Rachel Speirs

Scottish soprano Rachel Speirs studied at the Royal Northern College of Music where she won the Betty Bannerman Award for French Song 2020, the Kennedy Strauss Award 2019 adjudicated by Simon Keenlyside, and was a finalist in the Elizabeth Harwood Memorial Prize 2020 adjudicated by Dame Ann Murray and Sarah Tynan. In 2019, Rachel sang works by Sir John Manduell and his contemporaries in a celebration concert at the University of Manchester with the Victoria String Quartet, guitarist Craig Ogden, pianist Peter Lawson, and recorder player John Turner. In her final year of study, Rachel sang Maria Betram in Jonathan Dove’s Mansfield Park at the RNCM and was due to join Grange Park Opera and Wexford Festival Opera for their Summer seasons. In July 2021 Rachel returned to the theatre post-COVID as Mrs Nordstrom in A Little Night Music for Buxton International Festival and then joined English Touring Opera in Spring 2022 singing Chorus and leading roles in their schools show suitable for specialist SEND schools.

Rachel has a particular interest in music-making in education and outreach contexts and became Co-Director of SoundUp Arts CIC, an organisation bringing music and creative arts to people living with dementia, in 2021. Rachel’s work has included performances and projects with Opera North, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Random Opera, and Clonter Opera. Rachel has recorded the role of Lotty for Retrospect Opera’s 2021 recording of G.A. MacFarren’s The Soldier’s Legacy, and performs regularly in concert and oratorio with British opera companies and choral societies.