Lauren Fagan has developed into one of today’s most accomplished sopranos, admired by international critics for her ‘glossy, commanding sound’ and ‘magnificent dramatic power’. A former member of the prestigious Jette Parker Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Australian soprano represented her country in the 2019 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition.
In the 2022/23 season, Fagan makes her much anticipated Australian operatic debut, singing her acclaimed interpretation of Violetta in La traviata for State Opera South Australia. She performs the role of Margarita Xirgu in Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar for Scottish Opera, makes her Canadian operatic debut as Countess in Le nozze di Figaro with Canadian Opera Company, conducted by Harry Bicket, followed by Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte with Pacific Opera Victoria, under Timothy Vernon, and returns to the Glyndebourne Festival to sing Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, conducted by Dalia Stasevska. In concert, Fagan reprises the role of Avis in Ethel Smyth’s The Wreckers with the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin under Robin Ticciati, following her performances of the opera this past season at the Glyndebourne Festival, and sings Handel’s Messiah with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, under Music Director Gustavo Gimeno.
In recent seasons, Fagan has had several major company debuts. For Opéra de Paris and the Bayerische Staatsoper she appeared as Norma in Marina Abramovic’s 7 Deaths of Maria Callas, conducted by Yoel Gamzou and for Opernhaus Zürich, Fagan performed Giulietta in Andreas Homoki’s new production of Les contes d’Hoffmann under Antonino Fogliani, returning for the world premiere of Monteverdi, a ballet choreographed by Christian Spuck and conducted by Riccardo Minasi and Christoph Koncz. She made a spectacular return to Opera Holland Park for Rodula Gaitanou’s production of La traviata, where her Violetta “mines unsuspected depths of emotion while singing the music with pearly ease.” (The Times, 2021) In her debut as Alcina at the International Händel-Festpiele Karlsruhe, Fagan sang with “breathtaking, truly magical virtuosity” (Badische Neue Nachrichten, 2019). At Opera North in Phyllida Lloyd’s classic production of La bohème, her Mimì was “beautifully sweet, delicate and restrained” (Bachtrack, 2019).
Further operatic credits include Woglinde in Keith Warner’s Ring Cycle at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden under Maestro Pappano, who she also joined for Roxana in Szymanowski’s Krol Roger in concert with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Donna Elvira with the NHK Symphony Orchestra under Paavo Järvi, and company debuts as Musetta with Welsh National Opera and Donna Anna with Opera Holland Park.
A skilled concert artist, Fagan recently debuted Beethoven’s Ah! Perfido with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under Simone Young, followed by Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra under Dane Lam, and has performed Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Symphoniker Hamburg under Eivind Gullberg-Jensen and the Oslo Philharmonic under Klaus Mäkelä. Further highlights include Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music for Last Night of the BBC Proms under Sakari Oramo, Peer Gynt with the Orchestre national de Lyon under Leonard Slatkin, Vier letzte Lieder for the Malmö Opera under Karen Kamensek, and concert performances of Agnès in George Benjamin’s Written On Skin with the Melos Sinfonia at London’s LSO St. Luke’s and the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg.
