Stephanie Wake-Edwards is a London-born mezzo-soprano.
She came to international attention when in 2018 Marc Minkowski awarded her a special recital in his Concours Bordeaux Médoc Lyrique, the following year joining the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Jette Parker Young Artist Programme.
A highlight of her time at Covent Garden included her performances as Anna in the main stage filmed production of Kurt Weill The Seven Deadly Sins in 2021, which prompted Fiona Maddocks to write in the Guardian “The binding force was the talented mezzo-soprano Stephanie Wake-Edwards, who showed artistic courage and verve while her Flora in Verdi La traviata also garnered high praise Stephanie Wake-Edwards rather shone as Flora, a glint and a flash in her eyes that mirrored the confidence of her singing.”
In 2018, Stephanie made her debut as Third Noble Orphan Der Rosenkavalier at the Glyndebourne Festival, covering Baba the Turk in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress in 2020, and she will return to the Festival in 2023 to sing Ino in a new production of Handel Semele. She has recently sung Handel Messiah with the Glyndebourne Tour; Third Nymph in Dvořák’s Rusalka for Garsington Opera; made her debut at the Grafenegg Festival performing Vivaldi Stabat Mater with Fabio Biondi and given a recital at the Opéra National de Bordeaux.
Future highlights include recitals at Wigmore Hall and Oxford Lieder Festival; Messiah with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra; revisiting Kurt Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins, this time at the Teatro Colón Buenos Aires; her debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich as Third Nymph in Rusalka as well as her debut at English National Opera.
Stephanie Wake-Edwards graduated from the University of York with a BA in Sociology with Social Psychology followed by a Masters Degree in Vocal Studies at the Royal Academy of Music with Alex Ashworth. She is an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music and represented England in the 2021 Cardiff Singer of the World Competition.
Photo credit Elishama Udorok