Soprano Claire Bessent read Music at Durham University and went on to complete an MMus in Concert Singing at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, supported by the Barcapel Foundation Scholarship. She was winner of the coveted Governor’s Recital Prize. Claire subsequently undertook further postgraduate vocal studies at the Royal College of Music.

Claire’s solo concert work includes Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers at St. John’s, Smith Square; Christmas concerts with the City of London Choir at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and St. Martin-in- the-Fields; Haydn’s Creation with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Chamber Orchestra under the late Sir Philip Ledger, broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and Handel’s Messiah with Gloucester Choral Society under Adrian Partington. Her work in opera includes roles with Garsington Opera, Grange Park Opera, Pimlico Opera, New Chamber Opera and British Youth Opera. Claire is also a workshop leader with Streetwise Opera, working on opera projects with various members of the community, including people who have experienced homelessness.

Claire is a deputy with the BBC Singers and is a regular member of the Choir of the King’s Consort and London Voices, with whom she sang in the Chinese premiere of Britten’s Peter Grimes in Beijing in 2013.