Cressida Sharp

Soprano

Cressida studied Classics at Cambridge, training as a choral scholar under Tim Brown, singing with Sir Andrew Davis, Edward Gardiner and the late great Sir David Willcocks, and beginning her professional career while still a student. After two years of opera, including the title role of Massenet’s Manon, she focussed increasingly on solo roles in larger choral works, such as Fauré’s Requiem with John Rutter at King’s College, Cambridge, and cathedral performances of Handel’s Messiah across northern England. Meanwhile, she developed an interest in chamber ensembles, joining Vox Luminis, Polyphony, EXAUDI, the BBC Singers and the Monteverdi Choir.

Since 2015, tours have taken her from Europe and the USA to Taiwan, Mexico, Australia, Chile, New Zealand, Argentina, Israel and Colombia. 2019 brought her St Matthew Passion solo debut in South Korea, where in summer 2022 she won the Jury Prize in the Daegu International Vocal Competition, having reached the semi-finals of the London Handel Competition and Concours Georges Enesco, and won the Basel Competition’s Opera Prize. While her ensemble work remains principally in Britain, solo appearances often take her abroad, annually to the Netherlands for Bach’s oratorios, and recently to Germany for Handel’s Israel in Egypt under René Jacobs and his Messiah under Trevor Pinnock, and to Switzerland for Orff’s Carmina Burana at Tonhalle Zürich under Paavo Järvi.

Recordings and broadcasts include Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb and Hymn to St Cecilia, Lili Boulanger’s Soir sur la plaine, Vox Luminis’ 2021 Biber Requiem, the world premiere recording of Lera Auerbach’s 72 Angels, works by Hildegard Von Bingen at Kings Place, and Handel’s Dixit Dominus at the Aldeburgh Festival.

This year and next, she is looking forward to singing Messiah in Catalonia and Spain, concerts with EXAUDI at Wigmore Hall and Kings Place, and in the Netherlands her tenth international tour of the St Matthew Passion.