Elizabeth Watts was a chorister at Norwich Cathedral and studied archaeology at Sheffield University before studying singing at the Royal College of Music in London. She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music by Sheffield in 2013, and became a Fellow of the RCM in 2017. A prolific recording artist, her releases include critically acclaimed albums of Schubert and Strauss lieder, Mozart arias with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, works by Alessandro Scarlatti with The English Concert, and most recently Handel’s Brockes-Passion with the Academy of Ancient Music.

Past engagements include Mahler’s Symphony No 4 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Robin Ticciati at the Glyndebourne Festival; Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride with the Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España and Nathalie Stutzmann; Mozart concert arias with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Richard Egarr; Britten’s Spring Symphony with the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle; Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle with the LPO and Gustavo Gimeno; and Vaughan Williams’s A Sea Symphony with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and Sakari Oramo.

Highlights of Elizabeth’s many appearances at the BBC Proms include Mahler’s Symphony No 2 with the BBCSO and Oramo; Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges with the LSO and Rattle; Schubert songs with the BBC Philharmonic and John Storgårds; and Beethoven arias with the NDR Radiophilharmonie and Andrew Manze.

Opera roles have included Countess (Le nozze di Figaro), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni) and Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte) for Welsh National Opera; Almirena (Rinaldo) for Glyndebourne; Marzelline (Fidelio) for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; and most recently Countess (Le nozze di Figaro) for English National Opera.

Elizabeth won the 2007 Rosenblatt Recital Song Prize at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition, and the 2006 Kathleen Ferrier Award. She is a former BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist, and was awarded a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award in 2011.