British mezzo-soprano Esme Bronwen-Smith is the most recent  winner of First Prize at The 2022 Kathleen Ferrier Awards.

She graduated from the Royal College of Music with her Masters in Vocal Performance in 2019 where she won both the 2020 Lieder Competition and the 2021 Lies Askonas Competition.

Whilst at the RCM, Esme  studied with Dinah Harris, Caroline Dowdle and her current teacher, Rosa Mannion. She was generously supported by the Leverhulme Scholarship and was a Drake Calleja Trust Scholar for 19/20 .  

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In recital she has sung for song festivals such as Oxford Lieder and Leeds Lieder as a 2020/21 Leeds Lieder Young Artist, where she won the 2021 Leeds Lieder Young Artist/ Schubert Institute UK Song Prize.

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She has performed a variety of theatrical and operatic roles including Cherubino in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro (Glyndebourne Festival cover and  HGO), Nerone in Händel's Agrippina (English Touring Opera), Irene in Händel's Theodora (St Pauls Sinfonia), Unulfo in Händel’s Rodelinda (RCM Opera), the title role in Holst’s Sāvitri (HGO and Barnes Music Festival), The Devil in Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale (RCM and Central School of Ballet), Angelina in Rossini’s La Cenerentola (RCM Opera Scenes) and Smeton in Donizetti’s Anna Bolena (cover, Longborough Opera Festival).

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Esme was recently a member of  the Gary Condès Acting studio and performed  the role of 'The Devil' in Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale, a collaboration project with Sir Thomas Allen, RCM and the Central School of Ballet.

Theatre and film has always feature heavily in her career; she has worked on a variety of projects including Frankenstein at the National Theatre (2010), Trance (2013), Trainspotting 2 (2017) and a collaboration with Underworld and Iggy Pop (Teatime Dub Encounters, 2018) in which The Guardian reviewed her voice as ‘Sublime'.