Mary Bevan trained at the Royal Academy Opera, and read Anglo-Saxon Norse and Celtic at Trinity College, Cambridge. She received various awards and prizes at the RAM, and was a member of the Royal Academy Song Circle, and the soprano soloist for the Kohn Foundation Bach Cantata Series. She is currently a Harewood Artist at the English National Opera.
Highlights in 12/13 season include the world premiere of David Bruce’s The Firework Maker’s Daughter co-commissioned by The Opera Group, Opera North and ROH2, Yum-Yum The Mikado at ENO, Galatea Acis and Galatea for Iford Arts under Christian Curnyn, Purcell odes at the Lufthansa Festival, Messiah with the Edinburgh Royal Choral Union and Royal Choral Soceity, and Bach B minor Mass for Ludus Baroque.
Other operatic highlights include Barbarina The Marriage of Figaro and Rebecca in the world premiere of Two Boys by Nico Muhly at the ENO, Barbarina, Zerlina and Pamina The Magic Flute for Garsington Opera, Despina Così fan tutte for Vignette Productions and Papagena The Magic Flute for British Youth Opera. Mary was an Associate Artist of the Classical Opera, with whom she has recently sung Tamiri Il re pastore, Thomas Arne’s Alfred and Handel’s Apollo e Daphne. At the RAM she sang Iris Semele under Sir Charles Mackerras, Despina and Emmie Albert Herring.
Well in demand on the concert platform, Mary Bevan recently made her debuts at the Edinburgh International Festival in Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra under Sir Roger Norrington, and at the BBC Proms as Kate in Gilbert & Sullivan’s Yeomen of the Guard with the BBC Concert Orchestra under Jane Glover. She has also sung Deceit The Triumph of Time and Truth with Ludus Baroque, and recorded Vaughan William’s Symphony No.3 and Schubert Rosamunde with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra under Paul Daniel. Other recent highlights include Bach St Matthew Passion, Handel Israel in Egypt, and Haydn Nelson Mass with the Hanover Band, St John Passion at the Spitalfields Festival, Messiah and Britten Les Illuminations with the English Chamber Orchestra, Christmas Oratorio, Haydn Theresen Messe and the premiere of Ireland’s Like as a Hart at Cadogan Hall, and Rutter Requiem under John Rutter at the Royal Albert Hall. While at the Academy, she performed Schütz and Purcell under John Eliot Gardiner and Messiaen La Mort du Nombre for Southbank Centre’s Messiaen Festival.
A dedicated recitalist, Bevan recently sang Zekfa in Janáček’s Diary of One who Disappeared at Grimeborn Festival, a solo and also a joint recital with Sophie Bevan at the Oxford Lieder Festival, and at the Wigmore Hall with the Royal Academy Song Circle. Her discography includes Fen and Flood by Patrick Hadley with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under Paul Daniel for the Vaughan Williams Society and Handel in the Playhouse, a selection of Handel duets and songs with L’Avventura London for Opella Nova Records. She has also recorded Handel Ode on St Cecilia’s Day with Ludus Baroque.
In 2013/14 season, Mary Bevan will make her debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as Barbarina Le nozze di Figaro. At ENO she will appear as Papagena, Second Niece Peter Grimes and Despina Così fan tutte. She will also sing in a staged version of Haydn’s Creation with Vocal Futures, Messiah with English Concert, and Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 2 with the City of Birmingham Symhpony Orchestra.
Mary Bevan is represented by Intermusica worldwide.
May 2013 / 557 words. Not to be altered without permission. Please destroy all previous biographical material.
Lila in David Bruce Firework Maker’s Daughter / New Victory Theatre / New York
Cond. Andrew Cyr / dir. John Fulljames
“Mary Bevan… refreshingly good…”
Eugene Paul, Theatre Scene, May 2013
“Mary Bevan led the cast Saturday as the plucky Lila, her soprano bright and full.”
James Jorden, New York Post, May 2013
Lila in David Bruce The Firework-Maker's Daughter / Royal Opera House Linbury Theatre
cond. Geoffrey Paterson / dir. John Fulljames
“Mary Bevan, endearing as the feisty young heroine, stomps around in huge flowing trousers, singing to drawings appearing on the walls and on pieces of paper held up the rest of the cast.”
“…between Bevan’s delightful Lila, Bruce’s inventive score and the majestic work of puppeteers… there is a great deal of magic to behold.”
