Biographie
British mezzo-soprano Anna Harvey studied on the opera course at the Royal Academy of Music under Elizabeth Ritchie and Iain Ledingham, graduating with the Alumni Development Award for a singularly distinguished studentship.
Harvey’s engagements in the current season include house debuts at the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar (Zulma L’Italiana in Algeri, Zweite Dame Die Zauberflöte, Groom/Theatregardrobiere/Gymnasiast Lulu, Kay Die Schneekönigin), Landestheater Altenburg in Gera (Mayor’s Wife Jenůfa, Gold) and Theater Nordhausen (Page Salome). Other engagements include an appearance at the Last Night of the BBC Proms in Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music, a recording for Hyperion directed by Jonathan Cohen, a performance of Handel’s Messiah on Good Friday at the Royal Albert Hall, and covers of Octavian Der Rosenkavalier and Prince Orlofsky Die Fledermaus for Welsh National Opera. From May 2017 she becomes a WNO Associate Artist and recipient of the Chris Ball Bursary.
Highlights last season included La Grosse Dame Les mamelles de Tirésias (Dutch National Opera), Cherubino Le nozze di Figaro (Longborough Opera and cover for Welsh National Opera), Bradamante Alcina (Longborough Festival Opera), cover Serafin Figaro Gets a Divorce (Welsh National Opera), Handel’s Messiah at the Royal Festival Hall and the Cadogan Hall, Bach’s Mass in B Minor with the Royal Northern Sinfonia under Paul McCreesh, and Vivaldi’s La Senna Festeggiante at the Spitalfields Festival with Harry Bicket and The English Concert.
Other recent operatic roles include the title role of Ariodante at the London Handel Festival, Hänsel Hänsel und Gretel for Garsington Opera at West Green House, Lapák the Dog The Cunning Little Vixen (Garsington Opera), Flosshilde Das Rheingold and Popova The Bear (both Royal Academy Opera), Jean The Choker (Tête à Tête), and Astron The Ice Break (Birmingham Opera Company and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra).
On the concert platform, Anna has performed under conductors including Masaaki Suzuki, Nicholas Cleobury and Jane Glover, with ensembles including the Hallé, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, London Mozart Players, English Chamber Orchestra, Gabrieli Consort, English Concert and the Bach Choir, and at venues including the Bridgewater Hall, Cadogan Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall and the Lincoln Center, New York.
A keen recitalist, Anna has performed solo recitals at venues including the Wigmore Hall, Holywell Music Room, Kettle's Yard, Garrick Club, and St George's, Hannover Square. Recordings include Messiah for BBC Radio 2, rare Schubert songs on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune, Ascendit (a CD of music for Passiontide with the Whitehall Choir) and Messiah for Abbey Road ‘Live Here Now’.
Anna is the recipient of numerous prizes, including the London Bach Society Bach Singers Prize in 2015 and a Leonard Ingrams Foundation Award from Garsington Opera in 2014. At the Royal Academy of Music she was awarded the English and Russian Song Prizes and the Fordyce and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa Scholarships.