kyrenia Opera Competition 2019.

The young soprano joins a number of our alumni who have had the opportunity to work closely with ENO. Currently, alumni Nardus Williams and Keel Watson are performing the roles of Micaëla and Zuniga in the 2020 production of Carmen.

To find out more about our vocal programmes, visit our study pages.

Image credit: Claire Shovelton