Kirsty Hopkins
Artist Reviews
"Soprano Kirsty Hopkins, most true in timbre, is very touching in the setting of Christina Rossetti’s ‘Song of Mary Magdalene’, her gorgeous voice endearingly caressing Goodall’s lovely new setting of ‘When I survey the wondrous Cross’"
"Gibbons's silver swan can rarely have had her "silent throat" unlocked more sweetly than by Kirsty Hopkins's top notes"
"stealing the show was Kirsty Hopkins, her Ruth a peroxided, anguished victim, noble ultimately as she delivered her poignantly sung farewell"
"Centre stage was Hopkins as Ruth. She offered a gripping, multi-layered performance suggesting vulnerability, steely determination and instability in equal measure"
"Kirsty Hopkins's lovely performance of the Peruvian girl Orazia's love song to the Mexican warrior Moctezuma ('They tell us that your mighty powers above') reminds us that it ranks among Purcell's most rapturous operatic creations".
Biography
Kirsty Hopkins read Music at Manchester University and then continued her post-graduate vocal training at Trinity College of Music where she won the Elizabeth Schumann Lieder Prize. She now enjoys a versatile career performing all over the world for some of today’s most exciting and renowned conductors and ensembles.
Recent performances on stage include First Witch in Purcell Dido and Aeneas at Grange Festival; lead roles in the community operas The Moon Hares and Fairy Queen: Three Wishes combining the music of James Redwood and Henry Purcell and an adaptation of The Magic Flute for Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment with performances to young people throughout England; soprano soloist in The Sixteen and Streetwise Opera’s The Passion – a staged version of Bach’s St Matthew Passion receiving rave reviews and broadcast on BBC4; playing Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in the UK, in Charlotte Bray’s opera Entanglement; Betrayal, I Fagiolini’s murderous fusion of renaissance music and contemporary dance; onstage singer for Rambert in their ballet Labyrinth of Love with music by Michael Daugherty and Thomas Tallis at The Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at Shakespeare’s Globe.
Recent concert performances include the European premiere at St John’s Smith Square of Howard Goodall’s Invictus – A Passion; Purcell Indian Queen and Handel Dixit Dominus for Harry Christophers at the Edinburgh Festival and Sydney Opera House; Soprano Evangelist in Arvo Pärt’s Passio for Eric Whitacre conducting Hamburg Symphony Orchestra; Glory of Venice programme for OAE; Bach Lutheran Mass in G Minor for Australian Chamber Orchestra; Handel Israel in Egypt for Sir John Eliot Gardiner and Monteverdi Vespers for OAE throughout the UK and Europe.
Kirsty features on several recordings including Howard Goodall’s Invictus: A Passion, Purcell Indian Queen for The Sixteen and Handel at Vauxhall for London Early Opera. Television performances include appearances on Charles Hazelwood’s The Birth of British Music, The Sixteen’s Sacred Music at Christmas and The Passion on BBC4.
Future plans include more Fairy Queen: Three Wishes around the UK and Mozart Magic Flute and the Bird That Would Be Free in 2025 with OAE at Queen Elizabeth Hall.
Kirsty is a founder member of The Roxy Dots – a girl group bringing Andrews Sisters style to the south of the UK as often as possible. She is a freelance producer, working with opera companies and ensembles to create vibrant, exciting new productions for tomorrow’s audiences.
May 2025
For Oratorio and Concert repertoire please scroll down:
| Oratorio and concert rep | |
| Composer | Work |
| Allegri | Miserere |
| Bach J.S. | Cantata 61, Nun Komm, der Heiden Heiland |
| Cantata 140, Wachet Auf, ruft uns die Stimme | |
| Cantata 147, Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben | |
| Cantata 151, Süßer Trost, mein Jesus kömmt | |
| Cantata 202, Weichet nur, betrubte Schatten | |
| Christmas Oratorio | |
| Lutheran Mass in G minor | |
| Magnificat | |
| Mass in B Minor | |
| St John Passion | |
| St Matthew Passion | |
| Bernstein | Glitter and be Gay (Candide) |
| Brahms | Requiem |
| Couperin | Lecons de Tenebres |
| Daugherty M. | Labyrinth of Love |
| Drayton P. | The Passion of Christ as told by Mark the Evangelist |
| Dvorak | Mass in D Major |
| Ešenvalds | Passion and Ressurection |
| Faure | Requiem |
| Goodall H | Every Purpose under the Heaven |
| The King James Bible Oratorio | |
| Invictus: A Passion | |
| The Lord Is My Shepherd | |
| Handel | Acis & Galatea |
| Athalia | |
| Dixit Dominus | |
| Guilio Cesare | |
| Israel in Egypt | |
| Judas Maccabeus | |
| Messiah | |
| Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne | |
| Semele | |
| Solomon | |
| Xerses | |
| Israel in Ägypten (Mendelssohn arrangement) | |
| Haydn | Missa Sancti Nicolai |
| Nelson Mass | |
| Stabat Mater | |
| The Battle of the Nile | |
| The Creation | |
| McDowall | A Time for all Seasons |
| Mendelssohn | Elijah |
| Def Psalm 95 | |
| Monteverdi | Vespers |
| Mozart | Ch’io Mi Scordi di Te (Concert Aria) |
| Coronation Mass | |
| Litanae Lauretanae | |
| Mass in C Major | |
| Mass in C Minor | |
| Missa Brevis | |
| Requiem | |
| Vesperae solennes de confessore | |
| Orff | Carmina Burana |
| Pärt | Passio |
| Pergolesi | Stabat Mater |
| Purcell | A Song to Welcome home his majesty from Windsor |
| Bonduca | |
| Dido and Aeneas | |
| Fairy Queen | |
| Indian Queen | |
| King Arthur | |
| My Heart is Inditing | |
| O dive Custos | |
| Swifter Isis | |
| Theodosius | |
| The Summer’s Absence | |
| Welcome to all the Pleasures (Birthday Ode) | |
| Rutter | Requiem |
| Schubert | Mass in G |
| Stainer | The Crucifixion |
| Todd W. | Mass in Blue |
| Vaughan Williams | In Windsor Forrest |
| Vivaldi | Gloria |
| Magnificat | |
| Nulla in Mundo | |
| Wood C | Requiem |