Elaine McKrill - Soprano

 

A graduate and Associate of the RAM and winner of the Mastersingers Wagner Singers Competition 2003, Elaine made her debut as Isolde with Angers Nantes Opéra (Axelrod/Py) in 2009 and subsequently sang further performances of the role for Opéra Dijon (Kawka/Py).  In the 2009 - 10 season Elaine sang Isolde at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, under Gianluigi Gelmetti and made her Strauss debut as Marianne Leitmetzerin Der Rosenkavalier at Covent Garden (Petrenko/Schlesinger) as well as singing Ortrud Lohengrin (excerpts) in concert under Anthony Legge in London.    

Highlights in 2011 included her debut with the Hallé Orchestra and Sir Mark Elder, singing Ortlinde in Die Walküre at the Bridgewater Hall, as part of the Manchester International Festival and her debut with the Netherlands Opera in Elektra, covering the title role and singing the Aufseherin (Albrecht/Decker). Elaine understudied the title role of Fidelio for Opera North and is also involved in their Ring Cycle project.  For the Mastersingers Company she sang Brünnhilde in excerpts from Götterdämmerung (Syrus/Cowell).  In concert Elaine performed songs from Mahler's Das Knaben Wunderhorn with the Cyprus Sinfonia at St John's, Smith Square.

In 2010, Elaine returned to St John's, Smith Square to sing Isolde in Act II ofTristan und Isolde with the Cyprus Sinfonia under Michael Thorne. She also sang the Act II duet and the Liebestod in concert with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra under Federico Cortese and KundryParsifal in concert under Nicholas Braithwaite.  

Her Wagner roles and performances include Brünnhilde in Die Walküre, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung (Chemnitz); Brünnhilde in Die Walküre and Götterdämmerung (Mastersingers, Edinburgh Opera Players); Isolde (Angers Nantes Opéra, Opéra Dijon, Genoa); Gutrune in Götterdämmerung and Brünnhilde in Siegfried (Scottish Opera); Isolde (Edinburgh Opera Players in concert); Sieglinde (Scottish Opera, ENO cover); Ortlinde (Royal Opera - Covent Garden, Aix-en-Provence Festival, Salzburg Festival, Hallé, Mastersingers, BBC Proms); Third Norn (Stuttgart); Wellgunde and Helmwige (Longborough Festival); Siegrune and Second Norn (State Opera of South Australia 1998); Freia (Chemnitz); Adriano in Rienzi and Kundry in Parsifal (Palace Opera).

Highlights in recent seasons have included her performances as Brünnhilde in the complete Ring Cycle in Chemnitz (Bareza/Heinicke) as well as Ortlinde in the Ring Cycles of the Aix-en-Provence and Salzburg Festivals with Sir Simon Rattle (d. Braunschweig) and the Berlin Philharmonic and also with Antonio Pappano (d. Warner) at the Royal Opera,Covent Garden.  In addition to her Wagner repertoire, Elaine has enjoyed success with Amelia Un Ballo in Maschera (Surrey Opera); Abigaille Nabucco (Skopje); Elettra Idomeneo (Neumünster); Gertrud in Hänsel und Gretel (Glyndebourne cover) and Female ChorusThe Rape of Lucretia.

In concert, Elaine recently sang Kundry in London,Vier letzte Lieder in Oxford and London, excerpts of Turandot and Maddalena Andrea Chenier in Presteigne, Fiordiligi with the Cyprus Sinfonia, Brünnhilde in Götterdämmerung  with the Northern Wagner Orchestra, Isolde's Liebestod with Brent Symphony Orchestra and Beethoven Missa Solemnis with the CBSO in Colston Hall.  She was the soloist in an all Russian programme with the Edinburgh Symphony Orchestra.

Her other concert repertoire includes Beethoven Symphony No. 9; Verdi Requiem; Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem; Mendelssohn Elijah; Mozart Requiem; Britten On This Island; Dyson The Canterbury Pilgrims; Orff Carmina Burana;  Shostakovitch Symphony 14; Strauss Vier letzte Lieder; Vaughan Williams A Sea Symphony; Wagner Wesendonck Lieder; Walton Façade and Weber Mass in G 'Jubelmesse' .