Emily-Jane Thomas

Emily-Jane Thomas studied with Yvonne Kenny and Theresa Goble at the Guildhall School of Music where she obtained her Masters degree with First Class Honours and her Bachelors degree with distinction.  Her studies were supported by the Susan Chilcott Scholarship, the Elizabeth Evans Trust, the Worshipful Company of Innholders, the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths and the Sir John Cass Foundation. In 2010 she won the Roland Jones Award at the National Eisteddfod of Wales.

Emily-Jane Thomas also studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg with William Workman.   She speaks German, Italian, French and Welsh.

Emily-Jane Thomas was born and raised in Cardiff.  She made her television debut as a soloist on BBC Wales at the age of sixteen.  She went on to play the role of Juliet in Andrew O’Neill’s production The Little Sweep, broadcast on S4C, followed by Paquette in Welsh National Youth Opera’s production of Candide, at the Wales Millennium Centre. 

While at the Guildhall, Emily-Jane Thomas sang Elmire in Erwin und Elmire, Phyllis in Iolanthe, and in the song recital Childsplay with Iain Burnside.  She also performed excerpts from the roles of Adele, Despina, Susanna, Gilda, Madame Goldentrill, Papagena, Cunegonde and Zerbinetta in opera scenes.  She played the role of Despina with Martin Lloyd-Evans and David Gowland for British Youth Opera workshops.  She directed Walton’s The Bear and Donizetti’s Rita, accompanied by a chamber orchestra consisting of her GSMD colleagues. 

Emily-Jane Thomas sang Barbarina and Susanna Le nozze di Figaro in concerts in Florence and Siena.  She sang in a staging of Messiah (Part II) produced by Sarah Walker and Graham Allum and also worked with Sarah Walker on a number of premieres of new works by GSMD composers.  She has also worked with Robin Bowman, Linnhe Robertson, Eugene Asti, Emanuele Moris, Janice Chapman and Stephen Maughan.

Emily-Jane Thomas’s concert engagements have included Dvorak’s Stabat Mater, Fauré’s Requiem, Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb, Rutter Magnificat, Schumann’s Spanisches Liederspiel, Haydn’s Missa Sancti Nicolai  and Haydn’s Creationl under Sir David Willcocks.  She has performed as a soloist in Llandaff Cathedral, St David’s Cathedral and Bath Abbey, and as the soprano soloist in Tippett’s Spirituals from A Child of our Time on a tour of the UK with the National Youth Choir of Wales.  Emily-Jane Thomas’s recital engagements have included Debussy melodie at LSO St Luke’s and a recital of Lieder inspired by Goethe texts at St Lawrence Jewry as part of the City of London Festival.  While studying at the Guildhall she also sang recitals for several City of London Livery Companies.

Emily-Jane Thomas made her Glyndebourne Festival debut as Second Fairy and Second Woman in a new production of The Fairy Queen under William Christie and Laurence Cummings, and directed by Jonathan Kent.  She made her debut at the BBC Proms in this production under William Christie with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.  She recently sang Zerlina Don Giovanni with Opera Up Close at the Soho Theatre and covered Flora Turn of the Screw for Opera North .  Her other roles include Parthenis La Belle Helene .

Forthcoming engagements include ENO Opera Works and a series of concerts concentrating on repertoire by female composers, including Clara Schumann, Fanny Hensel, Madeleine Dring, Liza Lehmann, Betty Roe and Ruth Natasha Young

November  2011