Winner of singing competition »Ton und Erklärung« 2023, British mezzo-soprano Lila Chrisp is currently a member of the Opera Studio at Theater Freiburg, where roles in the 2022/23 season include Lucy, in »Marnie«; Nymph 2, in »Rusalka«; and Lucy, in »Die Dreigroschenoper«.
Lila graduated in 2022 from a Masters’ degree at the Royal Northern College of Music, where she was taught by Louise Winter. Her studies were kindly supported by the Annie Ridyard Scholarship and the Kathleen Trust. She was a Garsington Opera Alvarez Young Artist for Summer 2022, singing in the chorus in productions of Mozart’s »Così fan Tutte« and Dvorak’s »Rusalka«, as well as covering and performing the role of Nymph 3 in »Rusalka«. She played Coll in a new opera, »Drought«, by Anna Appleby, due to be performed with the BBC Philharmonic.
Lila previously graduated in 2017 with a First-Class Honours degree in Music from Merton College, Oxford, where she was a choral and academic scholar. During her undergraduate degree at Oxford, she took lead roles in several university opera productions.
Her solo concert and oratorio experience includes: Mozart, Requiem (Wokingham Choral Society), Duruflé, Requiem (Oxford Bach Choir/Sheldonian Theatre), Handel, »Messiah« (OU Chorus/Sheldonian Theatre), Mahler, Symphony No. 2 (Oxford University Philharmonia/Sheldonian Theatre), Elgar, »Sea Pictures« (Consortium Novum/SJE Oxford, & Bliss Sinfonia/Rugby School), Beethoven, Symphony No. 9 (Consortium Novum/Sheldonian Theatre), and Bach, Magnificat in D (Choir of Merton College, Oxford & The Oxford Philharmonic).
A lover of art song, Lila has given numerous solo song recitals in London, Oxford, and Rugby, and has performed in public masterclasses with Sir John Tomlinson, Graham Vick, Jane Glover, Ian Partridge & Judith Haddon. She was the winner of the AESS Courtney Kenny competition for English Song and Poetry 2018 and has performed as part of the London Song Festival.