About this Artist
Soprano ROSEMARY JOSHUA (Despina) was born in Cardiff and studied at the Welsh College of Music and Drama and at the Royal College of Music, of which she is now a Fellow.
Recent highlights on stage have included Anne Trulove in The Rake’s Progress and Despina in Così fan tutte (Covent Garden); Tytania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (La Scala); Oscar in Un ballo in maschera and Helen in the world premiere of Manfred Trojahn’s Orest (Netherlands Opera); Adèle in Die Fledermaus (Metropolitan Opera); and the title role in The Cunning Little Vixen (Opéra National du Rhin, Netherlands Opera, Opernhaus Zurich, and La Scala).
Other appearances include Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro (Glyndebourne Festival, Bayerische Staatsoper, Welsh National Opera, and Cologne); Ilia in Idomeneo (Lisbon); Pamina Die Zauberflöte (La Monnaie); and Juliette in Roméo et Juliette (San Diego).
In the 2013/14 season she sings Despina in staged performances of Così fan tutte with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel; her first Contessa in concert performances of Le nozze di Figaro on tour with the Freiburger Barock Orchester and René Jacobs; and the title role in concert performances of Theodora on tour with The English Concert and Harry Bicket. The future also heralds a return to Covent Garden as Oscar in Un ballo in maschera.
Since making her debut at the Aix-en-Provence Festival as Angelica in Orlando it is above all as a Handel singer that Rosemary Joshua has built her international reputation. She has sung Ginevra in Ariodante (San Diego and in Moscow); Angelica (Bayerische Staatsoper and Covent Garden); Poppea in Agrippina (Cologne, La Monnaie, and Théâtre des Champs-Élysées); Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare (Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Netherlands Opera, and Florida Grand Opera); and the title role in Semele to great critical acclaim (Aix-en-Provence and Innsbruck Festivals, Flanders Opera, Cologne, at the BBC Proms, and at the English National Opera – where she was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award in the category for Outstanding Achievement in Opera). Most recently, she has sung the title role in Partenope (English National Opera) and Nitocris in Belshazzar (Deutsche Staatsoper, Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse, and at the Innsbruck and Aix-en-Provence festivals).
Recent highlights on the concert platform include Bach cantatas with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks and Giovanni Antonini, Nitocris in Belshazzar on tour with Les Arts Florissants and William Christie, Sandrina in La finta giardiniera on tour with the Academy of Ancient Music and Richard Egarr, Ilia at the Edinburgh Festival with the SCO and Sir Roger Norrington, Elijah at the BBC Proms with the Gabrieli Consort and Paul McCreesh, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 on tour with L’Orchestre des Champs-Élysées and Philippe Herreweghe.
Her most recent recording is a solo recording of Purcell’s Harmonia Sacra with Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques (harmonia mundi). She has also recorded the title roles in Handel’s Partenope and Semele, Romilda in Serse, and Emilia in Flavio with Christian Curnyn (Chandos); the title role in Handel’s Esther with Laurence Cummings (Somm); Angelica with Les Arts Florissants and William Christie (Erato); Saul, Venus and Adonis, and Dido and Aeneas, all with René Jacobs (harmonia mundi); Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier (Chandos); and Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées and Philippe Herreweghe (Outhere Music).