Elin Manahan Thomas (Soprano)

Born: Swansea, Wales, UK

The Welsh soprano, Elin Manahan Thomas, has sung since an early age. A member of the Swansea Bach Choir and National Youth Choir of Wales whilst at school in Ysgol Gyfun Gwyr, she won a Choral Scholarship to Clare College, Cambridge. With Clare Choir she was regularly a soloist, on the choir's many CD’s, on tours, and also on its BBC Radio 3 Evensong broadcasts.

Since leaving her postgraduate studies in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, Elin Manahan Thomas has sung with many professional groups. Since spring 1999 she has sung with the Monteverdi Choir, under the direction of Sir John Eliot Gardiner, with whom she has recorded several CD's, and toured as part of the choir's Bach Cantata millennium Pilgrimage. She performs in other professional choirs, such as The Sixteen, the Gabrieli Consort, Polyphony, Ex Cathedra and Cambridge Singers. She also works in smaller, chamber ensembles, among them the Dunedin Consort, Concerto Delle Donne, and Chapelle du Roi.

Elin Manahan Thomas regularly performs as a soloist, and has sung under the direction of esteemed conductors such as Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Harry Christophers and Paul McCreesh. Her repertoire includes François Couperin’s Leçons de Ténébres, J.S. Bach’s Mass in B Minor (BWV 232), Haydn’s Creation, George Frideric Handel’s Saul and Acis and Galatea, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, as well as contemporary music by composers John Woolrich and Judith Weir. On the opera stage, she has played the part of Despina (Cosi Fan Tutte), Angelica (scenes from G.F. Handel’s Orlando) and Lucy (scenes from The Telephone).

Recent engagements have included G.F. Handel's Messiah in Cardiff, a concert with the Pontarddulais Male Voice Choir in Swansea, a recital of Bach and Weir in Swansea, Dixit Dominus in Dorking, J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248) in St John’s, Smith Square, and other projects in London and abroad,.

Elin Manahan Thomas studied singing with Hazel Wood and she is currently (2003) studying with Eiddwen Harrhy, having won a place on the postgraduate course at the Royal College of Music.

More Photos

Source: Crwth Music Series Website (2003)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (August 2005)

Recordings of Bach Cantatas & Other Vocal Works

Conductor

As

Works

Harry Christophers

Soprano

Arias from BWV 244, BWV 508
G.F. Handel: Cantata Armida Abbandonata, HWV 105

John Eliot Gardiner

Soprano

BWV 1127

Links to other Sites

Elin Manahan Thomas (Official Website)
Elin Thomas Biography 2003 (Crwth Chamber Music Series)
Elin Manahan Thomas (BBC Wales)

Elin Thomas Biography (Crwth Music Series Website)
Elin Manahan Thomas (Wikipedia)