Rayfield Artists - Mhairi Lawson

MHAIRI LAWSON

Soprano

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"...Mhairi Lawson, a bright-toned soprano, radiated a joy that was a delight to see and hear..." - The New York Times

"Mhairi Lawson's singing surely brings a taste of the kind of visceral thrill the star singers of the day were able to offer their audiences." - Gramophone

Mhairi Lawson studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she won the International Early Music Network Young Artists Prize with the fortepianist Olga Tverskaya, which led to her first CD recording of Haydn's English and Scottish Songs.

As a soloist Mhairi has performed in opera houses and concert halls worldwide with English National Opera, Les Arts Florissants, The Gabrieli Consort and The Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and with leading conductors such as William Christie, Sir Charles Mackerras, Paul McCreesh, Jane Glover and Sir John Eliot Gardiner.

With Les Arts Florissants, Mhairi has performed at the Cité de la Musique, Paris, and throughout Europe. At the Wigmore Hall, she has performed operas by Purcell, Handel and Hasse with the Early Opera Company. She has sung Handel's Messiah with the Netherlands Bach Society and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. With the Gabrieli Consort and Players she has performed Purcell's Fairy Queen at the BBC Proms, and toured Scandinavia and the Netherlands in the title roles of Acis and Galatea and Dido and Aeneas. At English National Opera she sang Purcell's Dido and Aeneas and King Arthur; further performances of King Arthur took place in California with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra.

With the virtuoso baroque band, La Serenissima, Mhairi had performed Vivaldi's La senna festeggiante and Laudate Pueri in D in Venice, and recorded arias by Vivaldi, Hasse and Giacomelli for their discs 'Vivaldi in Arcadia' and 'Music for the Pietà' which have consistently received four- and five-star reviews. Recent releases include Vivaldi cantatas L'amore per Elvira a newly-discovered vocal work by the mysterious 'Composer X', and arias from the operas La fida ninfa and La constanza trionfante.

Recital engagements include appearances at the Edinburgh Festival, Newcastle and York Universities and recordings for BBC Radio 3.

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