Coloratura soprano Ann De Renais was awarded a British Council grant for Post-Graduate Vocal Studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, having first studied Piano and Voice at the Royal Conservatoires of Brussels and Ghent, Belgium.

For the past two years, Ann has been training with vocal technician David Jones in New York and in London and is now singing the coloratura repertoire.

Roles in preparation are Queen of the Night (The Magic Flute), Constanze (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor), Gilda (Rigoletto).

Opera credits include Nannetta (Falstaff) for Opus Gattières in France, the Fire and the Nightingale (L’Enfant et les Sortilèges) for the New Tel Aviv Opera, Israel, Ophelia (contemporary opera The Players by Jurai Benes) for Mecklenburgh Opera (UK), Susanna (The Marriage of Figaro) for Beaufort Opera (UK) and contemporary operas at La Scala, Milan.

While a member of the 8-part vocal ensemble The Swingle Singers, soprano Ann De Renais sang a variety of musical genres comprising a cappella arrangements of a widely diverse repertoire as well as original compositions by Luciano Berio (Sinfonia, Outis), Azio Corghi (Tat’jana) and Michael Nyman.

Since becoming a freelance singer, she has given premieres for the Festival of Flanders of new Belgian music, recorded by Flemish Belgian Radio. Composers who have written especially for her voice include Lucien Posman, Boudewijn Cox, Claude Coppens and Daniël Schroyens.

Among her most recent performances may be listed Orff’s Carmina Burana in Ghent and Kortrijk under the direction of Sabine Haenebalcke; Songs of Alice (Claude Coppens) with the Spectra Ensemble and recorder ensemble Apsara.

Ann performs regularly with London Voices under the direction of Terry Edwards and has recorded for television, radio and feature films.

Future engagements with London Voices include Savitri (Holst) at the Wigmore Hall and the Royal Albert Hall in London, Sinfonia (Berio) in Stockholm and Berlin.

Future solo engagements include the Chandos Anthems (Handel) for the Festival of Flanders in Bruges, Brahms’ German Requiem on tour in several Belgian cities and Handel’s Israel in Egypt in Bath, UK.

Ann De Renais runs her private voice studio as Associate Teacher of David Jones in London.

1/2/2004