HELEN LACEY

British soprano, Helen Lacey is a current student at the Royal Academy of Music, studying with Yvonne Howard and Raymond Connell. In 2017, she completed her BMus at the Royal Northern College of Music with a first-class honours degree. Here she was awarded the Chris Petty Prize for English Song, and the Elsie Thurston Prize. Helen is generously supported by the Mario Lanza Educational Foundation, the Clemence Charitable Trust, the Littledown Trust and the Peter Nutting Charitable Trust.

 

Helen began her early training in the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain and Glyndebourne Youth Opera. During this time, she was the recipient of the Kath Topping Vocal Award -a competition that supports young musicians from Kent. In 2012, she reached the final as one of four girl choristers in the BBC Radio 2 Young Chorister of the Year competition. Subsequently she made her solo debut at the Royal Albert Hall as the soprano soloist in Britten’s Te Deum and in Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb broadcast on Radio 3 from Leeds Town Hall.

 

Helen is a featured soloist on Will Todd’s Passion Music recorded for Signum Classics. She is also a ‘BBC Introducing’ Artist for Radio 3's In-Tune, and a Young Artist for Finchcocks Charity in Kent.  Among her recent engagements is Peter Sellars’ staging of Bach’s St. John Passion conducted by Sir Simon Rattle (OAE / German Tour), Bach’s cantata Ich Habe Genug at St Martin-in-the-Fields (Brandenburg Sinfonia), Haydn’s Creation conducted by Jane Glover at Dartington International Festival, and a performance at Latitude Festival this summer broadcast on In-Tune.         

Recently, Helen has been invited to performed in masterclasses with Dame Ann Murray, Sir John Tomlinson, Mary King and Dame Felicity Lott.

 

In collaboration with Anna Appleby (Rambert composer in residence), Helen performed in the world premiere of the opera-ballet ‘Citizens of Nowhere’ at the Tête à Tête opera festival in 2017. The work was written specifically for Helen, Ann Wilkes (soprano) and Emma Wheeler (mezzo).  Other operatic engagements include: Maid / Airforce woman in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos at the Glyndebourne Festival, Barbarina in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro at Dartington International Festival, chorus in Handel’s Semele with the OAE at the Musikverein, Papagena in Mozart’s The Magic Flute with City of Manchester Opera, Ilia in Mozart’s Idomeneo and Helena in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, both directed by John Ramster at the AIMS international music school. This years roles include: The title role in Marco da Gagliano's opera La Dafne at Brighton Early Music Festival in February 2020.

 

On the concert platform, recent performances include; soprano soloist for Mendelssohn’s Elijah at Rochester Cathedral, Mozart’s Requiem at St Martin-in-the-Fields and Faure’s Requiem at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral. Helen has also performed at Hackney Empire for BBC Friday Night is Music Night, Aldeburgh Festival and as a backing singer for A Kylie Christmas at the Royal Albert Hall.

 

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