Heather studied at the Royal Northern College of Music (under Barbara Robotham and Ann Taylor) and the National Opera Studio (under Susan Waters)‚ supported by Scottish Opera. She was a Finalist in the Maureen Lehane Competition‚ is a Samling Scholar‚ and a trained ballet and ballroom dancer. She is generously supported by Mr and Mrs Goddard‚ The Sybil Tutton award and Mr and Mrs Blumer and is grateful to be the recipient of a Richard Angas Memorial Award.
Recent and future engagements include Hermia A Midsummer Night's Dream (Opéra de Lausanne), Kurt Weill's A Quiet Place (Covent Garden Linbury Theatre), Dido Dido and Aeneas and title role Orfeo (The Grange Festival), Angelina La Cenerentola (The Grange Festival and West Green House Opera), Rosina The Barber of Seville (Opera North, Welsh National Opera, Teatru Manoel, Malta and Opera Holland Park)‚ Hansel Hansel and Gretel and Phoebe The Yeomen of the Guard (ENO), Fox The Cunning Little Vixen, Cherubino The Marriage of Figaro‚ Sesto Giulio Cesare‚ Hansel‚ The Page Salome and Lel Snowmaiden (Opera North), Mrs Noye Noye's Fludde (The Manchester Collective, Dorabella Cosi fan Tutte (Opera North, Northern Ireland Opera and Dorset Opera)‚ Tisbe La Cenerentola (WNO and OHP), Berthe Blond Eckbert (Potsdam), 2nd Nymph Rusalka (Garsington and Edinburgh Festival), Mad Margaret Ruddigore* (OHP).
Further engagements include Mrs Noye Noye’s Fludde (Nevill Holt)‚ Isolier Le Comte Ory (Chelsea Opera Group and Dorset Opera)‚ Apprentice Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Glyndebourne Festival)‚ Orfeo Orfeo ed Euridice‚ Penelope Il ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria (RNCM) and Fidalma The Secret Marriage (British Youth Opera), Hermia A Midsummer Night’s Dream‚ Sesto‚ 2nd Lady The Magic Flute and Zerlina Don Giovanni (National Opera Studio).
However, the undoubted star of the show is another Holland Park graduate, Heather Lowe, as Rosina: her versatile wide range captures both the lows and the highs of the part; she is a determined, dazzling individual who knows clearly what, and who, she wants.
As Rosina, Heather Lowe sails through vocally, while delivering the strength and spontaneity of a character who successfully outwits Stephen Gadd’s boorish Dr Bartolo, and ends the opera exactly where and with whom she wishes to be.
The fact that Rosina seems a deeper, more sympathetic character than usual is partly down to Stinton’s take but equally due to the terrific all-round performance the role gets from the mezzo-soprano Heather Lowe.
Heather Lowe's Rosina impresses too, combining precise coloratura with a seriously impressive gelatinous malleability to her facial expressions. Her creativity is extensive – with a behind-the-back eye roll here, an exasperated sigh there, she uses every available moment for character-building.
Heather Lowe is an outstanding Rosina who, alongside delivering some thrilling coloratura, reveals some astutely observed gestures that mark her character out as highly intelligent and talented.
Mezzo-soprano Heather Lowe becomes mesmerising as Rosina, matching the dazzling ornamentation of her arias to fabulous comic acting.
Standing out for sheer vocal beauty, Heather Lowe found in Rosina an excellent opportunity to display fine coloratura and a particularly appealing lower register. Lowe commanded the stage, a mere twitch of the lip enough to convey scorn or mirth, while her chemistry with Almaviva sizzled.
And the central pairs of young lovers are believably youthful. Alexandra Lowe (Fiordiligi) and Heather Lowe (Dorabella), as the two sisters (pictured left) may share a surname but are not sisters in real life – they do however share the training of the Royal Northern College of Music in their backgrounds, and their vocal mastery and ability to impart character are equally apparent.
The virtue of their casting here is that each one’s vocal tone is quite distinct and yet complementary, and they play their parts as distinct and balancing personalities, too.
