Clare Presland
Mezzo Soprano
Current and future engagements for Clare Presland include PIA in the world premiere of Turnage’s Festen Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and The Finnish National Opera and Ballet, PRINCE ORLOFSKY Die Fledermaus Opera Holland Park, MRS SEDLEY Peter Grimes Teatro dell’opera di Roma, Ligeti’s Requiem London Philharmonic Orchestra and BBC Proms, Frauenliebe und Lieben Wigmore Hall, AUNTIE Peter Grimes, AKSINYA/FEMALE CONVICT Lady Macbeth of Mtsenk, PAGE Salome Staatsoper Hamburg, HIPPOLYTA A Midsummer Night’s Dream Teatro de la Maestranze, Seville, Glyndebourne, Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival, SUSANNA Il segreto di Susanna revival Opera Holland Park, and Dani Howard’s one woman show Yellow Wallpaper (world premiere) Copenhagen Festival and Opera Nova Festival in Prague. Clare will debut the role of LUCRETIA in The Rape of Lucretia at the English Touring Opera. She was a Chilcott Award winner.
Recent performances include QUEEN OF HEARTS in Gerald Barry’s Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, a co-production with Royal Opera House Covent Garden and Irish National Opera (released on video), AKSINYA Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk Opéra de Lyon, MRS LOVETT Sweeney Todd West Green House Opera, HERMIA A Midsummer Night’s Dream Aldeburgh Festival, Snape Maltings, English National Opera, Hyogo Performing Arts Center in Japan and HIPPOLYTA Opéra de Lille, La Traviata Théatre des Champs Elysées and Musikfest Bremen, VARVARA Káťa Kabanová, COUNTESS SUSANNA Il segreto di Susanna and POPOVA in Walton’s The Bear Opera Holland Park, the world premiere of Alexander Goehr’s Combat of Joseph della Reina and the Devil Wigmore Hall, KOMPONIST Ariadne auf Naxos Longborough Festival, PATIENT 2 Venables’ 4.48 Psychosis (world premiere) Royal Opera House, Covent Garden at the Lyric Hammersmith, CHRISTINA Eichberg’s Glare (world premiere) Linbury Studio at Royal Opera House Covent Garden, and KITCHEN BOY Rusalka Scottish Opera.
Roles for English National Opera have included LUCIENNE Die Tote Stadt, REALTOR Tansy Davies’ Between Worlds (world premiere), MARGRET Wozzeck, WARDROBE MISTRESS/SCHOOLBOY/PAGE Lulu, SONYETKA Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, FLORA La Traviata, MERCEDES Carmen, WOWKLE La fanciulla del West, SECOND LADY The Magic Flute, and SECOND GENTLEMAN Julietta.
Concerts have included work with the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Barbican, Wigmore Hall, Three Choirs Festival, and the English Symphony Orchestra. Clare trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and was a Britten Pears Young Artist. She studies with Dame Felicity Palmer.
Watch
Management
Emma Ventris
Mobile: + 44 (0) 7780315176
Email: emma@atholestill.co.uk
Representation: Worldwide
"Clare Presland sings the role with delicious clarity, velvety low down and steely high up. She cannily underplays the woman’s mental decline, leaving us to oscillate between sharing her delusion and seeing it for what it is’"
Financial Times, Copenhagen Festival
"Clare Presland’s intense Composer, just the right mixture of arrogant aesthetic focus, youthful bravado and desperate vulnerability: Presland’s explosive realisation that “Musik ist heilige Kunst” was tearjerking, while her relationship with Darren Jeffrey’s tawny-voiced, worldly Music-Master felt both tempestuous and longstanding"
Bachtrack
""Clare Presland is superb as the Composer, capturing the ardour, youth, sexiness, and commitment to art. Her voice has a wonderful, unique timbre and her acting is completely appealing."
Plays to See
"Led by Clare Presland's blazing Hermia, her warm mezzo rising to full scorn when she was insulted by Eleanor Dennis' lofty Helena."
Bachtrack
"Mezzo-soprano Clare Presland gives a powerful portrayal, both vocally and dramatically, of the central character, whose self-analysis, fears and insecurities are explored with focused determination."
The Yellow Paper, The Stage, Sadlers Wells
"Clare Presland’s Susanna flirts and schemes delightfully, conspiring with the audience in every glance and self-conscious gesture. Musically too, she holds the centre, matching John Andrews’ orchestra for lush, Italianate warmth""
Arts Desk
"Clare Presland's sparky Hermia, rich toned and incisively sung was the most successful"
Hermia, ENO, Opera Magazine
"Varvara, is superbly depicted by Clare Presland, another OHP debutante who has already appeared at ENO (four parts in Lulu) as well as the Royal Opera at both Hammersmith (4.48 Psychosis) and the Linbury (Glare). Presland shone in her role: one sees her career going from strength to strength. Her contribution to the third act, in particular, was notably impassioned"
Varvara, OHP, Seen and Heard
""Clare Presland uses the full range of her smoky mezzo""
Carmen, The Times
"This one-woman show features the refined mezzo voice of Clare Presland, whose dramatic interpretation and vocal premise remained flawless throughout. Her natural charm, comedic skill and a somewhat misguided Internet lifestyle made for a LOL (laugh-out-loud) characterisation"
Huffington Post, The Looking Screen
"Amongst the cast, there was a stellar performance from Clare Presland...her acting ability was matched with a fabulous rich tone, and soaring coloratura"
The British Theatre Guide, Messiah Staged
