Joan Rodgers

Joan Rodgers studied at the University of Liverpool and the Royal Northern College of Music. In 1981 she won the Kathleen Ferrier Memorial Scholarship. Joan Rodgers made her professional debut in 1982 as Pamina in a new production of Die Zauberflöte at the Festival of Aix en Provence, following which she rapidly established herself throughout Europe. International operatic engagements have included Paris (Pamina and Zerlina with Barenboim and Ponnelle, Mélisande, Susanna, and Donna Elvira with Solti); Munich (Ginevra in Ariodante); Florence (Susanna with Mehta); Vienna (Mitridate with Harnoncourt), Zurich, Lyon, Turin, Brussels (Countess, Fiordiligi, and Hero in Beatrice et Benedict), Geneva, Frankfurt and Oviedo (Governess in The Turn of the Screw), Netherlands Opera (Countess in Figaro and Blanche Dialogues des Carmélites), and The Metropolitan Opera, New York (Pamina). In the UK Joan Rodgers has performed at all the major opera companies including in the highly acclaimed performances of the Governess and Duchess in Thomas Adès’ Powder Her Face at the Royal Opera House. Joan Rodgers enjoys an equally successful career as a concert and recital singer and engagements have included regular appearances with conductors such as Mehta, Barenboim, Salonen, Harnoncourt, Bruggen, Eschenbach, Elder, Sir Andrew Davis and Rattle. She has appeared regularly in London with all the leading orchestras and has been a frequent guest at the BBC Proms, including the internationally-televised Last Night in 1988. Overseas engagements have included tours of the USA and Spain with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Esa-Pekka Salonen and a nationwide tour of Australia. Her London recitals have attracted the highest critical acclaim and other recent recital engagements have included the Musikverein in Vienna, Paris, Moscow, Budapest and New York. Joan Rodgers received the RPS award as Singer of the Year for 1997, the 1997 Evening Standard Award for outstanding performance in opera for her performance as the Governess in the Royal Opera’s production of The Turn of the Screw and an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Liverpool University in July 2005. She was awarded the CBE in the 2001 New Year’s Honours List. In 2010 Joan Rodgers took up the post of ‘International Chair in Singing’ at Royal Northern College of Music.