Heloise Werner

Soprano Héloïse Werner is a major new force in contemporary music, both as a performer and composer. She also plays the cello. Werner was born in Paris. She spent six years as a member of the Maîtrise de Radio France children's choir and also studied the cello with Valérie Aimard at the Conservatoire Maurice Ravel. Werner moved to Britain to study music at Clare College, Cambridge, taking composition classes with Giles Swayne and paying her way as a choral scholar (a student who sings in university choirs in return for tuition reductions). By this time, her compositions were already gaining attention; she won the 2009 Creation Prize from the Conservatoire Maurice Ravel for a set of songs that she performed as part of her final recital, and in 2011, she won the Clare College Carol Competition. Werner went on for a master's degree at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, studying voice with Alison Wells and Anna Tilbrook. She was a Linda Pilgrim Charitable Trust Scholar and a winner of a Help Musicians UK Postgraduate Award. Staying on in Britain, Werner has continued to earn awards and financial support for her work. She won the Linda Hirst Contemporary Vocal Prize in 2017 and the Michael Cuddigan Trust Award in 2018, and she was shortlisted for the 2017 Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards. In 2020, she was named one of BBC Radio 3's 31 under 31 Young Stars. Werner has appeared with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, the Nash Ensemble, and the London Chamber Orchestra. She has been seen most widely as a soloist through her membership in the Hermes Quartet, an ensemble consisting of soprano, clarinet, harp, and double bass. That group has commissioned some 60 new works. Werner remains active as a composer, having written works for musicians as diverse as mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston, The Gesualdo Six, and the Bach Choir. She performed her own solo opera, The Other Side of the Sea, at London's Kings Place in 2019. In 2022, Werner, after appearing on various other contemporary music releases, issued her debut solo album, Phrases, on the Delphian label; it featured Werner as singer, composer, and cellist.
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