Hannah Sander, Classical Source, April 2013
“Mary Bevan… supplies boundless energy…”
George Hall, The Stage, April 2013
“Bevan plays Lila fantastically – full of itchy discontent at her current lot in life and breathless excitement at what the future may hold as a fire maker.”
Ruth Hargreaves, Londonist, April 2013
“The cast is fabulous, led by the captivating Mary Bevan as the daughter (a performance guaranteed to win your heart)…”
Michael White, Daily Telegraph, April 2013
Lila in David Bruce The Firework-Maker's Daughter / Hull Truck Theatre
cond. Geoffrey Paterson / dir. John Fulljames
“Pullman's story of plucky Lila – the spirited Mary Bevan – who is determined to become a firework-maker like her father helped by her friends Chulak … and Hamlet, a great white elephant…, is full of generically eastern adventure.”
Fiona Maddocks, Guardian, March 2013
“Maxwell’s faithful adaptation of Philip Pullman’s source novel has the young heroine Lila (the excellent Mary Bevan) defying her father Lachlan’s wishes to have her married off and pursuing a safe career.”
Graham Rickson, The Arts Desk, March 2013
“Feisty and filthy in equal measure, Mary Bevan's sweet-toned Lila is a heroine to melt hearts. Born with the smell of gunpowder in her nose, she wants nothing more than to find the perfect cocktail of strontium and magnesium "to make the night explode".”
Anna Picard, Independent, March 2013
Yum-Yum in Gilbert and Sullivan The Mikado / London Coliseum
English National Opera / cond. David Parry / dir. Jonathan Miller / revival dir. Elaine Tyler-Hall
“[Mary Bevan's] singing was the best of the night, perfectly judged to combine the true operatic quality of her voice with a natural lightness fitting the music perfectly”.
William Hartston, Express, December 2012
“...when [Mary Bevan] delivered ‘The sun whose rays’ in night club style from the top of the grand piano, she began to shine. In her dialogue she was a delightful ingénue, beautifully matched with Robert Murray as Nanki-Poo”.
Miranda Jackson,
Opera Britannia, December 2012
“...other classy performances... Mary Bevan sings Yum-Yum immaculately and with a knowing self-regard that retains a charmingly innocent surface”.
George Hall, Guardian, December 2012
“Newcomers Robert Murray and Mary Bevan are a well-matched, fresh-voiced pair of young lovers, delightfully at home in the idiom”.
Graham Rogers, The Stage, December 2012
“Mary Bevan and Robert Murray’s interpretation of the young lovers is superbly sickly sweet (think Jane and Timothy from Salad Days) contrasted with occasional moments of sublimity that lift the characters out of the 1930s context. Bevan, like her sister Sophie who sang the role in the 2011 revival, is delightful, delivering clipped sounds that would not be out of place in a Herbert Wilcox film”.
Chris Caspell, Classical Source, December 2012
“[Mary Bevan] plays off Robert Murray’s mincing Nanki-Poo with irresistible charm”.
Michael Church, Independent, December 2021
“...Yum-Yum, Peep-Bo and Pitti-Sing (Mary Bevan, Fiona Canfield and Rachael Lloyd respectively) were deliciously innocent and wonderfully vocally blended... Mary Bevan, this night’s Yum-Yum, is an up-and-coming graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge whose freshness, both of voice and of just plain youth, seemed perfect for the part”.
Colin Clarke, Seen and Heard International, December 2012
“...there are some individual performances to cherish including Mary Bevan as a pert Yum-Yum”.
Keith McDonnell, What’s on stage, December 2012
Recording: Wolf The Complete Songbook, Vol. 4 / Stone Records 5060192780161 / acc. Sholto Kynoch
“Mary Bevan’s feisty soprano draws vivid character cameos of the larger-than-life women featured in Wolf’s six Keller settings, from her proud greeting to a lofty warrior, to her sketch of a drunken charcoal-burner’s wife. The mature Ibsen settings come from Wolf’s incidental music for the play Das Fest auf Solhaug: stark Nordic drama and melancholy menace here, especially in Bevan’s splendid Gesang Margits”.
Hilary Finch, BBC Music Magazine, November 2012
Recording: Handel Ode on St Cecilia’s Day / Look down, harmonious Saint / Delphian DCD34110 / Ludas Baroque Chamber Orchestra / cond. Richard Neville-Towle
“Superb vocal solos, too, from Mary Bevan’s long-breathed soprano, benefiting from her dedication to textual meaning as well as her sweetness of tone”
George Hall, BBC Music Magazine, November 2012
“Mary Bevan gorgeously conveys the pious poetry of ‘But oh! What art can teach!’”
