The McGlashan Trust Award (2019)

Finalist in The Elizabeth Harwood Memorial Prize (2020)

The Joyce and Michael Kennedy Award for the Singing of Strauss (2019)

Scottish Soprano Rachel Speirs is a versatile and charismatic performer and teacher. She is currently completing a Master of Music degree at the Royal Northern College of Music under the tutelage of Sarah Rhodes, generously supported by the Scottish International Educational Trust, Headley Trust, Hargreaves and Ball Trust, the Mario Lanza Foundation, The McGlashan Trust, and The Cross Trust. In 2019 Rachel was winner of the Joyce and Michael Kennedy Award for the singing of Strauss, adjudicated by Sir Simon Keenlyside and in March 2020 was a finalist in the prestigious Elizabeth Harwood Memorial Prize at the RNCM. This season (2019/20) Rachel will sing the role of Maria Bertram in Jonathan Dove's Mansfield Park with RNCM Opera, before joining Grange Park Opera Chorus and Wexford Festival Chorus for their 2020 performances. She also looks forward to singing the role of Lotty with Retrospect Opera for their recording of G.A. MacFarren's The Soldier's Legacy in September 2020. All upcoming event details can be found on the Events page.

Rachel’s most recent operatic roles include Aminta in Il Re Pastore, Voice of a Bird in The Pilgrim's Progress (RNCM Opera), and Pamina and Papagena (Flat Pack Opera). She has also performed Second Lady and Second Spirit in Die Zauberflöte, Suor Osmina in Suor Angelica, Rose in Lakmé, Mustardseed in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Mary Hildebrand in Street Scene (RNCM Opera), and Monica in The Medium (Oxenfoord International Summer School). She has been a chorus member in Cosi fan Tutte and The Merry Widow (RNCM Opera), Carmen and Madame Butterfly (Heritage Opera), and The Rake’s Progress and Don Giovanni (British Youth Opera).

Rachel is a lover of song and poetry, particularly German Lieder, and is currently a member of the RNCM Songsters programme, which allows its members to explore and perform art song repertoire including Lieder, French Mélodie, and English Song. In March 2019 she was Highly Commended for her performance of Korngold's song cycle 'Unvergänglichkeit' in the Bessie Cronshaw and Frost Brownson Song Cycle Competition. As an Oratorio soloist she has performed Gounod's Messe Solennelle, Handel’s Messiah, Vaughan Williams’ The First Nowell, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, and Vivaldi’s Gloria with various choral societies across Britain. Rachel is also a keen recitalist and was honoured to perform Schubert’s Cantata The Shepherd on the Rock with Caroline Clemmow and Linda Merrick in a special memorial concert given for the late renowned pianist Anthony Goldstone in 2017. Rachel works regularly with British composers and performs contemporary music at a high level. In October 2018 Rachel premiered John Joubert’s latest work ‘Remember’ alongside the Villiers Quartet and recorderist John Turner at the William Alwyn Festival in Blythburgh. This was closely followed by another world premiere of ‘Elphyne’ by Henry George-Page, this time in Nottingham alongside the Nottingham Youth Orchestra, conductor Alex Robinson, and fellow RNCM soloists. In April, Rachel performed works by John Manduell, William Alwyn, Peter Crossley-Holland, and Thomas Pitfield as part of a celebration concert for the late founding principal of RNCM, Sir John Manduell.
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In her early years Rachel played the violin to Grade 8 standard and took Tap, Modern, Ballet, and Contemporary Dance classes and exams. She began singing at the age of 7 with the National Youth Choirs of Scotland with whom she featured as a soloist on a commercial recording of Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols. She attended the Junior Conservatoire at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland where she studied with Wilma McDougall and was awarded the Junior Cup for Opera in 2012. In the same year, she won the Judith Richmond Memorial Award for Oratorio and the Agnes Duncan Cup for Voice in the Glasgow Music Festival. From there she progressed to the Royal Northern College of Music to complete her Bachelor of Music degree in 2017 where – after a short diversion to Berlin, Germany in 2018 – she has returned to complete her studies and develop her instrument.
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Alongside the early stages of her career as a freelance Soprano, Rachel teaches voice and music to a range of ages and in a variety of settings from Primary School Classroom to Private Adult Lessons. She is an enthusiastic Vocal Tutor for Stagecoach Performing Arts and has experience in leading community workshops for children and adults. She is also proud to be a 'Dementia Friend' and to have worked closely with Community Interest Company 'SoundUp Arts' in their music facilitation projects for people living with dementia. Rachel also works as Chorus Manager for the RNCM Opera Chorus and RNCM Chamber Choir.

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