Meeta Raval
Meeta Raval was born in the UK and attended the Wells Cathedral School where she was one of the first Head Girl Choristers in the country. Whilst at Wells she became a specialist musician and was granted the first vocal scholarship ever awarded by the School. She went on to graduate from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with a First Class Honours Degree in Music, and a Diploma of Distinction in opera performance from the Royal Academy of Music (RAM). She completed her studies at the National Opera Studio.
Meeta Raval’s many scholarships and awards included the Dame Eva Turner Prize for “a soprano with dramatic potential”. She was the inaugural prizewinner of both the RAM Pavarotti Prize and the British Youth Opera (BYO) Basil Turner prize. She was also the recipient of the Independent Opera Vocal Scholarship at the RAM.
Meeta Raval has participated in masterclasses with John Copley, José Cura, and Dame Ann Murray and with Mirella Freni at the Solti Te Kanawa Accademia di Bel Canto, Italy.
Her roles have included Amaranta La fedelta premiata under Trevor Pinnock, Die Knusperhexe Hänsel und Gretel conducted by Sian Edwards, Contessa Le nozze di Figaro conducted by Sir Colin Davis and directed by John Copley, Teresa Das Wundertheater (Henze) in Montepulciano, Micaela Carmen in Banff, Canada, and Magda La Rondine for British Youth Opera. Other operatic roles include Lisa Queen of Spades.
Meeta Raval has a busy concert diary. Her repertoire includes Bach St Johannes Passion, Bruckner Te Deum, Strauss Vier letze Lieder, Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem and Dvorak Stabat Mater. Most recently she performed Mahler’s Wesendonck Lieder at the Warwick Arts Centre and the Bach B Minor Mass at the Spitalfields Festival.
Meeta Raval has worked at English National Opera, Opera North and Scottish Opera. Her recent engagements have included First Flower Maiden Parsifal and Contessa Le nozze di Figaro, Jonathan Harvey’s Song Offerings conducted by Dominic Wheeler, performed in association with the South Bank Centre to mark Messiaen’s Centenary, and a BBC Radio 3 broadcast of Discovering Figaro in which she sang the role of the Contessa. Other Radio 3 broadcasts have included Soprano in Janáček’s Diary of One Who Disappeared. For RAI she sang the role of Teresa in Henze’s Das Wundertheater.
Meeta Raval was invited to sing the role of Woglinde in the Opera North Ring Cycle but was unable to accept as she was selected to represent England in the BBC TV Cardiff Singer of the World Competition where she won her round and was selected for the final.
Most recently Meeta Raval performed the role of Cio Cio San Madame Butterfly for Mid Wales Opera. Her future engagements include Cio Cio San for English National Opera and Donna Anna Don Giovanni in a new production for Opera North where she will also sing the role of Ortlinde in Die Walküre.
May 2012
“In the title role, Meeta Raval's lyric soprano is confident and secure; she makes the transition from mid-teens bride to defiantly proud mother without forcing the tone. Yannis Thavoris's design for the sliding-walled house, clad in patterns of origami paper, could not be simpler; the initial contrast of Cio-Cio San's western veil with her wedding kimono resonates further when the mosquito-netted marriage-bed spells out the butterfly's total entrapment. Her seppuku suicide in the shower cubicle is a gruesome nod to Hitchcock.”
Rian Evans / The Guardian
“Meeta Raval portrayed a Butterfly driven by her perceptions, distorted though they be; Raval took everything in her considerable vocal stride, articulating the words of Amanda Holden’s sensitive translation with the utmost clarity. By the final scene, the sense o f a creature whose metamorphosis is fated and irreversible was heightened . . .”
Rian Evans / Opera
“The casting is strong, if in some ways uneven. It’s a joy to hear Meeta Raval (a finalist in the recent Cardiff Singer of the World) in a complete role, which proves that she is not only a very talented singer but a vocal actress of considerable presence.”
Stephen Walsh / The Arts Desk
