Lucy Crowe
Soprano Lucy Crowe has parlayed a pair of big substitute-appearance breaks into a flourishing career that encompasses both Baroque and classic 19th century repertory.
A native of England's Staffordshire region, Crowe was born in 1978. She was inspired to take up singing by an LP of Maria Callas' greatest hits. Crowe started voice lessons at age ten and persisted despite bullying from her classmates, gaining admission to and graduating after six years from the Royal Academy of Music. Crowe won several prizes and made her debut in a Scottish Opera production of Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier. Her career got a major boost in 2007 when, on short notice, she stepped into a production at the English National Opera of Handel's Agrippina, in which she enlivened the production of director David McVicar with striptease moves. She continued to perform in both Baroque and Romantic repertory, collaborating with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, The Sixteen, The King's Consort, and Les Musiciens du Louvre, among others. In the U.S., she sang Mozart's Requiem in D minor, K. 626, with Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra, and she performed in a 2010 concert of Baroque opera at London's Wigmore Hall with Rolando Villazón. The following year, Crowe made her recording debut on the Harmonia Mundi label with Il Caro Sassone: Handel in Italy. On that album, she was backed by The English Concert under conductor Harry Bicket, and she has had an ongoing relationship with that group. She went on to record for a variety of labels, including Chandos, Delphian, and Hyperion.
Another major break came in 2012 when she was recommended by conductor John Eliot Gardiner (with whom she had performed Haydn's late oratorios) as a last-minute sub in the role of Gilda for a Royal Opera production of Verdi's Rigoletto. She had never sung the role, and she had given birth to a baby girl just a few months earlier. On the premiere night, she told The Telegraph, "I felt like a bottle of Coke that had been shaken up and was about to explode. I kept bursting into tears -- standing in the wings waiting to go on was much more frightening than giving birth." She triumphed, however, and reprised the role of Gilda at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. She returned to the Royal Opera for Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore in 2014. Crowe has appeared on several major recordings of opera and oratorio, including a recording of Martinu's rarely heard The Epic of Gilgamesh under Manfred Honeck and with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in 2017. In 2021, she moved to the Linn label for the recital Longing: Lieder by Strauss, Berg, Schoenberg. She was featured in 2022 on The English Concert recording of Handel's Passion oratorio La Resurrezione, HWV 47.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Discography
17 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Janáček: The Cunning Little Vixen, Sinfonietta
Sir Simon Rattle, London Symphony Orchestra, Lucy Crowe, Gerald Finley, Sophia Burgos
Opera - Released by LSO Live on 4 Sep 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
James MacMilllan: Christmas Oratorio (Live)
Mark Elder, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, Lucy Crowe, Roderick Williams
Classical - Released by London Philharmonic Orchestra on 4 Nov 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy: Complete Songs, Vol. 4
Classical - Released by Hyperion on 2 Feb 2018
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Handel : Dixit Dominus - Vivaldi : Dixit Dominus, In furore iustissimae irae
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 22 Apr 2013
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
The Jade Mountain – Songs by Edmund Rubbra
Lucy Crowe, Claire Barnett-Jones, Marcus Farnsworth, Iain Burnside, Catrin Finch, Timothy Ridout
Mélodies - Released by Chandos on 3 Mar 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Handel's Queens
Mary Bevan, Lucy Crowe, Bridget Cunningham
Classical - Released by Signum Records on 5 Jul 2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Longing. Lieder by Strauss, Berg, Schoenberg
Classical - Released by Linn Records on 20 Aug 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Il caro Sassone: Handel in Italy
Lucy Crowe, Harry Bicket and The English Concert
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by harmonia mundi on 8 Nov 2011
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Telemann: Concerto in A Major from Tafelmusik, Pt. 1 - Bach: Non sa che sia dolore BWV 209 & Triple Concerto BWV 1044
Florilegium, Ashley Solomon, Lucy Crowe
Classical - Released by Channel Classics on 1 Oct 2008
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
F. Couperin: Leçons de ténèbres
Lucy Crowe, Elizabeth Watts, La Nuova Musica, David Bates
Sacred Vocal Music - Released by harmonia mundi on 9 Sep 2016
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Duet: Mendelssohn - Schumann - Cornelius
William Berger, Iain Burnside, Lucy Crowe
Classical - Released by Delphian Records on 19 Feb 2016
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Songs of Love, War and Melancholy: The Operatic Fantasias of Jacques-François Gallay
Anneke Scott, Steven Devine, Lucy Crowe
Chamber Music - Released by Resonus Classics on 1 May 2015
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
IL Caro Sassone: Handel in Italy
Cantatas (secular) - Released by harmonia mundi on 8 Nov 2011
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Offenbach: Vert-Vert
Thora Einarsdottir, Ann Taylor, Lucy Crowe, Toby Spence, Philharmonia Orchestra, David Parry
Opera - Released by Opera Rara on 1 Jan 2010
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Scipione, HWV 20: Scoglio d’immota fronte
Mary Bevan, Lucy Crowe, Bridget Cunningham
Classical - Released by Signum Records on 26 Jun 2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Lutoslawski: Works for Voice and Orchestra
Edward Gardner, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Lucy Crowe, Toby Spence, Christopher Purves
Mélodies - Released by Chandos on 1 Sep 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy: Complete Songs, Vol. 4
Classical - Released by Hyperion on 2 Feb 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo