Edith Pritchard

Dip. Mus., PPRNCM

Associate Branch: Voice

edithpritchard@shaw.ca

website

Edith Pritchard was born in Edmonton, raised in the Okanagan and studied in Vancouver and Toronto before graduating with merit from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England. Having given acclaimed performances of Elisabetta (Don Carlos) at the RNCM, Edith joined the Glyndebourne Festival Opera, singing Fiordiligi (Cosi Fan Tutte) with Simon Rattle. She has sung with virtually every major opera company in the UK in roles as diverse as Miss Wingrave (Owen Wingrave) to First Lady (Zauberflöte) for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, where she made her operatic
debut.  

Further work includes: The Countess (Sigfried Matthus’ Cornet Christoph Rilke’s Song of Love and Death) for Glyndebourne Touring Opera, Countess (Strauss’ Capriccio) for Garsington Opera, Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni) for Batignano, Calypso (A. Scarlatti’s Il Telemaco) for Opera de Nice. Cover work includes Andromache (Tippett’s King Priam) for Opera North, Regan (Tippett’s New Year) for Glyndebourne, and Countess (Marriage of Figaro) for Welsh National Opera.

Concert repertoire includes: Bach’s Magnificat, Christmas Oratorio, St Matthew Passion, and St John Passion, Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Honegger’s King David, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solonnelle, (Llandudno Festival), Elijah (Rhyl Festival) and Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony (St John’s Smith Square).  Edith also has worked extensively in the 20th century repertoire, works including: Webern’s Funf Geistliches Lieder, Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, Birtwistle’s Entra’actes and Sappho Fragments and Nicola Lefanu’s Dawnpath, performed at the Cardiff Music Festival.

As a recitalist, Edith has appeared at many venues, including the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in the “Young Artists” series, the Chester Lunchtime Recital Series, the Pro Arts Society (Calgary), and the University of Lethbridge.

Since moving to Calgary, Edith has sung with the Mount Royal Kantorei (“The Magic of Mozart”, and “Merrie England” at the Jack Singer Concert Hall), the Lethbridge Symphony (Elijah and Messiah in 2006), and the Bow Valley Chorus (Mozart Requiem, April, 2006). In April, 2009, she performed the world premiere of Elegy by Quenten Doolittle for the 25th anniversary concert of New Works Calgary.  In addition to her busy performance schedule, she teaches voice as a branch teacher at Mount Royal University Conservatory and at Rocky Mountain College.

In September of 2009, Edith commenced studies towards a Masters of Music degree in Vocal Performance at the University of Calgary, supported by a project grant from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts as well as a prestigious Queen Elizabeth Graduate Award from the university.  The Music Project Grant has been renewed for the 2010-2011 academic year, along with the Polyna Savridi Memorial Scholarship from the University of Calgary.

Amongst many other awards and scholarships, Edith Pritchard was the inaugural winner of the Brigitte Fassbaender Prize for Lieder (RNCM) and is a recipient of Glyndebourne’s Esso Award and the coveted John Christie Award.