British-Irish soprano Hazel Neighbour is a recent graduate of the Royal Academy of Music opera studio where she studied under the tutelage of renowned soprano Nuccia Focile.
Hazel’s operatic highlights include Mimì (Young Artist Cover) for Mid Wales Opera’s new production of La bohème, joining the Glyndebourne chorus, and Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel at the Wiener Festspiele at the Musikverein.
Her upcoming engagements include a tour of Germany with Junge Oper Detmold, in which she will perform Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Bastienne in Bastien und Bastienne, Agathe in Der Freischutz, and the title role in Rusalka. Additionally, she will be performing Ottavia in L’incoronazione di Poppea at Théâtre Basse Passière, reprising the role from the production at Grimeborn Festival.
Other roles Hazel has performed include Micaëla, Carmen; Contessa Almaviva, Le nozze di Figaro; Governess, The Turn of the Screw for Dartington International Festival; L’Ensoleillad, Chérubin (Massenet), Fox, The Cunning Little Vixen and Erste Dame, Die Zauberflöte for Royal Academy Opera; and Bride in Judith Weir’s The Vanishing Bridegroom for British Youth Opera.
An exponent of contemporary music, Hazel created the role of Atalya in The Butt, adapted from the celebrated book by Will Self, at contemporary music festival Musiktheatertage Wien, Austria.
Hazel is a keen interpreter of song and is an alumna of the prestigious Franz Schubert Institut Lied programme in Austria and the Academy Song Circle. Highlights of Hazel’s concert and oratorio experience include A Sea Symphony by Vaughan Williams at Dorking Halls, Berg’s Sieben frühe Lieder and Mozart’s Vesperae solemnes de confessore at West Road Concert Hall.
