From a childhood love of the piano to singing on the world’s biggest opera stages, British soprano Elizabeth Llewellyn has carved out a remarkable path in classical music. Ahead of her Cardiff concert with Welsh National Opera Orchestra, we met with Elizabeth to talk about where it all began, the magic of performing and what’s next in her impressive career.
‘I fell in love with the sound of the piano when I was around seven or eight,” Elizabeth tells us, “By ten, I was studying it seriously and continued through to eighteen. My wonderful and generous piano teacher fed my interest in classical music, and she encouraged me when I took up the violin aged around 14. Of course, none of it would have been possible without my parents being willing to pay for and facilitate lessons’.
Singing however came later and almost by chance; after hearing her sing with the school choir, her headteacher offered to pay for singing lessons and tickets to classical concerts and opera performances. That small act of support opened the door to what would become a life-changing path, ‘It opened a new sound-world for me. I was amazed at the power, versatility and joy of the human voice and I wanted to see if I could do that too’.
Though her career in opera didn’t take off until her mid-thirties, Elizabeth’s earlier professional life tells a different story, one of adaptability and ambition. After leaving music college, she worked in recruitment, then moved into project management in the IT and telecoms industries. She later led teams in specialist travel and event planning, organising high-end conferences and incentive programmes in London. Today, alongside performing, Elizabeth now heads her own production company with the first major project set to launch in late 2026.
Among her many career highlights, one moment still stands out as surreal for Elizabeth; her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in the title role of Bess in Porgy and Bess. To perform such a quintessentially American role as a British artist was an unforgettable experience, ‘It took a long time to sink in’ she admits. For her, performance is never about showcasing skill for its own sake. It’s about storytelling and creating space for something deeper to happen, ‘If I have done my job correctly and have prepared thoughtfully and skillfully,’ she says, ‘it makes space for those rare moments in performance when I can feel that my audience is journeying with me, following the intricacies of my story. Those moments are magical, they are like a conversation, an intimate exchange with the room’.
This October, Elizabeth returns to Cardiff to perform with WNO Orchestra in the Dora Stoutzker Hall at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, under the baton of Jiří
Habart. Since her 2022 debut with WNO in the title role of Jenůfa, she has also sung Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Sympthony at the Proms with BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and toured Wales with Strauss’ Vier letzte Lieder alongside Carlo Rizzi and the National Youth Orchestra of Wales.
The upcoming concert features Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder, a song cycle rich in intimacy and emotional complexity. Elizabeth began exploring the piece just over a year ago and was immediately struck by its nuance, ‘I was amazed at how detailed, expressive, and sincere they are, with unexpected turns in harmony and vocal lines, and much ‘duetting’ with various solo instruments in the orchestra. For me, it feels more like a piece of chamber music than a set of orchestral songs. I have developed a deep affection for them’. Alongside Wagner’s music, the concert will include evocative works by Dvořák, Beethoven, and Haydn. Reuniting with WNO Orchestra now, she says, ‘feels particularly special, it is quite rare to hear an orchestra in such an intimate setting as the Dora Stoutzker Hall – this will almost feel like hearing the WNO Orchestra in recital’.
Elizabeth Llewellyn performs with WNO Orchestra at Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama on Friday 24 and Saturday 25 October.