British Coloratura Soprano Rachel Ridout is noted for her "Leuchtendes Timbre" (Leipziger Volkszeitung January 2023). In the 2023/24 season she will be making her Debut in the Leipzig Opera singing the roles of Adlige Waise (Rosenkavalier) and 2.Knabe (Zauberflöte) and she will sing the role of Sylvie (La Colombe by Gonoud) in the HMT Leipzig Studio Production. Her operatic roles include Belinda from Henry Purcell's "Dido and Aeneas" in the HMT Leipzig studio production, Erste Knabe in the Royal Academy Opera production and Papagena for the Uppermill Music Festival - both roles from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "Die Zauberflöte"- and Olympia from "Les Contes d' Hoffman” by Jacques Offenbach. In opera scenes, Rachel sang the roles of Norina (Don Pasquale), Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro) and Blonde (Die Entführung aus dem Serail).

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In the 2021/2022 Season, Rachel was selected as a participant in the Bel Canto Vocal Academy by Silvana Bazzoni Bartolli at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival, a Young Artist at the International Lied Festival Zeit, the Hester Dickson Duo Prize holder at the Oxenfoord International and made she her debut recital at the Oxford Lieder Festival. As a passionate song singer Rachel has also performed at the Victoria International Arts Festival in Malta, Gozo and performed in master classes to Elly Ameling, Nicky Spence, Robert Holl, Wolfgang Holzmair, Helmut Deutsch, Graham Johnson, Hans Eijsackers,Joseph Middleton and Malcom Martineau. Rachel is looking forward to the release of her debut recording on a CD of all the Goethe Lieder by Hugo Wolf commissioned by the bicentenary at RAM and recorded by Linn Records.

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Rachel is currently studying at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater „Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy“, Leipzig, where she is doing her Opera Masters under the tutelage of Professor Carola Guber. In 2021, Rachel graduated from the Royal Academy of Music with First Class Honours and received the 2021 Van Smit Prize for excellence. During her time at the Royal Academy of Music, she studied with Mary Nelson and James Baillieu, and appeared regularly as a member of the Academy Voices and the Bach the European Concert Series. She worked with conductors such as Masaaki Suzuki, Trevor Pinnock, Eamonn Dougan and Iain Leddingham. She also sang the world premiere of Emma Ruth-Richard's song Red Anemones, written as one of the 200 pieces commissioned by the bicentenary at the Royal Academy of Music.

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Rachel is very grateful to have received financial supported during her studies from the Countess of Munster Trust and the Deutschland Stipendium.