©Photo: Monika Rittershaus

©Photo: Victoria Cadisch

Lauren Fagan

Soprano

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“Her soprano has real gloss, her coloratura is shaped with expressive grace and her stage presence is gripping”
(Opera Today, June 2018)

Lauren Fagan has developed into one of today’s most accomplished young sopranos and had the honour of representing her native Australia in the 2019 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. Recent role debuts as Alcina for the Internationale Händel-Festspiele Karlsruhe, Violetta in Rodula Gaitanou’s production of La Traviata for Opera Holland Park and Mimi in the classic Phyllida Lloyd production of La Bohème for Opera North were met with unanimous critical acclaim for her richness of tone, thrilling top notes and compelling stage presence.

The 2020/21 season included two major company debuts for Lauren Fagan: at Bayerische Staatsoper Munich as ‘Norma’ in Marina Abramovic’s special project 7 Deaths of Maria Callas, conducted by Yoel Gamzou, and at Opernhaus Zürich as Giulietta in Andreas Homoki’s new production of Les Contes d’Hoffmann, under Antonino Fogliani, and she made a spectacular return to Violetta in Rodula Gaitanou’s production of La traviata for London’s Opera Holland Park. Of her performance, Opera Magazine wrote “Lauren Fagan plays the death scene with her own dramatic freedom rather than borrowed histrionics. At home in both Violetta’s modes – as strong in the coloratura as the introverted musings – she sings luminously”.

The 2021/22 season brings Fagan’s debut at Opéra de Paris in 7 Deaths of Maria Callas, her return to Opernhaus Zurich for the world premiere of Monteverdi, a ballet choreographed by Christian Spuck to the Madrigals of Monteverdi, conducted by Riccardo Minasi and Christoph Koncz and her Glyndebourne Festival debut in Ethel Smyth’s The Wreckers, conducted by Robin Ticciati. She also returns to Australia to add the role of Magda in La Rondine at the National Opera, conducted by Dane Lam.

Earlier highlights include performances as Roxana in Szymanowski’s Krol Roger with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Sir Antonio Pappano, Donna Elvira with the NHK Symphony Orchestra under Paavo Järvi, alongside staged productions as Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) and Musetta (La bohème) marking company debuts with Opera Holland Park and Welsh National Opera.

Lauren Fagan made a much-anticipated Australian debut in the 2020/21 season with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven’s Ah! Perfido, conducted by Simone Young and with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra in Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 conducted by Dane Lam. Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 is a regular season’s feature, with most recent performances under Eivind Gullberg-Jensen with Symphoniker Hamburg and under Klaus Mäkelä with the Oslo Philharmonic. Other notable collaborations have included joining Sakari Oramo for Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music as part of the Last Night of the BBC Proms, Peer Gynt with Orchestre national de Lyon under Leonard Slatkin, Vier letzte lieder for Malmö Opera under Karen Kamensek, and Agnès in concert performances of George Benjamin’s Written on Skin with the Melos Sinfonia at LSO St Luke’s, London and in St. Petersburg at the Mariinsky Theatre.

A graduate of Covent Garden’s prestigious Jette Parker Young Artist Programme, Lauren Fagan most recently returned to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, as Woglinde in Keith Warner’s Ring Cycle under Sir Antonio Pappano. During her time as a member of the JPYAP she appeared on the main stage and at the Lindbury Theatre in an extensive repertoire including as Oscar (Un ballo in maschera), Suor Genovieffa (Suor Angelica), Giannetta (L’elisir d’amore), Lila (The Firework-Maker’s Daughter), Ines (Il trovatore), Sophie (Werther), Jemmy (Guillaume Tell), Lia (L’enfant prodigue), Blue Fairy (The Adventures of Pinocchio) and Giulia (La scala di seta).

