Performing Career
I had my first singing lesson at the age of 24 long after I had gained a BA in Drama and Theatre Studies from Royal Holloway College in London and a teaching certificate allowing me to teach Primary Education (P.G.C.E).
I was teaching in South London when I decided to take up singing as a hobby. Laura Sarti, my first teacher, persuaded me to try for the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and I got a place on the 4-year undergraduate course. After two years, and feeling much older than the other students, I decided to try for the 2-year Opera Studies course. I was successful and began studying with David Pollard.
In 1993 I sang my first proper role as Mimì in Puccini’s La Bohème for British Youth Opera and after winning the Richard Tauber prize (for both Lieder and Opera) in the same year, the then General Manager of Welsh National Opera, Matthew Epstein, heard that a young Welsh singer had won this biennial prize in London and wanted to hear me. I auditioned soon after and before I had completed my Opera training in 1994 I had been offered a Young Artist Contract with Welsh National Opera and I was back at home in Cardiff where I grew up!
