Praised by Opera for her “dramatic wit and vocal control” in stand out performances on opera and concert platforms, Mary Bevan is a winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Young Artist award and UK Critics’ Circle Award for Exceptional Young Talent in music.

Bevan begins the ²⁰¹⁶⁄₁₇ season by returning to the English National Opera as Zerlina in Richard Jones’ new production of Mozart Don Giovanni, under Mark Wigglesworth. She will also headline a tour of Asia with Harry Bicket and The English Concert, as part of the Shakespeare 400 celebrations, and sing Bach with the Academy of Ancient Music and Gabrieli Consort. Bevan makes her role debut as Merab in Barrie Kosky’s production of Handel Saul this season for the Adelaide Festival, and will perform Richard Ayres’ In the Alps with Nicholas Collon and the Aurora Orchestra. In recital she will appear with the Myrthen Ensemble at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Musée d’Orsay, and Wigmore Hall, and will also record a solo album with accompanist Joseph Middleton for Signum.

Recent operatic highlights include Elvira in Rossini L’italiana in Algeri at Garsington Opera, the title role in Rossi Orpheus for the Royal Opera House at the Sam Wanamaker Theatre, as well as Bevan’s critically acclaimed Susanna The Marriage of Figaro, Despina Così fan tutte, and Yum-Yum The Mikado at English National Opera. Previously she has also sung Music / Euridice in Monteverdi L’Orfeo with the Royal Opera House at the Roundhouse, Belinda Dido and Aeneas with Harry Bicket and The English Concert, Galatea Acis and Galatea for Iford Arts under Christian Curnyn, Zerlina Don Giovanni for Garsington Opera, and Pamina Die Zauberflöte for West Green House. She also created the role of Lila in the world premiere of David Bruce’s The Firework Maker’s Daughter co-commissioned by The Opera Group, Opera North and Royal Opera House. As a Harewood Artist at the ENO, her appearances included Second Niece Peter Grimes, Papagena The Magic Flute, Barbarina The Marriage of Figaro and Rebecca in the world premiere of Nico Muhly’s Two Boys.

Much in demand on the concert platform, Mary Bevan recently performed Silandra in Cesti Orontea with La Nuova Musica, Bellezza Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno and Bach Cantatas with Dunedin Consort, baroque programmes with the Academy of Ancient Music and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, a Handel Residency week with Emmanuelle Haïm at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, Bach Magnificat with the Britten Sinfonia, Bach St John Passion with the King’s College Choir, Cambridge, Mozart Requiem with the English Chamber Orchestra, Fauré Requiem with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Orquestra Sinfonica de Sevilla, and Mozart Coronation Mass with Southbank Sinfonia. Other orchestral repertoire includes Mendelssohn Symphony No.2 with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Britten Les Illuminations with the English Chamber Orchestra, Handel Messiah with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Royal Northern Sinfonia, and English Chamber Orchestra; Bach B minor Mass with Ludus Baroque, Bach St Matthew Passion, Handel Israel in Egypt, and a staged version of Haydn Creation with Vocal Futures. She has also appeared at the BBC Proms, Edinburgh International Festival and Spitalfields Festival. In recital Bevan has sung at the Wigmore Hall, Oxford Lieder Festival, Leeds Lieder Festival, Danube Music Festival, St John’s Smith Square and Rhinegold LIVE.

Bevan can be heard in such recent recordings as Handel in Italy with London Early Opera for Signum Records, Handel The Triumph of Time and Truth and Ode for St Cecilia’s Day with Ludus Baroque for Delphian Records, Ludwig Thuille songs with Joseph Middleton, Bach Christmas Oratorio with Dunedin Consort, Vaughan Williams songs for Albion Records, and Mendelssohn complete songs with Malcolm Martineau for Champs Hill Records. She also appeared in David Starkey’s Music & Monarchy on BBC4.

Bevan trained at the Royal Academy Opera, and read Anglo-Saxon Norse and Celtic at Trinity College, Cambridge. She is an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music.