Elaine McKrill – Soprano
A graduate and Associate of the RAM and former winner of the Mastersingers’ Wagner Singers Competition, Elaine has specialised in recent years in the operas of Wagner and Strauss – with the notable exception of her long awaited debut as Lady Billows in Britten’s Albert Herring with New Palace Opera in London in 2023.
A particular career highlight was her debut as Elektra in Magdeburg which received critical acclaim.
“A brilliant vocal and interpretative shaping of this role”
“Phenomenally intense” “Fabulous” “Astonishing”
Her Wagner performances include Brünnhilde Die Walküre, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung in Chemnitz; Brünnhilde Die Walküre and Götterdämmerung (Mastersingers, Edinburgh Opera Players); Isolde (Angers Nantes Opéra, Opéra Dijon, Genoa); Gutrune Götterdämmerung and Brünnhilde Siegfried (Scottish Opera); Isolde (Edinburgh Players Opera Group in concert); Sieglinde Die Walküre (cover: Scottish Opera, ENO, Canadian Opera Company, Hong Kong Philharmonic); Ortlinde Die Walküre (Royal Opera – Covent Garden, Aix-en-Provence Festival, Salzburg Festival, Hallé, Mastersingers, BBC Proms, Philharmonia, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Edinburgh International Festival, Dallas Symphony Orchestra); Helmwige Die Walküre (Deutsche Oper – Berlin and Netherlands Opera); Gerhilde Die Walküre Canadian Opera Company; Third Norn Götterdämmerung (Stuttgart); Siegrune and Second Norn (State Opera of South Australia); Freia Das Rheingold (Chemnitz); Adriano Rienzi and Kundry Parsifal (Palace Opera).
In concert in recent seasons, Elaine has debuted as Fricka in both Das Rheingold and Die Walküre in Edinburgh and Venus in Tannhäuser for Saffron Opera Group. She will add another new role to her repertoire with her performance in December 2022 as Lady Billows in Albert Herring for New Palace Opera.
Elaine sang Brünnhilde Die Walküre, Siegfried and Gotterdammerung to critical acclaim in concert with Saffron Opera Group in 2016-17. In August 2017 Elaine returned to the Edinburgh International Festival to sing Ortlinde under the baton of Sir Andrew Davis, returning to that city in September to sing the title role in Elektra in concert in Portobello Town Hall. In 2018 she returned to Saffron Opera Group as Kundry in Parsifal: “McKrill was in impressive form through to the end of Act II and is a deserved favourite with the Saffron Hall audience” and subsequently was invited back to sing Isolde in Tristan und Isolde in September 2019 “The standout performance came from Saffron Opera Group’s Wagner stalwart Elaine McKrill”. In 2020 she covered the role of Anna Maurrant in Kurt Weill’s Street Scene for Opera North.
In previous seasons Elaine sang Ortlinde Die Walküre in concert with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Stockholm under Daniel Harding and jumped in as Brünnhilde in the General Rehearsal at short notice. Miss McKrill sang for the first time under Zubin Mehta as Helmwige at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia, Valencia.
Elaine made her Strauss debut as Marianne Leitmetzerin Der Rosenkavalier at Covent Garden (Petrenko/Schlesinger) and was subsequently invited back to sing the Aufseherin and cover the title role in Elektra (Nelsons/C.Edwards) a combination she was also engaged by Netherlands Opera to sing (M.Albrecht/Decker). She also sang Marianne Leitmetzerin in concert with Andris Nelsons and the CBSO.
In 2015 Elaine sang Gerhilde Die Walküre for the Canadian Opera Company and also covered Sieglinde. She sang Ortrud Lohengrin excerpts in Limoges and the Marschallin Der Rosenkavalier for the first time in concert. She made her debut in October 2015 as Elektra for Theater Magdeburg.
Personal career highlights have included her performances as Brünnhilde in the complete Ring Cycle in Chemnitz (Bareza/Heinicke), Isolde under Gelmetti in Genoa, Ortlinde in the Ring Cycles of the Aix-en-Provence and Salzburg Festivals with Sir Simon Rattle (d. Braunschweig) and the Berlin Philharmonic and also with Sir Antonio Pappano (d. Warner) at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden.
In addition to her Wagner and Strauss repertoire, Elaine has enjoyed success with Amelia Un Ballo in Maschera (Surrey Opera); Abigaille Nabucco (Skopje); Elettra Idomeneo (Neumünster); Gertrud Hänsel und Gretel (Glyndebourne cover) and Female Chorus The Rape of Lucretia. She covered the role of Kostelnicka Jenufa for ENO and both Freia Das Rheingold and the title role in Fidelio for Opera North.
In concert Elaine performed songs from Mahler’s Das Knaben Wunderhorn with the Cyprus Sinfonia at St John’s, Smith Square and was invited back to sing Britten’s Les Illuminations with them there. At St John’s Elaine also sang Isolde in Act II of Tristan und Isolde under Michael Thorne. She was engaged to sing excerpts of Tristan und Isolde in concert with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra under Federico Cortese and Kundry Parsifal in concert under Nicholas Braithwaite. Elaine will be the soprano soloist in Mahler’s 4th Symphony with the St Albans Sinfonia in 2020.
Her other concert repertoire includes Strauss Vier letzte Lieder; Beethoven Symphony No. 9; Verdi Requiem; Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem; Mendelssohn Elijah; Mozart Requiem; Britten On This Island and Les Illuminations; Dyson The Canterbury Pilgrims; Orff Carmina Burana, Shostakovitch Symphony 14; Vaughan Williams A Sea Symphony; Wagner Wesendonck Lieder; Walton Façade and Weber Mass in G ‘Jubelmesse’.