Mezzo Soprano Rowan Hellier from Perthshire in Scotland, studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama where she gained a Bachelor of Music (Performance) Degree with first class honours in 2005. She is currently in her second and final year of the Opera Course at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, London, from where she gained a Masters of Music with distinction and recently graduated, also with distinction, from the Master of Music in Performance (Guildhall Artist) degree.

At home on both the operatic and oratorio stage, Rowan is increasingly in demand throughout the country. Recent opera performances include Hänsel, understudy (Hänsel und Gretel) Glyndebourne Festival Opera; Mazet (La Colombe) GSMD; Lola (Cavelleria Rusticana) Barbican Hall; Zweite Dame (Die Zauberflöte) GSMD; Nancy (Albert Herring) ‘Of Water and Tears’ GFO Jerwood Project; The Daughter (Vanishing Bridegroom) RSAMD and Mercedes (Carmen) Haddo House Opera. She has also performed in three GSMD Opera Showcases at the Bridewell Theatre and GSMD Studio Theatre, singing extracts from various roles: Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier), Cenerentola (La Cenerentola), Nerone (L’Incoronatione di Poppea) and Charlotte (Werther). Rowan was a member of the Glyndebourne Chorus for the 2007 season.

Oratorio and concert engagements have included recitals for Perth Festival of the Arts, the Oxford Lieder Festival, Handel House and La Chanson D’Ève with Graham Johnson for the Mirages concert series, GSMD. She also performed Judith Weir’s song-cycle woman.life.song as part of the Barbican and BBC Symphony Orchestra Composer of the month series at LSO St. Luke’s, conducted by André De Ridder and broadcast on BBC Radio 3.

Rowan has already enjoyed the privilege of working and performing with many distinguished musicians, including Graham Johnson; Iain Burnside; Eugene Asti; Malcolm Martineau; Philip Langridge; Ann Murray; Sarah Walker; Sian Edwards; Andrew Greenwood; Nicholas Kok; Kazushi Ono and Vladimir Jurowski.

She is gratefully supported by a Sybil Tutton Scholarship, The Kathleen Trust, The Ogden Trust, The Vintner’s Company, The Sir James Caird Travelling Scholarship Trust (Tayside Scholarship) and she is proud to be a Samling Scholar.

In 2009 she will cover Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro) for Welsh National Opera and both Sesto (Giulio Cesare) and the Kitchen Boy (Rusalka) for Glyndebourne Festival Opera.