Scottish soprano, Rachel McLean recently completed her MMus at The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland under Wilma MacDougall, after graduating from the RCS with a first class BMus under Margaret Izatt. Most recently, Rachel sang Donna Anna in Lyric Opera Studio Weimar’s 2023 production of Don Giovanni, having previously made her German operatic debut as Pamina in their 2022 production of Die Zauberflöte. Rachel has performed in Nabucco and Lucia di Lammermoor at the Dorset Opera Festival 2019 and performed the role of Youka in the RCS Opera production of Chabrier L’étoile. She has also performed opera scenes including Fiordiligi Così fan tutte, Arabella Arabella, Donna Anna Don Giovanni, Rosalinde Die Fledermaus, Elettra Idomeneo, Vitellia La clemenza di Tito and Anne Trulove The Rake’s Progress.
During her time at Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Rachel won the Tony & Tania Webster Russian Song Prize, the Florence Veitch Ibler prize for oratorio performance, the Edith Brass Prize for Development in Lieder and the Hugh S. Roberton Prize for Scottish Singing. On the concert platform, she performed at Glasgow’s RSNO Royal Coronation Concert alongside Jamie MacDougall, James McIntyre, Glasgow Chamber Orchestra, and RSNO chorus and she was the soprano soloist in Haydn’s Nelson Mass, performing with the Garleton Singers under Stephen Doughty.
Rachel’s MMus studies were generously supported by the ABRSM.