Heather Lowe is more sensual from the start (she makes something noticeable of her line about Ferrando – her original lover – being “possessive”), and there’s no doubt she’s up for flirting with someone else with relatively little encouragement. Indeed her scene with Guglielmo begins to seem as if they both know exactly what they’re up to and are enjoying the play-acting.
Heather Lowe was a striking presence as Dorabella, her very individual tone and secure technique making light of all the vocal challenges.
Under Albery’s direction, this Opera North cast delivers performances brimming with humour and depth.
Heather Lowe, who I remember as a brilliantly funny Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro here four years ago, was a charmingly flirtatious Dorabella, less innocent than her stage sister, her individuality steadily emerging. When in an aria she compared love to a little thief, she was most impressively convincing.
A superlative Mozartian cast is led by two singers who share the same surname but are unrelated. Creamy toned soprano Alexandra Lowe sings Fiordiligi. Mezzo soprano Heather Lowe is vocally well matched as her sister Dorabella.
Heather Lowe made an adventurous Dorabella... the singing was never less than high quality... Heather Lowe's forthright Dorabella made il cor vi dono the vocal highlight of the show
Other characters are boldly drawn. Heather Lowe as Mad Margaret is convincingly, even pathetically, unhinged in Sullivan’s parodic treatment of “Lucia di Lammermoor.”
The production is well sung throughout and the spooks really have it in tonight. Heather Lowe as Mad Margaret hauls in massive applause; she manages an excellent spooky air and is delightful to listen to.
Heather Lowe’s ‘Mad Margaret’ was brilliantly deranged – full-on Lucia di Lammermoor at times (I’m sure I heard a flute curlicue).
Heather Lowe really leaned into the depiction of Mad Margaret as a heroine wandering in from a Donizetti opera, and managed to be crazed and musical in her opening number.
Heather Lowe sustains the part of Mad Margaret seamlessly as she flits around nervously in her distracted state, but not melodramatically, and sings with a touching veneer of wistfulness.
Heather Shipp provides a courtly depth to her role as Rose’s spinster aunt, astutely offsetting both the wild-eyed performance of Heather Lowe as Mad Margaret and the droll performance of Richard Suart’s Old Adam Goodheart.
much of the singing was excellent...Heather Lowe’s Mad Margaret switched between creamy legato and cartoon-madwoman squawks with ease.
He gets as good as he gives in comic and vocal performance from Heather Lowe as the irritating, but so, so sexy, Mad Margaret, his past and, as it happens, his future betrothed. Their matching horn-rimmed glasses and Sixties business suits as they try (Despard successfully, Margaret less so) to adjust to a non-crazy life, are a superb touch.
As Mad Margaret, Heather Lowe makes all appropriate adjustments as she turns ingeniously from outlandishly antisocial to strait-laced
There is a finely detailed portrait of Mad Margaret from Heather Lowe, fully to the pitch of her very demanding first aria
the aptly named Mad Margaret — all but frothing at the mouth in Heather Lowe’s crazily inspired portrayal.
Heather Lowe made a striking, very boyish Orfeo, convincingly eager during the wedding and then going on a powerful journey... Gluck's music is not so much about arias, but about fluid arioso, something Lowe did superbly. Her Lament in Act Three was moving indeed.
Heather Lowe, looking very different from her Orfeo, was an intense, febrile Dido, an interpretation that made the character strikingly modern yet brought out the tragedy and her account of her final Lament was daringly intimate and remarkably moving.
Act 2 is marked by some subtle humour, with a touching evocation of first-time love-making from Pritchard and Fox, sung by mezzo Heather Lowe, both gambolling about nimbly and singing together beautifully. Pritchard's strong, limpid tones conveyed total emotional involvement with the part, with a lightness which matched her foxy mischief. She mused, “How could he find me beautiful?” in a magical duet with the richly-voiced Lowe, dominating the stage with sheer joyfulness. It was the high point of the show for me.
Heather Lowe’s Fox, more bright in sound and just as alive, teamed with her extraordinarily well. The love duet of Act Two, with their voices both soaring clearly over the orchestral sound and followed by a surge of joy to end the scene, was a highpoint of the whole evening.