Gallery

Stravinsky: The Rake’s Progress ‘No Word from Tom’ © BBC

Puccini: Suor Angelica ‘Senza Mamma’ © BBC

Mozart- Ah, chi mi dice mai (Don Giovanni)

'Roxana's Song' Krol Roger with Pappano © Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia

Written on Skin - Melos Sinfonia

“Lauren Fagan, returning to the cast alongside the other two 2018 principals, plays the death scene with her own dramatic freedom rather than borrowed histrionics. At home in both Violetta’s modes — as strong in the coloratura as the introverted musings — she sings luminously.”

(John Allison for Opera Magazine, August 2021)

“In Act I Lauren Fagan as Violetta is lyrical, unflamboyant yet technically accomplished, but in Acts II and III mines unsuspected depths of emotion while singing the music with pearly ease.”

(Hugh Canning, The Times, June 2021)

“Soprano Lauren Fagan is entirely assured in negotiating the difficulties of Verdi’s writing with boundless skill and expressivity, presenting his heroine as a multi-faceted human being.”

(The Stage, June 2021)

“Lauren Fagan’s Violetta saw her in absolutely commanding – and extremely moving – form.”

(Boyd Tonkin, The Arts Desk, June 2021)

“Fagan has truthful artistry, and strength across her generous soprano span.”

(Boyd Tonkin, The Arts Desk, June 2021)

“Lauren Fagan sang Giulietta capriciously, also boldly, challengingly, as befits the figure.”

(Rainer Zerbst, Bachtrack, April 2021)

“Fagan made her professional debut in Australia just last week with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and braved fickle border restrictions to join Simone Young and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra for this concert, soon demonstrating why she’s been in such demand in the UK.”

(Angus McPherson, February 2021)

“Fagan’s is a powerful instrument and she soared across the sound of the string section with her polished soprano.”

(Angus McPherson, February 2021)

“There were some lovely veiled moments in her upper register early in the aria before she allowed her voice to unfurl in the dramatic climax, easily filling the space with her glossy, commanding sound.”

(Angus McPherson, February 2021)

“As Simone Young told the audience the Australian singer, making her SSO debut, would have no problem projecting – and she didn’t, her rich and powerful timbre cutting through in Beethoven’s Ah! Perfido, a work which runs the range of emotions and showed why Fagan was selected for Covent Garden’s prestigious Jette Parker Young Artists Program.”

(Steve Moffatt, The Daily Telegraph, February 2021)

“The soloist was Sydney-born, London-based soprano Lauren Fagan, in her first professional appearance in Australia, and her warm, rich tone, combined with effortless control, brought out the delightfully wistful character of Agee’s prose in Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915.”

(Chris Reid, The Advertiser, February 2021)

“The quality of the vocal performances is superb. Lauren Fagan, as the doomed Mimi, gives a gorgeous rendition of ‘Si, Mi Chiamano Mimi’, shortly before duetting with Eleazar Rodriguez on a moonlit ‘O Soave Fanciulla’ that proves to be one of the highlights of the evening.”

(The Stage, October 2019)

“Lauren Fagan’s Mimì was beautifully sweet, delicate and restrained, but unleashed torrents of powerful emotion, a fact evident from the moment she joined her new lover Rodolfo for ‘O soave fanciulla.’ She was thrilling.”

(Bachtrack, October 2019)

“the up-and-coming soprano Lauren Fagan as Alcina…Fagan was a convincing sorceress from the start, with a strong, rich soprano”

(Opera Magazine, July 2019)

“…her transition into “Steal away” was finely achieved, gilded tone and soaring line suitably consolatory”

(David Truslove, Classical Source, March 2019)

“Rising young star Lauren Fagan dazzles as Alcina. Her laments, and in particular the “Mi restano le lagrime”, are literally gilded in gold, her voice can display pain incarnate, while also asserting powerful nobility and a superb helplessness.”

(Forum Opera, March 2019)

“Fagan was a convincing sorceress from the very start, with a strong rich soprano, inducing sympathy in “Ombre pallide” as her shades desert her, spitting venom in the trio “Non è amor” and finally collapsing as all conspire to defeat her.”

