Helena Leonard

Co Artistic Director Little Pixie Productions

Helena has performed in and co devised three of our shows: The Nightingale of South Bank, Sing We Noel and Operatastic! The Accessible Guide to Opera. She has also appeared in our Christmas show Paper Angel and most recently in our national tour of The Snow Queen.

 

Successes such as Tosca for Opera Project and Scottish Opera (understudy) the title role in Aida for Opera Box and Welsh National Opera (understudy) and her acclaimed Lady Macbeth in Verdi’s Macbeth for Scottish Opera Go Round have confirmed Helena Leonard as a very exciting talent. Helena has recently performed in a gala Opera concert at The Cadogan Hall with The Hillingdon Choral Society & Orchestra. Also the role of Leonora in Il Trovatore (understudy) for Welsh National Opera and the title role in Ariadne auf Naxos (understudy) also for WNO.

 

Born in Cheshire, Helena Leonard studied at Trinity College of Music in London; gaining a LTCL she then completed a Postgraduate Vocal Diploma at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama before going on to advanced studies at the National Opera Studio. Her professional debut came with ENO, with roles and covers including First Lady in Die Zauberflöte and Second Niece in Peter Grimes, Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This led to further appearances as Musetta in La Boheme for Scottish Opera and Marcellina in Le Nozze Di Figaro for Grange Park Opera.

These engagements were followed by Donna Anna in Don Giovanni and Giulietta in Les Contes d’ Hoffmann for Opera Box.

 

Other roles include Pamina in Die Zauberflöte for Bloomsbury Opera; Micaela in Carmen for Commedia productions & The Carmen Project; Amelia in A Masked Ball for Wilmslow Opera and Kentish Opera; Leonora in La Forza del Destino for Kentish Opera & Candid Opera; Leonora in Il Trovatore for Wilmslow Opera and Phoenix Opera; Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus for Somerset Opera; Helmwige in Die Walkure for Mastersingers and Hanna Glawari in Die Lustige Witwe for Phoenix Opera. Helena enjoyed particular success as Leonora in a gala performance of Beethoven’s Fidelio with the Edinburgh Symphony Orchestra.

 

No stranger to the concert platform, her appearances have included I Am Richard Strauss and Sempre Verdi at the Purcell Room with The Company of Singers, Richard Strauss’ Four Last Songs with the Boston Sinfonia, and 13 Moravian Duets by Dvorak in Czech for the Petworth Festival and Songs of the Auvergne - Series 1 with the Somerset County Orchestra. Oratorio performances have taken Helena throughout the British Isles including venues such as the City of London Festival (Broadgate Arena), Salters Hall Barbican, Blackheath Concert Halls, St James’s Guernsey and The Purcell Room. Recent oratorio work includes Beethoven’s Mass in C and Gounod’s St Cecilia Mass for Spelthorne Choral Society and Verdi’s Requiem and Beethoven’s Choral Symphony for Lancaster Choral Society.

 

Helena’s television work has included the Countess in La nozze di Figaro in Nicholas Nickleby for Carlton Television.

 

Contact Helena at: helena-rpo@littlepixieproductions.co.uk