Biography

Born and bred in Swansea, Elin read Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic at Clare College Cambridge, before moving to the musical world and carving a career as one of Britain’s leading young sopranos. Her début album with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Eternal Light, entered the classical charts in 2007 at number two, her Signum release in 2009, Patrick Hawes’s ‘Song of Songs’ was CD of the week on Classic FM, and her recording of Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with Florilegium was Choice of the Month in BBC Music Magazine in 2010. Elin is the first singer ever to record Bach’s Alles mit Gott, a birthday ode written in 1713 and discovered in 2005. She first received great acclaim for her ‘Pie Jesu’ on Naxos’ award-winning recording of the Rutter Requiem, and was praised as soloist in Bach’s St Matthew Passion at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, under Sir John Eliot Gardiner. She has performed in Classic FM’s fifteenth birthday concert, in the BBC Proms in the Park, at Songs of Praise’s ‘The Big Sing’, gave the World Première of Sir John Tavener’s Requiem in Liverpool Cathedral (also recorded for EMI), and in 2009 she made her début at the Wigmore Hall with the Academy of Ancient Music, was invited to perform in the Vatican on Easter Sunday, and appeared at the Edinburgh International Festival with the Royal Flanders Ballet. Recent performances include Handel Messiah in Bridgewater Hall with the Halle Orchestra, and Bach Christmas Oratorio on Radio 3. She has performed in many of the world’s leading venues, among them the Lincoln Center, New York; the San Francisco Symphony Hall; the Royal Albert Hall; Birmingham Symphony Hall; Westminster Abbey; the Conzertgebouw in Amsterdam; the Palau de Musica, Barcelona; the Casa de Musica in Porto; and St Mark’s, Venice.

“Plenty of plaudits for Elin Manahan Thomas…
Crystal clear”
The Times, 2008

Concert performances include Orff Carmina Burana with the RPO in the Albert Hall; Blow’s Venus and Adonis in the Wigmore Hall; Bach Mass in B Minor in the Royal Festival Hall with the Bach Choir; a British tour of Handel with the Academy of Ancient Music; a Songs of Praise Messiah  special from Birmingham Town Hall; Harvey Passion and Resurrection at the Casa de Musica, Porto; Bach St John Passion with Stephen Layton in St John Smith’s Square; solo recitals in the Cheltenham, Chester and Canterbury Festivals; an evening of opera with the orchestra of WNO; a gala concert to close the Llangollen International Eisteddfod; Mendelssohn Elijah with BBC NOW for Radio 3 from St David’s Hall; Fauré Requiem with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; Handel Messiah with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra; the Mozart Vespers in the Mostly Mozart Festival for Harry Christophers; Weir King Harald Saga for BBC Radio 3, in collaboration with the composer; a concert of Spring Garden songs in the Temple Church, London; an anniversary concert for the RWCMD in Llandaff Cathedral; Handel Israel in Egypt for Stephen Layton in the Three Choirs Festival; Bach Mass in B Minor with Huddersfield Choral Society; Vivaldi Gloria in the Snape Maltings with the CLS; Handel Dixit Dominus for Richard Hickox in Sherborne Abbey; Mozart concert arias with the Gabrieli Consort in the Barbican Hall; Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with Peter Schreier in St John’s Smith Square; Mozart’s Mass in C Minor in King’s College Chapel; and Mozart Vespers on a tour of the USA. On television, Elin recently appeared in BBC 2’s Birth of British Music, singing ‘Dido’s Lament’ by Purcell; in BBC 4’s series Sacred Music, and in Channel 4’s How Music Works, presented by Howard Goodall, as well as being the voice of the recent Audi adverts! Elin was also the presenter and main performer in S4C’s six-part documentary Y Sopranos.

On the opera stage, Elin has played the part of Israelitish Woman in Buxton Festival’s acclaimed staging of Handel Samson; Pamina (Mozart The Magic Flute) at the Helix Theatre, Dublin and Bridgewater Hall, Manchester; Belinda (Dido and Aeneas) with OAE in the Queen Elizabeth Hall; Ninetta (Mozart La Finta Semplice) and Arminda (Mozart La Finta Giardiniera) in New College, Oxford; Despina (Mozart Cosi Fan Tutte) for Robin Ticciati and Cambridge Opera; Mermaid (Weber Oberon) and Coryphée (Berlioz Les Troyens) at the Châtelet Theatre, Paris; and Night/Nymph in the Armonico Consort’s popular production of The Fairy Queen.

Elin has sung on numerous discs, and has featured as soloist for labels such as Universal, Naxos, Chandos, Signum and Sain. Her solo albums range from the baroque to Haydn to Hawes, and future releases include a baroque programme with trumpeter Crispian Steele Perkins, Vivaldi Nulla in Mundo with Florilegium, and Mozart Requiem with King’s College Cambridge.

© Elin Manahan Thomas 2012 All Rights Reserved.
Permission required to use or duplicate content found
within this site in print or electronic form.

Crafted with care by colesi.com