Judith Weir: Blond Eckbert

Born in South Shields, Anne-Marie Owens studied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama with Laura Sarti and at the National Opera Studio.  She made her professional debut as Mistress Quickly Falstaff for Glyndebourne Touring Opera and joined English National Opera in 1985, where her more recent roles have included Anezka The Two Widows, High Priestess La Vestale, Marfa Khovanshchina, Jezibaba Rusalka, and Judith Weir’s Blond Eckbert (filmed for Channel 4).

As one of Britain’s leading mezzo-sopranos, Anne-Marie Owens has performed for many of the world’s great opera companies, including the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Glyndebourne, Scottish Opera, Welsh National Opera, Opera North, Opéra National de Paris,  Théâtre Royale de La Monnaie, Opéra de Lausanne, New York City Opera, Santiago Opera, Arizona Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, Opera di San Carlo, the Komische Oper, Berlin, Bayerische Staatsoper, Opera Australia and at the Hong Kong and Saito Kinen Festivals.  Anne-Marie’s vast operatic repertoire has included Brangäne Tristan und Isolde, Amneris Aida, Azucena Il Trovatore, Venus Tannhäuser, Herodias Salome and Santuzza Cavalleria Rusticana.  While maintaining many of these roles in her repertoire, her recent engagements have included Morozova in Tchaikovsky’s Opricnick in Cagliari, Madelon Andrea Chenier for Scottish Opera, Ragonde Le Comte Ory for Garsington Opera, Witch Hänsel und Gretel and Jezibaba Rusalka  for Opera Australia and Herodias in Salome for both Santa Fe Opera and Opera North and Marcellina Le Nozze di Figaro and Mistress Quickly Falstaff for Grange Park Opera.

Anne-Marie is also in much demand on the concert platform where she regularly performs the works of Mahler, Vaughan Williams, Elgar and the choral works of Verdi, Handel, Mozart and Beethoven with such orchestras as the London Symphony Orchestra, OAE, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, CBSO, RSNO, Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège, City of London Sinfonia and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.