Elizabeth Llewellyn

Elizabeth Llewellyn (born in South London in 1973 to Jamaican parents) was drawn to the piano, violin, and singing from a young age but stopped her conservatory training at 22 due to illness. A decade later, as an active amateur musician, Llewellyn was encouraged to return to singing professionally. She resumed private studies and quickly rose through the international soprano ranks as a specialist in Puccini and Verdi roles. She was the inaugural Voice of Black Opera competition winner in 2009 and debuted as Mimì in La Bohème with the English National Opera in 2010. Following a series of remarkable performances with that company, she made her New York debut as Bess in the Metropolitan Opera’s 2019 production of Porgy and Bess. In addition to operatic roles, Llewellyn performs dramatic choral repertoire such as Verdi’s Requiem (1874), Britten’s War Requiem (1962), and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 (1906). Her 2021 album, Heart & Hereafter: Collected Songs of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, with pianist Simon Lepper folds her trademark agility and luxurious tone into the intimacy of art song.