Helen-Jane Howells began her musical life as a jazz singer and flautist. She spent five years as a secondary school music teacher and then trained at the Royal College of Music. She embarked on a professional singing career with her debut as a soloist (Eve) at the Glyndebourne Festival in Jonathan Kent’s acclaimed production of The Fairy Queen. The performance went on to the Royal Albert Hall and then toured with Les Arts Florissants (William Christie) in Paris (Opéra Comique) and New York (BAM). She hasn't looked back since!
She has sung extensively in Europe as a soloist, at the Uzés Festival and Lyon Baroque Festival (Ensemble La Fenice & Les Nouveaux Caractères); in the Aix-en-Provence, Spitalfields, Beaune, Lausanne and Wratislavia Cantans Festivals (Gabrieli Consort, Paul McCreesh); for the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra and Iceland Symphony Orchestra (Nicholas Kraemer); at the Royal Festival Hall (David Hill, Bach Choir) and St. David's Hall. Also, with the Gabrieli Consort she has sung at the Auditorio Nacional, Madrid as ‘Amore’ in Gluck Orfée et Eurydice; in a Spanish tour of Messiah, a European tour of Purcell King Arthur and also Bach St. Matthew Passion. With Florilegium she has performed many works, including an opera performance of Dido & Aeneas at the Roman Baths and her debut at the Wigmore Hall. She has sung as a soloist with the Academy of Ancient Music, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Philharmonia Orchestra.
A regular performer of modern music, Helen-Jane has premiered many works and made recordings of these (John Metcalf Under Milk Wood, Ty Cerdd and Joseph Phibbs Canticle of the Rose, NMC). In opera she has performed the roles of Amore L'Incoronazione di Poppea (Glyndebourne on Tour); Voice Ping (Music Theatre Wales); Lily Smalls, Gossamer Beynon and Mrs Pugh Under Milk Wood (Taliesin Arts); Teacher The Fairy Queen (Southbank Sinfonia for Bury Court Opera); Wife and Lover Soon (Tete-a-Tete Festival) and is a Samling Artist.
Helen-Jane lives in Cambridgeshire and has recently returned to the concert platform after a little time out to start a family. She has performed frequently at King's College Chapel, including a performance of Handel Brockes Passion with the Hanover Band (live broadcast BBC Radio 3). This year she has enjoyed performances with Orchestra Nova, the Sussex Baroque Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
May 2018
