British contralto Claudia Huckle studied at the Royal College of Music, London, the New England conservatory and the Curtis Institute of Music. She was the 2004 Grand Final Winner of The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and is a graduate of the prestigious Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program at Washington National Opera. Claudia is the 2013 winner of the Birgit Nilsson Remembrance Award at Plácido Domingo’s Operalia competition at Verona – the first female, and first British recipient. She was a member of the ensemble at Leipzig Opera for four seasons from 2009. Opera roles include Erda (Das Rheingold) and Schwertleite (Die Walküre) for Opera North, the title role in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia for Glyndebourne on Tour, Hippolyta in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Marfa in Graham Vick’s new production of Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina for Birmingham Opera Company, Hänsel for Garsington Opera, Smeton in Donizetti’s Anna Bolena for Washington National Opera, and Mérope (Oedipe) with the Royal Opera House. She made her début with The Mozartists (then Classical Opera) singing Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in The Mozartists’ 20th Birthday Concert on 9 October 2017.