ABOUT ME

I have loved singing and performing since I was a small child. That passion has stayed with me throughout my successful career as a professional opera singer and teacher of singing.

I am multi-award winning professional mezzo-soprano (originally performing under the name of Catriona Bell) and I have been lucky enough to be able to travel the world, performing with some of the world’s most famous conductors, singing in many of the world’s most well-known opera houses and concert halls. I’ve also been fortunate to have taken part in broadcasts and recorded with various companies including EMI and Decca.

I have over forty years’ experience as a singing teacher and vocal adviser teaching across all age ranges. I focus my efforts supporting singers who are keen to learn. Improvement is rewarding for both the singer and me, the teacher.

Some of my performing career highlights have included working with:

Welsh National Opera
Opera North
Glyndebourne
Sir Reginald Goodall
Sir Charles Mackerras
Sir Georg Solti
Sir Raymond Leppard
Sir Richard Armstrong
Peter Stein
Andrei Serban
Sir Graham Vick
Sir Peter Hall
Giles Havergal
Joachim Herz
Andrei Serban

How I became a professional opera singer and teacher.

I am from Loch Lomond in Scotland and spent much of my childhood listening to my parents sing. My mum was a soprano and my dad was a very fine baritone. At weekends other singers would join them at our home and sing quartets. When I was very small, I would sit on the floor listening in sheer wonder at the beautiful sounds they produced. I knew at just four years old that I wanted to be an opera singer.  

There were no microphones, my mum played the piano and sang but, when I was little older and had become a proficient pianist myself, I would accompany my parents. I began singing lessons when I was in infant school. At five years old I sang in concerts and competitions. Being so small, I was placed on a table to be seen by the audience. I still have my first press review written when I won the juvenile prize at my first competition. I sang a song called ‘My Kitten’ and the review reads: ‘The control and wonderful phrasing of this young singer drew great admiration from the two adjudicators’.

I began appearing as a guest soloist with various choirs, including, at seven years of age, performing ‘Fairy Tears’ in the famous Glasgow Concert Hall.

It is no great wonder that I love teaching young voices. As a very young singer I was entered into and won many competitions and awards across the UK including, at the age of just thirteen, the under 16 class at the Llangollen International Music Festival. 

It’s not just singing that I enjoyed, I loved learning to play various instruments. Alongside singing and the piano I also played the violin and became leader of the second violin section of the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland. When I was fifteen years old, I was appointed as the organist and choirmaster at a church near Loch Lomond.

I studied singing and piano at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Having previously studied as a part-time junior student, I became a full-time student at the age of 17, a year ahead of the norm. I studied singing with Margaret Dick and, later, the well-known baritone David Kelly.

I then left Scotland to study in London. I remain very grateful to Dame Janet Baker for recommending I have lessons with Vida Harford who coached some very famous singers (including Dame Kiri te Kanawa and Dame Anne Evans). Vida was a great linguist and contributed so much to my success in various international singing competitions. She was also an amazing vocal coach and I owe much to her persistence with me as I was launched into the world of professional opera.

My teaching career

Since leaving the world of performance I have held multiple different roles from being a Director and Head of Music at schools in South Wales, Cornwall, Birmingham and Northampton, to having taught every year group from Reception to Year 13. One of my teaching highlights and proud moment comes from my time at Truro College where I led large International Baccalaureate and A-level Music cohorts with 100% success. Many of those students achieved some of the highest results in the UK and went onto music conservatoires (including Julliard), and universities (including Oxford and Cambridge) across the world. Having recently moved to Northamptonshire, I now focus purely on one-to-one teaching.     

 

My conducting

As well as decades of experience teaching, I am also a skilled choral conductor and love combining conducting with achieving singing improvement. Since my initial learning experience as a church organist and choirmaster at just fifteen years old, I have specialised in conducting ladies’ and children’s choirs. Using my knowledge of singing repertoire, singing techniques and management of rehearsal techniques, I have enjoyed enabling choristers of all ages, develop their singing skills and love of choral music.