BIOGRAPHY
‘Brilliant vocal control’
Carmen, La Tragédie de Carmen, Landestheater Linz, Kronen Zeitung
British Mezzo-soprano Sophie Kidwell is praised in the German, Austrian and Swiss press for her “velvety smooth and elegant voice” (Opera Gazet) which makes audiences “sit up and take notice” (Das Opernmagazin), and is hailed as "a name that opera fans should remember" (Badische Neuste Nachrichten). Sophie Kidwell is the winner of the 2024 Young Welsh Singer of the Year competition and a prize winner of the 43rd International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition 2025, where she was awarded a two-year soloist position at Stadttheater Bühnen Bern. In the 2026-27 season, Sophie will make role debuts there as Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Amastre (Xerxes) and Lola (Cavalleria Rusticana). She will also reprise the role of Flora (La Traviata) and appear in the world premiere of Sarah Nemtsov’s Ophelias Flügel as Ophelia IV.
Last season, Sophie made her “striking” (Opernwelt Magazine) role debut as Olga in Eugene Onegin at Theater Aachen and returned to the role of Maddalena in Rigoletto in her “electrifying” (Forum Opera Magazine) house debut at Opéra de Lausanne, having sung the role to critical acclaim at Theater Basel in the 23/24 season. Sophie went on to gain great stage experience at Theater Basel, as a member of the International Opera Studio OperAvenir from 2023-25, including her first full Ring Cycle as Flosshilde in Das Rheingold and Götterdämmerung and Grimgerde in Die Walküre, conducted by Jonathan Nott and staged by Benedikt von Peter. In her second year at Theater Basel, Sophie Kidwell jumped in last-minute for the title role of Carmen and subsequently sang it with the Basel Symphony Orchestra until the end of the season.
Carmen has become a signature role of Sophie’s, having sung the title role across four countries over the past four years and 30 performances to date. Most recently, she stepped into the role at short notice with IF Opera, where her performance was praised as “wonderful in voice and thoroughly persuasive”, “a catch for the company and a real delight for the audience” (Opera Scene).
Sophie began her professional career as Carmen at the Schlossfestspiele Ettlingen in Germany in 2022. This was immediately followed by the title role in the Austrian premiere of La Tragédie de Carmen with the Bruckner Orchestra at Landestheater Linz. In Linz, Sophie also appeared in further productions, including Wanda in the children’s opera Wanda Walfisch by Anna Wenzel, and Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel.
Her further operatic roles include: Frédéric (Mignon, Thomas), Flora (La Traviata, Verdi), Die Försterin (Das schlaue Füchslein, Janáček) for Theater Basel, Pauline (La Vie Parisienne, Offenbach) as a jump in at Stadttheater Bühnen Bern, Mago (Rinaldo, Handel), Plantina (Melusina, Kreutzer), Treszka (Ein Herbstmanöver, Kálmán), Lehrbube (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Wagner) all for Landestheater Linz in the 22/23 season, Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel, Humperdinck), Blumenmädchen (Parsifal, Wagner), Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro, Mozart), Ottone (L’incoronazione di Poppea, Monteverdi), Marcellina (Le Nozze di Figaro, Mozart), Erster Herr (Juliette, Martinů), Dorina (La Diavolessa, Galuppi), Ganymed (Die Schöne Galathée, von Suppé), Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus, Strauss), Aunt Norris (Mansfield Park, Dove), Orfeo (Orfeo ed Euridice, Gluck), and Proserpina (Orfeo, Monteverdi).
Sophie also has extensive international concert experience, including in prestigious venues such as The Royal Festival Hall and The Royal Albert Hall. Her repertoire includes various Bach Cantatas, Bach Christmas Oratorio, Beethoven Choral Fantasy, Duruflé Requiem, Dvorák Stabat Mater, Elgar The Music Makers and Sea Pictures, Handel Messiah, Haydn Stabat Mater and Nelson Mass, Mozart Requiem, and Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle. Most recently, she performed the Alto solos in Romeo Castellucci's internationally revered staging of the Mozart Requiem with the Basel Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Ivor Bolton CBE, Dvorák’s Stabat Mater with the Bern Symphony Orchestra, and The Music Makers (Elgar) at the Basel Stadtcasino.
Sophie graduated from Durham University with a BA Hons in Combined Honours in Arts (Music, English Literature and German). She was a Samling Academy Scholar, where she worked with leaders of the Royal Opera House and was encouraged to pursue a career professionally. She then moved to Germany and completed a BMus in Singing, followed by an MMus in Opera at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover with Prof. Marina Sandel. Sophie is now mentored by internationally renowned mezzo-soprano, Ruxandra Donose.
Sophie’s studies were generously supported by the Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung and the Deutschlandstipendium. She was also a scholarship holder for the Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now e.V. program, through which she regularly performed for people in care homes, hospitals, prisons and hospices.
Sophie has worked with conductors such as Ivor Bolton CBE, Giulio Cilona, Steven Devine, Ulrich Maier, Jonathan Nott, Olga Pavlu, Markus Poschner, Francesc Prat and Christopher Ward. Directors include Solvejg Bauer, Nina Brazier, Romeo Castellucci, Gregor Horres, Vincent Huguet, Benedikt von Peter, and Verena Stoiber.
She has performed in masterclasses with many esteemed artists, including Anne Sofie von Otter, Brigitte Fassbaender, Hedwig Fassbaender, Simon Keenlyside CBE, Catherine Wyn Rogers, Dame Emma Kirkby, David Butt Philip, Roderick Williams OBE, Sir Thomas Allen and Thomas Hampson.
Sophie is forever indebted to her teachers over the years: Dominic Barberi, Stephanie Bodsworth, Ruxandra Donose, Marina Sandel and Janet Williams.
‘Effortless.’ ‘One was amazed at the flexible voice of this young singer.’
Das Opernmagazin, 2023