Hilary Summers studied at the Royal Academy of Music and the National Opera Studio, London. Her engagements include Sorceress (Dido and Aeneas) with Les Arts Florissants and William Christie at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna, and worldwide; Dorinda (Acis e Galatea) at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Paris, and the Theater an der Wien; Mrs Sedley (Peter Grimes) at Glyndebourne; Hippolyta (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Geneviève (Pelléas et Mélisande) and Bartender in Charles Wuorinen’s Brokeback Mountain in Madrid; Tisbe (La Cenerentola) with Cecilia Bartoli in Salzburg; Stella in the world premiere of Elliott Carter’s What Next? at the Berlin Staatsoper, and subsequently at Carnegie Hall, New York, and in Chicago; Irma in the world premiere of Péter Eötvös’s Le Balcon in Aix-en-Provence, and subsequently on tour in Europe; Pierre Boulez’s Le Marteau sans maître throughout Europe with the Ensemble Intercontemporain conducted by the composer, and at the 2012 BBC Proms under Franz-Xavier Roth; Boulez’s Le Visage nuptial with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; the world premiere of George Benjamin’s Into the Little Hill in Paris and subsequently in New York and throughout Europe; Miss Prism in the world premiere of Gerald Barry’s The Importance of Being Earnest with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, and subsequently at the Royal Opera House Linbury Studio Theatre; Mrs Darling/Tiger Lily in Richard Ayres’s Peter Pan for Welsh National Opera; and long-standing collaborations with Joby Talbot and Michael Nyman, including world tours with the Michael Nyman Band.