Inverness-born Scottish soprano Claire Lumsden is currently based in Weimar, Germany. She completed her postgraduate studies at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland under the tutelage of Kathleen McKellar-Ferguson, and her Bachelor of Music with Honours at the University of Edinburgh whilst studying with soprano Irene Drummond. She is a winner of the Elgar Spedding Memorial Lieder Prize, a third prize winner of the Hugh S. Robertson Scot Song Prize, and a finalist for Tovey Memorial Prize.

Operatic roles include Gertrud (Hänsel und Gretel), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Le Maire / Chorus (L'etoile), Valletto, Virtù, Amore 3, and Damigella (L'incoronozione di Poppea), Second Woman (Dido and Aeneus), Pitti-Sing (The Mikado), and Lady Angela (Patience). She recently made her professional debut in the chorus of Opera Holland Park for their 2024 season. Opera scenes have included Helena (A Midsummer Night's Dream), Zdenka (Arabella), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Alcina, Romilda (Serses), Ilia (Idomeneo), and Blanche (Dialogues des Carmelites). Solo concert engagements include Mozart's Requiem, Poulenc's Gloria, Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Handel's Messiah, Dvorak’s Mass in D, and a tour with the Dunedin Consort as a participant of their ‘Bridging the Gap’ scheme under the baton of Grete Pederson. She gained valuable choral experience singing with the National Youth Choir of Scotland and the Edinburgh University Singers, performing works such as Rachmaninoff's All-Night Vigil, Bach's St. Matthew's Passion, and MacMillan's Culham Motets

Other highlights include being the soprano soloist in Michael Giacchino’s Advent for ‘Vital Signs for the Planet’ (a concert at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall for COP26, conducted by renowned American conductor Emil de Cou), recording 3 Songs for Molly Bloom in New York City with emerging American composer and conductor Luke Poeppel, and appearing as a soloist in two BBC Scotland specials on Christmas Day and Easter Sunday.