Bethany Horak-Hallett
Mezzo-Soprano
Biography
British mezzo-soprano Bethany Horak-Hallett is establishing strong credentials as a fine interpreter of Handel, Mozart and their contemporaries on both the opera stage and the concert platform.
She recently made her Royal Swedish Opera début as Cherubino Le nozze di Figaro having previously sung the role for Garsington Opera for whom she has also performed Dorabella Così fan tutte. She sang Virtue The Choice of Hercules in a production for the London Handel Festival and more Handel follows with Tirinto Imeneo for Cambridge Handel Opera Company. Bethany will make her English National Opera début in Mozart’s Women: A Musical Journey (to be filmed for Sky Arts) and creates the role of Yolanda in Mark-Anthony Turnage’s The Railway Children for the Glyndebourne Autumn Season.
Bethany’s versatility as a performer has seen her take the roles of Lady Psyche Princess Ida with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Prince Orlofsky Die Fledermaus for IF Opera alongside contemporary works such as Thomas Adès The Exterminating Angel (conducted by the composer) which marked her Opéra de Paris début.
Bethany has sung Bach, Handel and Haydn with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Academy of Ancient Music and with the Dunedin Consort directed by John Butt. She made her BBC Proms début with the Monteverdi Choir conducted by John Eliot Gardiner. Other ensembles with whom she has performed include The Royal Northern Sinfonia with Dinis Sousa, The English Chamber Orchestra conducted by Nicholas Kraemer and the National Symphony Orchestra, Dublin.
Bethany includes pianists Natalie Burch, Ian Tindale and Dylan Perez plus harpsichordist Steven Devine amongst her recital partners. She has given programmes at the London Handel, Oxford International Song and Ludlow Festivals.
Bethany Horak-Hallett read Music at Leeds University and completed her training at Trinity Laban Conservatoire. She was a Rising Star of the Enlightenment and a Samling Artist and won Second Prize in the 2021 International Handel Singing Competition.
Bethany Horak-Hallett is represented for General Management. For all enquiries please contact Caroline Phillips cphillips@caroline-phillips.co.uk
Reviews
Monteverdi – L’Incoronazione Di Poppea – Trinity Laban Conservatoire
Excellent too were Bethany Horak-Hallett’s Nerone.
The Express, 16 July 2017
Mozart – Le Nozze di Figaro – Garsington Opera
Bethany Horak-Hallett was the pick of the bunch with her ardent, quivering Cherubino.
Music OMH, 30 May 2024
Mozart – Le Nozze di Figaro – Garsington Opera
Bethany Horak-Hallet inhabits Cherubino’s breeches as if they were made for her, and sings with a wealth of light and shade …
Opera Today, 6 June 2024
Mozart – Le Nozze di Figaro – Garsington Opera
Bethany Horak-Hallett displays winning charm and vigour as the impish Cherubino, sustaining ‘Voi che sapete’ with sparkle …
Seen and Heard International, 3 June 2024
Mozart – Le Nozze di Figaro – Garsington Opera
Bethany Horak-Hallett has a lovely light mezzo and sang a fine Cherubino, with beautiful stillness in ‘Voi che sapete’,
Opera Now, 3 June 2024
Handel – Messiah – Dunedin Consort
This was my first encounter with mezzo-soprano Bethany Horak-Hallett… ‘But Who May Abide the Day of His Coming’ was wonderfully expressive and dramatic, but never unsubtle. Warm rich tone with dynamic control and great clarity of diction drew the listener in to the narrative… Bethany’s pathos was as tangible.
Edinburgh Music Review, 23 December 2023
Handel – L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato – Monteverdi Choir
… the unshowy but impressive alto Bethany Horak-Hallett, with a mellow timbre and sovereign musicality.
American Classical Review, 29 October 2023
Sullivan – Princess Ida – OAE
She was strongly backed by Bethany Horak-Hallett’s Lady Psyche (words and notes perfectly integrated),
Opera, August 2023
Royal Northern Sinfonia – By Candlelight
Bethany Horak-Hallett again in a stunning performance of Bach’s early cantata ‘Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut’. Her voice has a purity which is just right for baroque music. Using a wide range of vocal colour, she conveyed the sentiments of the text so convincingly … a very special concert.
Lakeland Sinfonia, 7 December 2022
OAE – The Rime of the Ancient Mariner – Purcell
led in the beauty of tone stakes by the mezzo-soprano Bethany Horak-Hallett,
The Times, 6 October 2022
OAE – The Rime of the Ancient Mariner – Purcell
on the basis of her melting beautiful aria over the repeated ground of Evening Hymn, emerging alto Bethany Horak-Hallett will certainly be a singer to watch out for in this repertoire.
Planet Hugill, 7 October 2022
OAE – Bach, The Universe and Everything – Cantata BWV 81
Bethany Horak-Hallett sang the opening aria with persuasive freshness and assurance.
The Observer, 5 February 2022
OAE – Galatea in Handel Aci, Galatea e Polifemo
Horak-Hallett (Galatea) are among the best young singers in Britain today … Horak-Hallett sang with a creamy calm sincerity, even in the most acrobatic passages, possessing a truly impressive, warm-toned lower register. … pairing elegant phrasing with rock-solid intonation.
Bachtrack, 24 January 2022
Voces 8 – Messiah
…new to me was Bethany Horak-Hallett, … she has a strong voice, but it is not overly forceful; vibrato, too, is excellently judged. Horak-Hallett excelled,
Seen and Heard International, 27 December 2021
Monteverdi Choir at the BBC Proms – Dixit Dominus
The other soloists from this choir of stars excelled too: the alto Bethany Horak-Hallett
The Arts Desk, 2 September 2021
Handel – Semele – Academy of Ancient Music CD reviews
… set in relief by the frothier vocal prettiness of Bethany Horak-Hallett’s Cupid
Limelight, 11 February 2021
English Chamber Orchestra @ 60 – Cadogan Hall
An Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment Rising Star, the British mezzo-soprano Bethany Horak-Hallett gave a tender performance of ‘Tristes apprêts’ from Rameau’s Castor et Pollux: slow, concentrated, beautiful, the perfect opener.
Seen and Heard International, 8 October 2020
Handel – Excerpt from Semele – Brighton Early Music Festival
And mezzo Bethany Horak-Hallett as Jupiter’s resourceful betrayed wife Juno, made her fewer opportunities count, to complete the charm hat-trick.
Brighton & Hove Independent, 14 November 2019
Handel – Semele – Academy of Ancient Music
… Mezzo-Soprano, Bethany Horak-Hallett’s (Cupid) … revealed such a beautiful voice as to be typical of how the briefest as well as the lengthiest casting roles were all of a piece in the consistency of the production’s excellence.
Cambridge Independent, 14 November 2019
Mozart – The Marriage of Figaro – Merry Opera Company
mezzo-soprano Bethany Horak-Hallett was an outstanding Cherubino
Henley Standard, 5 March 2018
Collision: Spectra Ensemble at the Arcola Theatre
Made to prance about in black hot-pants, suspenders and cut-away velvet waist-coast, Bethany Horak-Hallett has strong presence as Taa, Mastery’s girlfriend, infusing her mezzo with both sultriness and shine.
Opera Today, 19 August 2017
