Lindsay Bramley - Mezzo Soprano
Lindsay Bramley read Music at The Queen's College, Oxford as an academic scholar. Originally trained as a pianist, she studied singing with David Mason and started singing professionally whilst at university. Since then, she has performed in Israel, Ireland, France, Austria and Canada as well as the UK. She has participated in masterclasses with Mary Plazas and Sally Burgess in London and with Grace Bumbry at the Salzburg Festival, where she won a course prize. She won a scholarship to study contemporary opera at the Banff Institute of Contemporary Arts in Canada and stayed on for two years in their professional opera ensemble.
Lindsay has sung with a wide variety of opera companies around the UK, making her debut as Cardella in New Chamber Opera’s Lo Frato ‘nnamorato. Recent roles include Marcellina - Le Nozze di Figaro, The Countess - The Queen of Spades, Florence Pike - Albert Herring, Public Opinion - Orpheus in the Underworld, Ragonde - Count Ory, Ulrica - Un Ballo in Maschera, Flora - La Traviata, Annio - La Clemenza di Tito, Maddalena - Rigoletto, Orlofsky - Die Fledermaus, Baba the Turk - The Rake’s Progress, Mrs Grose - The Turn of the Screw, The Fairy Queen - Iolanthe, Lady Sangazure - The Sorcerer and Katisha - The Mikado.
Lindsay specialises in 20th century and contemporary music and has performed Peter Maxwell Davies’s The Medium and Miss Donnithorne’s Maggot, the former as part of the composer’s 75th birthday celebrations. Other contemporary work includes the title role in the premiere of The Judgement of Theodora for English National Opera’s Contemporary Music Studio; The Angel in the premiere of Falling Across for Birmingham Repertory Theatre; Michael Howard/Tony Blair in Newsnight: The Opera at Battersea Arts Centre; Mere d’Iseut in Le Vin Herbe for Ardente Opera and Paul Clark’s award-winning The Silver Swan performed in the ROH Linbury Studio and at the Edinburgh Festival. She has also been a regular invited participant in Jane Manning’s annual series of masterclasses. She recorded Andrew Wilson’s Four Songs from the late Tang at the Royal College of Music, conducted by Edwin Roxburgh.
Recent performances include Emily Howards’ Songs from Dickens for contemporary music group Second Movement at the Grosvenor Chapel and Francesca Cuzzoni in Battle of the Rival Queens at the Handel House museum. She has also covered Marcellina in Figaro’s Wedding for Co-Opera and Mandane in Thomas Arne’s Artaxerxes for New Chamber Opera.
Lindsay regularly performs as an oratorio soloist and recitalist; she sings repertoire ranging from Handel to Mahler, Rossini and Verdi as well as her contemporary music work. Lindsay is an experienced ensemble singer, most recently for Co-Opera (2009), Ardente Opera (2010) and Opera Holland Park (2010).
Lindsay also works as a repetiteur and chorus master. She has previously conducted Peak Opera’s productions of Patience and Yeomen of the Guard at the Buxton G&S Festival and will be conducting La Traviata for Park Opera in February 2012.
In summer 2012, Linsday will be covering the role of Alisa in Opera Holland Park’s production of Lucia di Lammermoor.