About
British soprano Rachel Ridout is currently based in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, where she is a member of the Opera Studio at Theater Freiburg. Rachel holds a First-Class Honours degree from the Royal Academy of Music in London, where she was awarded the Van Smit Prize for Excellence in 2021. During her studies she was mentored by Mary Nelson and James Baillieu. She continued her studies at University of Music and Theater Leipzig under the tutelage of Prof. Carola Guber. She holds a masters degree in opera singing and completed the Meisterklasse studies. Rachel gratefully acknowledges the support of the Countess of Munster Muscial Trust and the Deutschlandstipendium.
Since moving to Germany in 2022, Rachel has appeared as a soloist in productions at Oper Leipzig, Oper Halle and Theater Erfurt. Her performed repertoire includes Barbarina (Le nozze di Figaro), Belinda (Dido and Aeneas), Sophie Scholl (Weiße Rose), Olympia (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), Papagena (Die Zauberflöte) and Taumännchen (Hänsel und Gretel) etc. This season Rachel can be heard as a guest at the Oper Halle, Theater Erfurt and will make her stage debut at Theater Freiburg.
In 2022, Rachel participated in Silvana Bazzoni Bartoli’s Bel Canto Academy at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival and was selected as a Young Artist for the International Lied Festival Zeist. She has also made recital debuts at the Oxford Lieder Festival, Maison de Heine in Paris, Victoria International Arts Festival Malta and the Mendelssohn and Schumann Houses in Leipzig. Her awards include the Hester Dickson Duo Prize at the Oxenfoord International Summer School. Rachel has taken part in numerous public masterclasses, working with renowned artists such as Elly Ameling, Nicky Spence, Robert Holl, Wolfgang Holzmair, Helmut Deutsch, Graham Johnson, Hans Eijsackers, Joseph Middleton, and Malcolm Martineau.
Rachel is eagerly anticipating the release of her debut recording on a CD of all of Hugo Wolf’s Goethe Lieder, commissioned by the Bicentenary at the Royal Academy of Music.
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Press
“Mit enormer Glaubwürdigkeit verkörpern Rachel Ridout und Julian Dominique Clement die Geschwister Scholl. […] sie verkörpern die Scholls in traumwandlerischer Seriosität, singen ihre heiklen, sehr hoch notierten Partien mit ätherischer Contenance.”
Thüringer Allgemeine Zeitung
“Mit darstellerischer Sorgfalt und durchweg präzisem Gesang verschaffen aber auch… Rachel Ridout als Barbarina (nicht nur bei der Suche nach der verlorenen Nadel) Rollenporträts, denen man gerne zusieht und vor-allem hört.”
Neue Musik zeitung
“Beherzt übernimmt Didos Vertraute Belinda (Rachel Ridout) die musikalische Initiative und bringt ihr leuchtendes Timbre für die besungene Aufmunterung, die auf herrliche Liebesfreuden ein.”
Leipziger Volkszeitung
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