Rachel Speirs
Soprano
"Speirs makes a big impact with her feisty acting and, when required, her seductive singing."
Seen and Heard International (Titania/The Fairy Queen, Longborough Festival Opera 2023)
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Scottish Soprano Rachel Speirs enjoys a varied career as a performer and music facilitator. Recent and upcoming engagements include Titania in Purcell's The Fairy Queen (Longborough Festival Opera), Lulu in Under the little red moon (English Touring Opera), 'Discovering Opera' performances (English National Opera), Soprano Soloist for a concert celebrating the 120 year anniversary of Buxton Opera House, Modestina cover in Rossini's Il viaggio a Reims (English Touring Opera), Musetta cover in La bohème (Hurn Court Opera), and Brahms' Ein deutsches requiem (Leeds Philharmonic Chorus). Rachel sang Lotty in the premiere recording of MacFarren's The Soldier's Legacy with Retrospect Opera, released in 2023.
Rachel is an Artist Practitioner for the Royal Opera House Create & Sing Programme, leads workshops with SEND participants and people living with dementia for English Touring Opera, and is passionate and experienced in sharing and creating music in community settings. She recently completed a level 2 Makaton qualification, and is Co-Director of SoundUp Arts CIC, producing musical experiences for people affected by dementia.
Next performances:
Longborough Festival Opera
29/30 July and 1/3 August 2023
The Fairy Queen - Purcell (Titania/Hippolyta)
Soloist with Tatton Singers
18th November 2023
Fauré Requiem & Songs by Reynaldo Hahn
English Touring Opera (Various UK locations)
October/November 2023
Under the little red moon - Yealland & Hepplewhite
English Touring Opera (Various UK Locations)
February - June 2024
The Rake's Progress & Manon Lescaut
The Great Stink (Children's Opera)
Reviews:
"... relish the glossy sensuality of Rachel Speirs' Titania and the feistiness of the soprano's Hippolyta." - Opera Today, August 2023 (The Fairy Queen, Longborough Festival Opera)
"There are a plethora of excellent performances from among the young cast, not least from Rachel Speirs who plays both Titania and Hippolyta. With her highly persuasive soprano, she sings 'Thrice happy lovers' with a sense of drunken sarcasm, which suggests her own marriage to Theseus is far from happy, and feels a far cry from the 'purity' we might expect when it comes from Juno's lips." - Music OMH, August 2023 (The Fairy Queen, Longborough Festival Opera)
"Rachel Speirs as Lotty, meanwhile, has the sweetness of a true soubrette, and in some of the Act 2 ensembles – with all four singers forming a euphonious ensemble and Speirs sparkling up on top – they make an enjoyable case for this unassuming opera as more than the sum of its (pleasant enough) parts." - Gramophone, January 2023 (The Soldier's Legacy, Retrospect Opera)
"Tenor Joseph Doody and Soprano Rachel Speirs are much younger performers than Keeble and Hayes, but are entirely convincing as the two lovers around which much of the plot will revolve." - The Light Music Society, February 2023 (The Soldier's Legacy, Retrospect Opera)
"She has lyric instincts and operatic powers in reserve, and the latter are certainly engaged by 'A sa dame malade'" - MusicWeb International, 2021 (The Fabulous Sir John CD Recording, Divine Art Records)