(Bachtrack, March 2019)

“As Alcina the gorgeous soprano Lauren Fagan convinces again, completing her six (!) bravura arias between despair and rage, rapture and revenge, with breathtaking, truly magical virtuosity; and in her art of frenzied coloratura, crazy flights of fancy, elegant arcs and daring leaps, demonstrates boundless skill.”

(Badische Neue Nachrichten, March 2019)

“The three Norns were led by the authoritative Lise Davidsen, the three Rhinemaidens by the shining Lauren Fagan.”

(Financial Times, September 2018)

“Thankfully, the three Rhinemaidens got the singing off to an excellent start, the three voices buoyant and fresh, and blending beautifully”

(Arts Desk, September 2018)

“As the three Rhinemaidens, Lauren Fagan, Christina Bock and Angela Simkin blend beautifully and frolic with ease”

(The Guardian, September 2018)

“Fagan, one of today’s finest young sopranos, is exceptional throughout and a superb actor. Her tone blazes with existential defiance and desperation, and she possesses both the agility for act one – Sempre Libera is capped by a dazzling top E flat – and the dramatic weight for the closing scenes.”

(The Guardian, June 2018)

“Luckily, these opening moments also reveal that in Lauren Fagan this new production has a Violetta of considerable force, plangent tones and solid dramatic instincts.”

(The Times, June 2018)

“the easy grace of Fagan’s coloratura, the warmth and richness of her sound, and her delicately floated high notes, all make this Violetta a delight.”

(Independent, June 2018)

“More than just technical precision though, Fagan’s performance embodied Violetta’s tragedy and nobility, phrases soaked with emotion which matched the quality of her acting. Fagan alone makes this production worth seeing.”

(Bachtrack, June 2018)

“Lauren Fagan was on commanding form as both actor and singer, and she looked sensational and vulnerable in her fin-de-siècle gowns. Her coloratura in ‘Sempre libera’ was light and secure, her Act 2 scene with Germont père, showing off a fine control of tone and hushed dynamics, was done with considerable restraint, and her death scene faltered and faded very movingly.”

(Opera Magazine, August 2018)

“the Australian soprano Lauren Fagan made a vivid, sensitive Roxana.”

(Opera Magazine, March 2018)

“Lauren Fagan encompassed repressed stillness and seething passion as Agnès, retaining her precision of attack and creamy tone at even the most exposed high climax”

(Opera Magazine, January 2018)

“As for Lauren Fagan, playing the humiliated wife for whom a taste of real love catalyses her one act of defiance, she achieves a small miracle: dispelling memories of how Barbara Hannigan sang and acted in the premiere. Fagan delivers a fiercer, less enigmatic characterization.”

(The Times, October 2017)

“Most thrilling of all, Lauren Fagan’s gleaming, intense performance showed what a extraordinary dramatic creation the character of Agnès is, one of the great operatic heroines of the past 100 years.”

(The Guardian, October 2017)

“Lauren Fagan (a Jette Parker Young Artist alumna) revealed Agnès’s erotic awakening with conviction and was even more persuasive in her vindictive rejection of her husband.”

(Classical Source, October 2017)

“Elvira demands more expressive power than the tragic Anna, but Fagan demonstrated perfect skill and there was a seriousness in her approach to the role.”

(Mainichi, September 2017)

“Do not miss the excellent performance offered by all artists – with particular acclaim for the great vocal charm of soprano Lauran Fagan (Roxana)”

(Giornale della musica, October 2017)

“Lauren Fagan sang her first Donna Anna as if it were a walk in Holland Park, flinging out her repeated As in ‘Or sai chi l’onore’”

(Hugh Canning, Opera Magazine, August 2017)

“From her first appearance as Donna Anna, Lauren Fagan demonstrated a rich, creamy and dramatic voice that bought immediacy and thrill to her every utterance. She uses words and a palette of vocal colours to thrilling effect; this is a voice of amazing potential.”