David Vickers, Gramophone, October 2012
“Bevan serve[s] the music laudably ... She has a clean limpid tone, which sits well in Handel’s arias, smooth but not pale, shining but not glaring, be it in the long, slow piece ‘What passion’ ... or in ‘The soft, complaining flute’, containing some neat trills”.
John T. Hughs, International Record Review, October 2012
Kate in Gilbert & Sullivan The Yeomen of the Guard / BBC Proms
cond. Jane Glover / dir. Martin Duncan
“The a cappella quartet ‘Strange Adventure’ gave us a chance to hear the angelic crystal soprano voice of Mary Bevan who, although she had a small role, certainly stood out vocally. It was classy singing indeed.”
Melinda Hughes, Spear’s WMS, September 2012
Deceit in Handel The Triumph of Time and Truth
Edinburgh International Festival / cond. Richard Neville-Towle
“good, strong performance...”
David Smythe, Bach Track, August 2012
Pamina in Mozart Die Zauberflöte
Garsington Opera at West Green House / cond. James Burton / dir. Karen Gillingham
“Two very memorable strengths in the Pamina (sung by Mary Bevan, fast-rising sister of the already established Sophie) and Tamino…”
Michael White, Daily Telegraph Blog, August 2012
“This fresh, vibrant youthful
Magic Flute was a splendid showcase for the work of highly talented artists at the beginning of their careers... Mary Bevan, whom I also saw as a fine Zerlina in
Don Giovanni at Garsington (at Wormsley) itself this summer, sings Pamina with mature dynamic, control and plenty of depth... thoughtful accuracy...”
Susan Elkin,
The Stage, July 2012
“A cast of young talent, dubbed their 'emerging artists', including Mary Bevan as Pamina...”
Joanne Mace, Basingstoke Gazette, July 2012
Handel Song for St Cecilia’s Day
Ludus Baroque / cond. Richard Neville-Towle
CD (Delphian)
“Soprano Mary Bevan and tenor Ed Lyon add zest to Handel's high-arching settings of Dryden's verse.”
Anna Picard, Independent, August 2012
"Beguiling new disc... Radiant soprano Mary Bevan is in glorious form..."
Stephen Pritchard, Observer, July 2012
Zerlina in Mozart Don Giovanni / Garsington Opera Company
dir. Daniel Slater / cond. Douglas Boyd
“...she plays a chavvy Zerlina to tarty perfection...”
Richard Morrison, Times, June 2012
“Both Elvira (Sophie Bevan) and Zerlina (Mary Bevan), sisters in life, displayed their contrasting talents ... Mary feline, athletic, as yet lighter voiced but captivating.”
Fiona Maddocks, Observer, June 2012
“Mary Bevan [stands out] for her agile Zerlina.”
Edward Bhesania, The Stage, June 2012
“Mary [Bevan] offered a Zerlina of personality and emphatic vocal character.”
George Hall, Opera News, August 2012
“An impressively talented cast of young singers... Mary Bevan played Zerlina... this added up to as perfect a trio of conquests, in voice, good looks and acting ability...”
William Hartston, Scottish Sunday Express, June 2012
“Callum Thorpe and Mary Bevan played Masetto and Zerlina well ... and both were in good voice within a generally strong cast. Bevan’s was the female voice which blended best in the ensemble numbers...”
Paul Kilbey, Bach Track, June 2012
“[Mary Bevan had] fun singing Zerlina as a gum-chewing teenage tearaway...”
Amanda Holloway, Opera, August 2012
Tamiri in Mozart Il re pastore (concert performance)
Classical Opera Company / cond. Ian Page
“Mary Bevan sang Tamiri with idiomatic grace”
Michael Church, Independent, November 2011
“Mary Bevan, dynamic and vocally radiant, will be a fine Pamina one day.”
Mark Valencia, Classical Source, November 2011
“As Tamiri, in love with Agenore, Mary Bevan sang her two arias with agility and passion.”
Nahoko Gotoh, Bach Track, November 2011
“The part of Tamiri, the object of Agenore’s affections, was taken by a silver-voiced Mary Bevan. Mary gave a dignified and assured rendition of a role that prefigures several female roles in some of Mozart’s later mature operas.”
