Kirsty Hopkins - Soprano
Kirsty Hopkins read Music at Manchester University and then continued her post-graduate vocal training at Trinity College of Music where she won the Elizabeth Schumann Lieder Prize. She now enjoys a versatile career performing all over the world for some of today’s most exciting and renowned conductors and ensembles.
Kirsty has been a proud member of world-leading ensemble The Sixteen for 14 years. She brings a wealth of knowledge of renaissance and baroque repertoire to her extensive educational work, both with adult choirs and young people.
Recent performances on stage include First Witch in Purcell Dido and Aeneas at Grange Festival; lead roles in the community operas The Moon Hares and Fairy Queen: Three Wishes combining the music of James Redwood and Henry Purcell; and an adaptation of The Magic Flute for Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment with performances to young people throughout England; soprano soloist in The Sixteen and Streetwise Opera’s The Passion – a staged version of Bach’s St Matthew Passion receiving rave reviews and broadcast on BBC4; playing Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in the UK, in Charlotte Bray’s opera Entanglement; Betrayal, I Fagiolini’s murderous fusion of renaissance music and contemporary dance; onstage singer for Rambert in their ballet Labyrinth of Love with music by Michael Daugherty and Thomas Tallis at The Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at Shakespeare’s Globe.
Recent concert performances include the European premiere at St John’s Smith Square of Howard Goodall’s Invictus – A Passion; Purcell Indian Queen and Handel Dixit Dominus for Harry Christophers at the Edinburgh Festival and Sydney Opera House; Soprano Evangelist in Arvo Pärt’s Passio for Eric Whitacre conducting Hamburg Symphony Orchestra; Glory of Venice programme for OAE; Bach Lutheran Mass in G Minor for Australian Chamber Orchestra; Handel Israel in Egypt for Sir John Eliot Gardiner and Monteverdi Vespers for OAE throughout the UK and Europe.
Kirsty features on several recordings including Howard Goodall’s Invictus: A Passion, Purcell Indian Queen for The Sixteen and Handel at Vauxhall for London Early Opera. Television performances include appearances on Charles Hazelwood’s The Birth of British Music, The Sixteen’s Sacred Music at Christmas and The Passion on BBC4.
Future plans include more Fairy Queen: Three Wishes around the UK and Mozart Magic Flute and the Bird That Would Be Free in 2025 with OAE at Queen Elizabeth Hall.
Kirsty is a founder member of The Roxy Dots – a girl group bringing Andrews Sisters style to the south of the UK as often as possible. When not singing, Kirsty is a freelance producer, working with opera companies and ensembles to create vibrant, exciting new productions for tomorrow’s audiences.
