ABOUT
“There is little doubt that one day, Durham will be dazzling us with vocal fireworks in the manner of Ann Hallenberg or Vivica Genaux”
Baroquiades
Grace Durham was born in London, and began her studies as a linguist, graduating in French and Italian from Clare College, Cambridge in 2012. She continued her training as a singer at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and the National Opera Studio, and from 2017 to 2019 was a member of the Junges Ensemble at the Semperoper Dresden. A prize-winner in several international competitions, in 2019 she was awarded First Prize in both the Pietro Antonio Cesti Competition for Baroque Opera, and the Concours international de la mélodie française de Toulouse. She is currently based in Paris.
Grace’s current and recent opera roles include Zaida Il turco in Italia for Glyndebourne, Marguerite La Damnation de Faust in concert with the CBSO, The Presenter in Tippett’s New Year with Birmingham Opera Company, Angelina La Cenerentola with Nevill Holt Opera, and Zweite Dame Die Zauberflöte and Giovanna Rigoletto at the Opernhaus Zürich. Other recent highlights include Mercédès Carmen and Second Maid Elektra at the Opéra National du Capitole de Toulouse, Deuxième Prêtresse/Femme Grecque Iphigénie en Tauride at the Opéra National de Lorraine, Kitchen Girl Rusalka for Garsington Opera and the Edinburgh International Festival, Rosina Il barbiere di Siviglia for Lyric Opera Ireland, and the title role in Ariodante (cover) with Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre. At the Semperoper Dresden, she performed Cherubino Le nozze di Figaro, Zweite Dame Die Zauberflôte, Flora Bervoix La Traviata and Lucienne Die Tote Stadt.
“Grace Durham brings real heart to the role of Angelina as she reveals a highly distinguished and moving mezzo-soprano.”
MusicOMH
“…nothing seems beyond her; she has a secure grasp of breath control, vocal flexibility, clarity of attack, quality of projection, energy and expressivity.”
Baroquiades
A passionate concert singer, Grace has collaborated with Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques on two solo recital programmes, Plaisir d’amour ne dure qu’un moment (Staatsoper Berlin, Festival Antiqua Bolzano) and From Purcell with Love (Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik). She returned to the Innsbrucker Festwochen in 2023 to sing Sadoc in the world première performance of Traetta’s Rex Salomon. In 2020/21, she was a laureate of the Académie Orsay-Royaumont with pianist Edward Liddall, and performed recitals based around Haydn Arianna a Naxos at the Opéra de Lille, Opéra de Montpellier, Opéra national de Bordeaux, Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse, Musée d’Orsay and London’s Wigmore Hall, where she returned in 2022 to sing Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music with the Nash Ensemble. In 2021, she also performed Ravel Shéhérazade with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Rudolfinum, Prague, and Chausson Poème de l’amour et de la mer at the Murten Classics Festival, Switzerland. Future concert engagements this season include Handel Messiah at the Munich Isarphilharmonie.
Grace has worked closely with several living composers, including Philip Venables, both on the German première of his opera 4.48 Psychosis (Semperoper Dresden) and on Numbers, for voice and chamber ensemble, which she premièred in 2021 at the Festival Musica, Strasbourg and at the Festival d’Automne, Paris with Collective Lovemusic. Last season, she performed both Numbers and the world première of Michelle Agnes Magalhaes’ The Word, also with Collective Lovemusic, at the Klangwerkstatt Festival Berlin, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and the Arsenal, Metz. In 2023, she created the role of Miranda in another world première, Michelle Agnes Magalhaes’ Après la tempête: a songbook for Shakespeare, at the Festival Messiaen with Ensemble Itinéraire. Later this season, she will return to Strasbourg to collaborate with Collective Lovemusic on a new programme for the Lieu d’Europe.
Her discography includes mélodies by Fauré, Ravel and Chausson as part of the album Aimer à loisir, recorded with Edward Liddall on B Records (2021), as well as two world première recordings with Christophe Rousset: Gregor Werner’s Job (Job’s Wife), and Traetta’s Rex Salomon (Sadoc), both due for release in 2024.
