Soprano Catriona Holsgrove is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, London where she studied with Raymond Connell and Iain Ledingham, and, in 2019, gained a Master of Arts degree with distinction. Catriona was a Boise Foundation Scholar 2017 and during her time at the Academy, she was selected by the Josephine Baker Trust as one of their approved artists. She was runner up and very highly commended in the prestigious Major Van Someren-Godfrey Memorial Prize for English Song. She was a member of the choir for the Royal Academy of Music’s Bach the European series and the soloist for Handel’s Gloria.
Before moving to London, Catriona read Music at Cardiff University, where she was the recipient of the David Lloyd Scholarship and on graduating, was awarded the Sir Geraint Evans Prize. Whilst at Cardiff, she was a member of Genesis Sixteen and a Scholar with the BBC National Chorus of Wales.
Originally from Gloucester, Catriona began singing with the Gloucester Cathedral Youth Choir and was the winner of the Keith Nutland Award at the Cheltenham Festival. Catriona has kept her links with Gloucester as the Soprano in Bach's Magnificat, Handel’s Dixit Dominus, Vivaldi’s Gloria and Haydn's Creation with Gloucester Choral Society.
During the pandemic, Catriona was able to continue performing through online concerts and recordings. This included Mendelssohn's Hear My Prayer and part-song recordings with Penshurst Choral Society as well as solo recordings with North Herts Guild of Singers. She also joined an octet of Gloucester singers in a performance for the Holst Society which included premieres of recently discovered songs by Holst. Catriona is also part of a new initiative, the Lerion Consort, a professional ensemble founded and conducted by Joe Tobin.
In December, Catriona sang with Tenebrae under Nigel Short in three performances of Handel's Messiah, the most notable being in the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg.