Rachel Redmond

Described as an “impressively silken soprano” (The Times) and “resplendent” (The New York Times) Rachel Redmond trained at the Royal Scottish Conservatoire and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and began her career in William Christie’s prestigious Jardin des Voix. With Maestro Christie and Les Arts Florissants she has regularly sung Couperin’s Leçons de ténèbres, Handel’s L'Allegro, il penseroso ed il moderato, and many works by Bach, Charpentier, Monteverdi, Mondonville, Purcell and Rameau.

Rachel Redmond made her stage début at the Opéra-Comique in Lully’s Atys, followed by Les Fêtes vénitiennes in Paris, Toulouse and New York. She sang Second Woman in Dido and Aeneas at Aix-en-Provence Festival, and Loena in La belle Hélène at the Théâtre du Châtelet. For her début as Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro with English Touring Opera she was nominated for The Times Breakthrough Award at the South Bank Sky Arts Awards.

 

Rachel Redmond’s many regular concert appearances with William Christie and Les Arts Florissants include Angel in Jephtha, Captif in Charpentier’s David et Jonathas, Belinda in Dido and Aeneas, Damon in Acis and Galatea, First Witch in Dido and Aeneas, Caecilia in Charpentier’s Caecilia, Virgin and Martyr, Artebuse in Charpentier’s Actéon, Monteverdi’s Madrigals and Selva morale e spirituale, Bach’s St John Passion, Magnificat and cantatas, Grands motets by Rameau and Mondonville, Couperin’s Leçons de ténèbres, Handel’s L’Allegro, il penseroso ed il moderato and works by Purcell and Boismortier.

Particularly admired for her performing of works by Handel, Rachel Redmond’s engagements have included Ariodante at the Göttingen International Handel Festival and La resurrezione at the London Handel Festival. At Trevor Pinnock’s invitation she jumped in at short notice, to perform Messiah in London’s Barbican Hall, Bern and Geneva with Freiburg Baroque Orchestra resulting in an invitation to perform Messiah with the English Concert in Summer 2021 (which was cancelled during the recent pandemic). She had previously performed Odes by Purcell and Handel with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra under Kristian Bezuidenhout.

She also performs regularly with other leading Baroque ensembles, including Jordi Savall and the Centre Internacional de Música Antiga (St Matthew Passion, Messiah, Fairy Queen and Juditha trumphans), Collegio Ghislieri (works by Bononcini, Handel, Galuppi, Vivaldi and Pergolesi, and Jomelli’s Beatus Vir at the Göttingen International Handel Festival), Ensemble Caravansérail (Couperin’s Leçons de ténèbres, Scarlatti’s Cantatas, Charpentier’s Les Plaisirs de Versailles, Scarlatti’s Stabat Mater), Dunedin Consort (Bach’s Mass in B minor, Christmas Oratorio and Messiah), Barokkanerne (Norwegian Baroque Orchestra – Bellezza in Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno), Cappella Mediterranea (Acqua in Il diluvio universale under Leonardo Garcia Alarcón), The English Concert (Bach’s cantatas and St John Passion and Handel’s Samson) and at the Beaune, Saintes, Lessay and La Chaise-Dieu festivals.

In 2021/22 Rachel Redmond made important débuts with the Academy of Ancient Music at London’s Barbican (Haydn’s Creation), with Helsinki Baroque Orchestra (Clorinda in Monteverdi Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda and Belinda in Dido and Aeneas), with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Bach’s St John Passion), with the Royal Northern Sinfonia (Rameau’s arias) and with Atelier Lyrique de Tourcoign (The Fairy Queen in staged version). She also recently performed both Brockes Passion by Reinhard Keiser and Carl Heinrich Graun’s oratorio Der Tod Jesu with Netherlands Bach Society in the prestigious ZaterdagMatinee series from the Amsterdam Concertgebouw on NTR Radio, Mozart’s Requiem with Jordi Savall and the Centre Internacional de Música Antiga, Dixit Dominus with Il Gardellino and Flemish Radio Choir also in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and concerts in Leipzig Bachfest with Les Talens Lyriques and Les Arts Florissants, St Matthew Passion and Acis and Galatea with Dunedin Consort.

Rachel Redmond was due to sing Beethoven Choral Fantasy at the 2020 BBC Promenade Concerts, and Galatea in Acis and Galatea with Irish Baroque Orchestra at London’s Wigmore Hall in March 2021, but these performances was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, recently performed Soprano 1 in Bach’s Mass in B minor with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment conducted by John Butt at the BBC Proms in August 2022.

Other engagements in 2022/23 include Messiah in Fontfroide and at Salzburg Festival, and Beethoven’s Missa solemnis on tour with Jordi Savall, Handel’s Esther with Ensemble Le Stagioni, Bach’s Mass in B minor with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment at the BBC Proms, Mozart’s Mass in C minor with Royal Northern Sinfonia, a special ‘Leipzig project’ with Netherlands Bach Society for NTR Radio ZaterdagMatinee series, Scarlatti’s Il Telemaco with Concerto de’ Cavalieri in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Purcell’s Welcome to all the Pleasures and Handel’s Chandos Anthem No. 6 with Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Messiah with Zürcher Sing-Akademie and Orchestra La Scintilla, Messiah and Bach’s Christmas Cantatas with Dunedin Consort, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio at the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, St John Passion with Britten Sinfonia, Fauré’s Requiem with Polyphony at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, her début at the Opéra du Rhin as Fortuna in L’incoronazione di Poppea and further performances with Jordi Savall and with Netherlands Bach Society..

 

In December 2023 she makes her début with the prestigious Canadian ensemble, Tafelmusik.

 

Early in her career, Rachel Redmond performed as a soloist with the European Union Baroque Orchestra, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Glasgow Chamber Orchestra, and in Aldeburgh, at the ‘Se’ in Lisbon, London’s Wigmore Hall and the Auditorio Manuel de Falla in Granada. Her concert repertoire includes Bach’s Cantata 199, Beethoven’s Mass in C, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, Brahms’s Requiem, Graupner’s Diese Zeit ist ein Spiel der Eitelkeit, Handel’s Esther, Saul and Deutsche Arien, Karl Jenkins’s Gloria, Orff’s Carmina Burana and Rameau’s Pygmalion.

 

Rachel Redmond was born in Glasgow and sang in the Junior Chorus of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra before studying at the Music School of Douglas Academy, the Royal Scottish Conservatoire (RCS), and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She was awarded the Florence Veitch Ibler prize at the RCS for oratorio performance.