John-Pierre Joyce, MusicOMH, November 2011
Barbarina in Mozart The Marriage of Figaro / English National Opera
dir. Fiona Shaw / cond. Paul Daniel
“Mary Bevan shone in the minnow-sized role of Barbarina, nearly upstaging Kathryn Rudge's alert Cherubino.”
Fiona Maddocks, Observer, October 2011
“As the hopelessly hormonal teenagers, Mary Bevan’s inebriated Barbarina was a flirtatious foil to Kathryn Rudge’s hyperactive Cherubino.”
Bach Track, October 2011
Patrick Hadley Fen and Flood
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra / cond. Paul Daniel
Albion Records / ALBCD012
“Performances by soprano Mary Bevan and baritone Leigh Melrose in Fen and Flood are excellent”
Jeff Dunn, San Francisco Classical Voice, September 2011
“The two singers, Mary Bevan and Leigh Melrose, gave a most worthy performance of this thoroughly British piece, just like the singers themselves. The picturesque element, which the composer himself dreaded, resonated nonetheless in a very touching manner.”
Lionel Rouart, Forum Opera, November 2011
Rebecca in Nico Muhly Two Boys
English National Opera / cond. Rumon Gamba / dir. Bartlett Sher
“Brian has fallen online for manipulative Rebecca (the delightful Mary Bevan)”
Stephen Prichard, Guardian, July 2011
“Mary Bevan, in the difficult and somewhat elusive role of Rebecca, matched Spence in assurance and vocal confidence, whilst also conveying a richness of tone colour, and a sense of fragility and shade”
Stephen Graham, Musical Criticism, June 2011
Despina in Mozart Cosi fan tutte
Royal Academy Opera / cond. Jane Glover / dir. John Cox
“Mary Bevan was a musically accomplished Despina.”
Clare Colvin, Express, December 2010
“Mary Bevan’s Despina was of a similar class to Jenkins’s Fiordiligi: not at all irritating, and more rounded a character, musically as well as on stage, than we often experience.”
Mark Berry, Musicweb International, November 2010
“Mary Bevan played the cynical fast-talking Italian maid Despina to perfection.”
David Karlin, Bach Track, November 2010
Despina in Mozart Cosi fan tutte
Vignette Productions / cond. Graham Ross / dir. Andy Staples
“The victim here was Mary Bevan's Despina, bruised in love but brimming with sparkle, already a sophisticated comedienne and an elegant Mozartian.”
Anna Picard, Independent, August 2010
“Only Mary Bevan — exuding star quality as Despina — has the presence to cut through the bumph and entertain us.”
Kieron Quirke, Evening Standard, August 2010
“Mary Bevan’s transformation from Despina into a Gina Lollobrigida-like doctor was unforgettable.”
Michael White, Daily Telegraph, August 2010
Barbarina in Mozart Cosi fan tutte
Garsington Opera / cond. Douglas Boyd, dir. John Cox
“Note her younger sister Mary too, tenderly moving in Barbarina’s little aria.”
Geoff Brown, Times, June 2010
Emmie in Britten Albert Herring
Royal Academy Opera / cond. Nicholas Kok / dir. John Copley
“Note too... the bright promise of Mary Bevan, sparkling as one of the capering children, Emmie.”
Geoff Brown, Times, March 2010
“Mary Bevan made such a big impression as the juvenile Emmie, she came close to stealing the show. Twice.”
Michael White, Catholic Herald, March 2010
“…the children were outstanding. Mary Bevan, recent winner of the valuable Richard Lewis Award, was "luxury casting" as Emmie.”
Serena Fenwick, Musical Pointers, March 2010
“There were some excellent contributions from the delightful young trio of Mary Bevan (Emmie), Tess Bevan (Cis) and Joseph Beesley (Harry). Apart from their singing, the youngsters also amazed me with the precision of their ball passing (while, of course, singing).”
Agnes Kory, Musical Criticism, March 2010
Iris in Handel Semele / Royal Academy Opera
cond. Sir Charles Mackerras / dir. Anna Sweeney
“Mary Bevan’s ditzy blonde Iris was a striking performance”
Peter Reed, Opera Magazine, January 2010
“Mary Bevan as Iris, the goddess of Discord, was also a true joy to listen to. Her first aria 'There from mortal cares' was sung with just the right touch of irony and provocation. Judging this aria and the many recitatives which Ms Bevan was involved in this is also clearly a talent to watch. Ms Bevan’s truly beautiful soprano voice allied with a sound technique bodes well for the future.”
Calvin Wells, Opera Britannia, November 2009