oxfordopeningnight.com/2017/11/09/review-candide (2017)

www.oxfordstudent.com/2017/11/09/candide-wond… (2017)

Laura completed her undergraduate studies at St Hilda’s College, Oxford, in June 2019, where she graduated with a First-Class Honours in Music. Before commencing her university studies, Laura sang with Glyndebourne Youth Opera in productions including Second Woman in Dido and Aeneas, in addition to Ninfa in Theatron Oneiron’s production of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo and chorus in Opera Brava’s production of Carmen. She continued pursuing her love of the stage by performing several roles with the University of Oxford Gilbert and Sullivan Society, including Mabel (The Pirates of Penzance), Angelina (Trial by Jury) and the titular role in Iolanthe, which was toured to the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival in Harrogate, and the role of Cunegonde in Barricade Art’s production of Bernstein’s Candide at the Oxford Playhouse. In early 2020 she performed the roles of Baroness Irene (Hadyn's La Vera Costanza) with New Chamber Opera and Zerlina (Mozart's Don Giovanni) with Oxford Alternative Orchestra.

Outside of the theatre, Laura has performed as a soloist with Newbury Symphony Orchestra, Ovingdean Choral Society, Oxford University Chorus and St Hilda’s College Choir, with repertoire including Vivaldi’s Gloria, Haydn’s Nelson Mass, and Schumann’s Paradies und Peri. She has frequently performed in masterclasses, including those with Andreas Scholl, James Conlon and English Touring Opera, in addition to recitals in the Jacqueline du Pré auditorium and as part of the New Chamber Opera series. In 2022 she was a finalist in the Elgar/Spedding Memorial Lieder Competition at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (unable to sing in the final due to contracting Covid-19) and achieved 2nd place in the Coro Nuovo Sussex Young Musician competition. She has sung with several choirs at Oxford, including Merton College Chapel Choir and Lincoln College Chapel Choir, and has held both choral and music scholarships at St Hilda’s College.

Laura particularly loves contemporary music, a passion she has had since performing in the premiere of David Bruce’s Nothing as a member of Glyndebourne Youth Opera. Since then, she has performed in operatic premieres including Toby Young’s Witch (chorus) and Joel Baldwin’s The Beginning of an Idea (Eva Lindberg), Manchester Contemporary Youth Opera’s Duality, a production consisting of six short operatic premieres by young composers (Maria Josefa/The Negative One), the title role in the premiere of Nicola LeFanu’s Cantata: St Hilda of Whitby and student-composed pieces in Oxford. In 2021 she reprised the role of Maria Josefa with MCYO as part of the Tête à Tête festival in London. She recently enjoyed working with composer Ellie Cherry to record a new song cycle, exploring the life of renaissance painter Artemisia Gentileschi through her own words.

Laura is currently studying for an MMus degree at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where she holds a scholarship, under Wilma MacDougall. She has been kindly supported by Help Musicians as a Postgraduate Award holder, by The Caird Trust, by the Sutherland Page Trust, and by Broadway Arts Festival.

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