Mezzo-Soprano
''Sophie Yelland's voice...stood out owing to it's clarity, tonal warmth and focus''
Opera Talent
UK
''Sophie Yelland's stunning performance as the angel...sent shivers down my spine''
Minehead Choral Society
UK
Sophie Yelland
Biography
Born in Adelaide, South Australia, Irish Mezzo Soprano Sophie Yelland started music at age 3, when she began Suzuki violin. At age 12, she swapped violin for cello and completed a BMusPerf (cello) at the Elder Conservatorium of Music (University of Adelaide).
She then studied voice at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, where she was awarded the prestigious McConnan Trust Scholarship to obtain BMusPerf (voice) with Honours.
Sophie has been the recipient of awards and scholarships from the University of Melbourne, the Melba Opera Trust, the Opera Studio Melbourne, where the Margaret Schofield Opera Scholarship allowed her to work with prominent artists including Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Yvonne Kenny, Chuck Hudson & award winning director Cameron Menzies.
In Australia, Sophie has worked for major opera companies including Victorian Opera, Opera Australia, Lyric Opera of Melbourne and toured for 9 months as Hansel in the Opera Australia Schools Tour of Hansel & Gretel.
In the UK, Sophie has performed with English National Opera, Welsh National Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera and at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
Alongside performing in productions in leading opera houses, Sophie also regularly sings at concert engagements, and has performed at the Royal Festival Hall, the Royal Albert Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and St David's Hall.
Now based in Cardiff, Wales, Sophie is currently contracted to Welsh National Opera, where she has covered roles including Lord Asquith in Rhondda Rips It Up! and Mercedes in Carmen. In 2021 she performed the role of Tweedledum in Will Todd's Alice's Adventure in Wonderland at Dyffryn Gardens and the Wales Millenium Centre. Next season Sophie will perform the role of La Zelatrice in Suor Angelica and cover Frugola in Il Tabarro.
Every year Sophie tours with WNO to venues across the UK, including Venue Cymru, Bristol Hippodrome, Birmingham Hippodrome, Mayflower Theatre, Milton Keynes Theatre & Theatre Royal Plymouth.
She has also been a regular deputy for St David's Metropolitan Cathedral and BBC National Chorus of Wales in Cardiff.
Sophie has 20 years experience teaching singing, cello, violin & piano to students between the ages of 4-74. See more.
Photograph: Jimmy Swindells
Operatic Roles
Bizet Carmen Carmen
Bizet Carmen Mercedes*
Will Todd Alice's Adventure in Wonderland Tweedledum/Brat
Wagner Die Walküre Rossweisse*
Verdi Macbeth Dama
Humperdinck Hansel und Gretel Hansel (German/English)
Schönberg Moses und Aron 2nd Solostimmen*
Mozart Così fan tutte Dorabella
Verdi La Traviata Annina*
Mozart Die Zauberflöte Third Lady/Third Boy (German/English)
Bernstein Trouble in Tahiti Dinah
Elena Langer Rhondda Rips It Up! Lord Asquith*
Rossini La Cenerentola Tisbe*
Handel Rinaldo Rinaldo*
Bellini I Capulet e i Montecchi Romeo*
Verdi Il Trovatore Ines*
Monteverdi L'incoronazione di Poppea Nerone*
J.Strauss II Die Fledermaus Orlofsky*
Purcell Dido and Aeneas Dido/2nd Woman
Menotti The Old Maid and the Thief Miss Todd
Mozart Don Giovanni Donna Elvira
Kelvin Thomson The Silence of the Bees The Artist (world premiere)
*cover/scene
Oratorio/Concert
Vivaldi Gloria
Elgar The Dream of Gerontius
Mendelssohn Elijah
Mozart Requiem
Mozart Coronation Mass
Handel Messiah
Beethoven Ninth Symphony
Mozart Vesperae solennes de confessore
Dvořák Requiem
Bach Mass in B Minor
Handel Deborah
Schumann Der Rose Pilgerfahrt
Mahler Lieder Eines Fahrenden Gesellen
Schumann Frauenliebe und leben
