Lauren Francis

The Welsh soprano Lauren Francis studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and at the Royal College of Music in London, and was engaged by British Youth Opera immediately on finishing. Her German debut came in 2008 as the Queen of the Night, at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein and the Stadttheater Freiburg, and guest contracts followed at the Nationaltheater Mannheim and the Hessisches Staatstheater Darmstadt. Mozart, Puccini and Verdi make up the centre of her repertory. She has taken prizes at international singing competitions, among them the Jan Kiepura and the Elbland festival at Wittenberge, has appeared on television beside René Kollo and Johannes Heesters, and in 2008 founded the Junge Oper Neuburg, a project to open the world of opera to young people. She works with UNICEF and gives benefit concerts.