(Classical Source, June 2017)

“Australian soprano Lauren Fagan sang a commanding Donna Anna with dramatic recitatives, laser-like projection and clean fioritura. “Non mi dir” was the highlight of the evening”.

(Bachtrack, June 2017)

“The irrepressible Musetta of Lauren Fagan…her transition from attention-seeking shrillness to touching lyricism was skilfully done.”

(Opera Magazine, May 2017)

“Of the other ‘bohemians’, Lauren Fagan’s Musetta had an engaging brassiness of voice and manner in the Café Momus scene (which was well realized theatrically) and a very different, but equally engaging, capacity for deeper emotional involvement in Acts III and (especially) IV. More than some more famous singers in this role, she made one believe in the character’s generosity of spirit in the last Act.”

(Seen and Heard, January 2017)

“Lauren Fagan was a brilliantly wild and flighty Musetta, until the final scene where the Carmen-like mask dropped and the softness of the woman beneath was movingly revealed. Her powerful voice, with remarkable control, even at the peak of her range, mellowed beautifully by the end.”

(Bachtrack, January 2017)

“Lauren Fagan was a feisty Musetta, generous of voice.”

(Classical Source, January 2017)

“In the second half Vaughan Williams’s Serenade to Music provided the unique sound of 16 solo singers – as distinct from a 16-part choir – of whom Lauren Faganstood out in a high quality crowd.”

(The Arts Desk, September 2016)

“Lauren Fagan shone as Gounod’s Mireille… Her stunningly rich tone and vibrant timbre rose above the incongruous design and later, as Mimì, she showed that she has range of colour too.”

(Opera Today, July 2016)

“Lauren Fagan excelled as Gounod’s Mireille, her creamy tone, fast vibrato and clear top perfectly suited to French repertoire”

(Bachtrack, July 2016)

“Lauren Fagan, who stepped in at the last moment for an indisposed Sophie Bevan, leaves a strong impression with a sincere, powerful sound.”

(Opernwelt, July 2016)

“contrasted with the bright ring of Lauren Fagan’s Sister Genovieffa, surely an Angelica in waiting”

(Arts Desk, February 2016)

“…the characterisation of the supporting roles is carefully detailed, such as Lauren Fagan’s tender delivery of Sister Genovieffa’s wistful monologue on the joy of holding a lamb …”

(Anna Picard, The Spectator, March 2016)

“Lauren Fagan is a fervent, bright-voiced Lila, with oodles of star potential”

(Financial Times, December 2015)

“Musically the whole thing works a treat, thanks to glorious singing by Fagan.”

(The Independent, December 2015)

“His daughter Lila, our heroine, gets a spirited and joyful incarnation from Lauren Fagan… her soprano warm and crystal clear.”

(Bachtrack, December 2015)

“The Three Graces blended alluringly, Lauren Fagan’s Thalia floating thrillingly above Emily Edmonds sensuous mezzo”

(Opera Today, November 2015)

“Lauren Fagan, looking like a dancer, brought a palpitating timbre and oodles of temperament to the troubled priestess”

(Yehuda Shapiro, Opera Magazine, August 2015)

“…Lauren Fagan as his love-interest, Leila, [was] simply superb. She slinked around with perfumed exoticism as the beautiful young princess and he could barely contain his passion for her… These two fine singers proved they were worthy of headlining any Pearl Fishers cast and deserved the prolonged ovation they received.”

(Seen and Heard, July 2015)

“The positively angelic Léila of Lauren Fagan”

(Opera Today, July 2015)

“This was exceptional, both singers giving their all and electrifying each other and, in the process, the auditorium”

(Classical Source, July 2015)

“Fagan had a lovely silvery sheen to her soprano as Léïla pleaded for Nadir’s life, fuelling the flames of Zurga’s jealousy. Sparks flew!”

(Bachtrack, July 2015)

“Stepping into Papagena’s tarty shoes was the Jette Parker Young Artist Lauren Fagan, who sang with spark and threw herself into the portrayal.”

(Opera Magazine, May 2015)