British mezzo-soprano Esme Bronwen-Smith won First Prize at The 2022 Kathleen Ferrier Awards. She studied at the Royal College of Music 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.  

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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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Esme has performed a variety of theatrical and operatic roles including Cherubino - Le Nozze di Figaro (Glyndebourne Festival cover and HGO), Angelina - La Cenerentola (English Touring Opera), Rosina - Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Waterperry), Nerone - Agrippina (ETO), Marchesa Melibea- Rossini's Il Viaggio a Reims (ETO), Irene - Theodora (St Pauls Sinfonia) and Smeton - Anna Bolena (cover, Longborough Opera Festival).

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This autumn she will return to Glyndebourne to make her solo debut as Flora in La Traviata.

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As well as singing, Esme is part of the creative management team behind the electronic music group, Underworld and has worked on a variety of film and theatre projects, including Frankenstein at the National Theatre (2010), Trance (2013), Trainspotting 2 (2017). She was a co-producer on their most recent album Strawberry Hotel (2024) and co-wrote the track Ottavia, an ode to the Monteverdi heroine, and proof that Opera and Techno can live in complete harmony....