Gillian Webster
soprano
Born in Scotland, soprano Gillian Webster studied at the Royal Northern College of Music and the National Opera Studio. Recent engagements have included SOLOMON with Paul McCreesh and the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Wroclaw, Gismonda OTTONE for English Touring Opera and ELIJAH with Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Other recent engagements include the Countess LE NOZZE DI FIGARO in Portugal; Aci Galatea e Polifemo with Paul McCreesh at London’s Wigmore Hall and Vienna’s Konzerthaus, Haydn Creation with The Ulster Orchestra, the soprano solo in Handel’s oratorio Israel in Egypt with the Radio Philharmonie Norddeutscher Rundfunk, Dvorak Stabat Mater in Wroclaw, Il Penseros in Handel L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato in London, Beaune Krakow and Rotterdam, Handel arias with The Avison Ensemble and a triumphant title-role AGRIPPINA for English Touring Opera.
Gillian has appeared regularly at the Royal Opera House in roles including Pamina and First Lady DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE; Contessa LE NOZZE DI FIGARO; Ilia IDOMENEO; Servilia LA CLEMENZA DI TITO; First and Second Nieces PETER GRIMES; Micaëla CARMEN; Mimi LA BOHEME; Euridice ORFEO ED EURIDICE; Marzelline FIDELIO; Woglinde and Wellgunde DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN; and the title roles in LE COQ D`OR and KATYA KABANOVA. She has also sung Pamina DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE and Leila LES PECHEURS DE PERLES for English National Opera.
Gillian Webster’s international opera engagements have included Pamina DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE in Stuttgart; Euridice ORFEO ED EURIDICE at the Komische Oper Berlin; Contessa LE NOZZE DI FIGARO at Vlaamse Opera; Servilia LA CLEMENZA DI TITO at l’Opéra de Nancy; Micaëla CARMEN in Tours; Mimi LA BOHÈME in Las Palmas; Comtesse de la Roche DIE SOLDATEN and Elsa LOHENGRIN in Nantes; Elsa LOHENGRIN in Dijon; First Lady DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE in Bordeaux, Geneva, Aix-en-Provence, Chorégies d’Orange, Amsterdam and at the Bastille; Ginevra ARIODANTE with Les Musiciens du Louvre; Vitellia LA CLEMENZA DI TITO in Metz and many other roles and houses throughout Europe.
A noted exponent of baroque music and of the concert works of Mahler, Strauss, Mozart and Beethoven, she has sung under the baton of Sir Colin Davis, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Sir Bernard Haitink, Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Sir Georg Solti Paul McCreesh, Marc Minkowski, and Jeffrey Tate. Concert engagements have included Mahler Symphony No. 4 with the New York Philharmonic; Strauss Four Last Songs with L’Orchestre de l’Opéra de Nancy; Beethoven Missa Solemnis with the Madrid National Orchestra; Pallas Athene in Gluck PARIDE ED ELENA; Galatea ACIS AND GALATEA with Les Musiciens du Louvre; and Aci ACI GALATEA E POLIFEMO on tour in Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK with the Gabrieli Consort under Paul McCreesh.
Regular chamber music recitals in works by Shostakovich, Chausson, Schubert and Schoenberg have seen her perform with the Alice Ader Ensemble, the Arpeggione quartet, the Talich quartet and the Wanderer trio, taking part last year in a Shostakovitch festival at the Konzert Haus, Berlin.
Recordings include Beethoven Choral Symphony; the roles of Second Niece PETER GRIMES; Pallas Athene PARIDE ED ELENA; and DVDs of ORFEO ED EURIDICE and DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE with the Royal Opera.