Heather Lowe’s rich mezzo is ideal for Phoebe, and she plays her with just the right degree of naïve sensuality. She’s also a dab hand at digging into the lyrics.
Heather Lowe and John Malloy make up the unlikely romantic pairing of Phoebe Meryll and Tower gaoler Wilfred, both confident and characterful.
Heather Lowe, having to deal with distracting business from the start, leaves us in no doubt of Phoebe Meryll’s vivacity – no wonder Fairfax is attracted to her before his “bride” turns his attentions – and makes a good team with unwelcome suitor Wilfred Shadbolt
Heather Lowe makes something delightfully quirky of Phoebe
Lowe’s Phoebe and John Molloy as gaoler Wilfred Shadbolt provide some of the most humorous moments, which revolve around errors and exquisitely crafted deception.
Heather Lowe, bursting with personality as Phoebe
Heather Lowe delivers some beautiful singing as Phoebe
Heather Lowe’s feisty Phoebe and Anthony Gregory’s graceful Fairfax are unimprovable
Heather Lowe hugely expressive as Phoebe
Davies’s direction, in each case, rounded out the sharper comic edges of Gilbert’s characterisation, and nowhere more than in the pairing of Phoebe and Shadbolt – the secondary, comic romantic couple in the stock operetta set-up but here brought to the forefront of the action with playful, red-blooded and all-too-believable performances (both vocally and dramatically) from Heather Lowe and John Molloy.
By contrast, Heather Lowe's Phoebe was very feisty, and you sensed her chafing against the yoke of propriety all the time, including the naughty flirting with her 'brother'. And she sparred delightfully with John Molloy's wonderfully cadaverous Wilfred Shadbolt.
Heather Lowe sang sweetly as Phoebe Meryll
Heather Lowe’s Rosina impressed.
As Bartolo’s ward Rosina, Heather Lowe boasted the best possible diction, her clearly focused mezzo soprano well projected. It was Lowe’s pert and graceful presence that dominated the ensembles...
It has, especially, an adorable Rosina in Heather Lowe, a true mezzo soprano with beautifully focused chest-tones and a big range, a bright top and real bravura to go with a vivacious presence and good, detailed observation of character.
The mezzo-soprano Heather Lowe stands out by far, her clear, lively voice inviting hush whenever she sings. Her Rosina feels complete; she’s smart, quick-witted, determined, heartfelt. It’s easy to see how, in a beautiful blue dress, moving gracefully around the stage, she becomes the Countess in Mozart’s sequel.
Heather Lowe’s portrayal of her overflowed with emotion, swinging wildly between excitement and despair.
the saving grace of the show was undeniably Lowe, whose diction was impeccable and the vibrant tone of her mezzo-soprano register never failed to leave the audience enchanted as it floated over the stalls and right to the back of the upper circle. This was particularly prominent halfway through Act One, when Figaro encouraged Rosina to write a love letter to ‘Lindoro’, and Lowe managed to effortlessly guide Lester through their performance of the classic ‘Dunque io son’ duet in perfect harmony.
It benefits from what the cast bring to it, not least mezzo-soprano Heather Lowe as Rosina, very impressive vocally, in terms of range, precision and expressiveness alike. Her Rosina was pert and self-confident with a nice line in deceptiveness and a very believable determination to get her own way.
The nursing sisters, Fiordiligi and Dorabella were impeccably played by Samantha Clarke and Heather Lowe.
They – indeed the whole cast – acted as though they had been working and playing together all their lives.
But these two glorious young singers especially, gave an astonishingly fine account of their respective roles, their voices blending blissfully in their many duetting moments.
Samantha Clarke and Heather Lowe were particualrly well matched, both vocally and temperamentally, and their Act 2 duet weighed up the sisters' options enchantingly. Once again I was drawn by the ease with which Lowe brings a role to life. Her Dorabella held her ground in respect to her sterner sister with subtle authority. Matched by enviable technical security, Lowe's mezzo has an irresitible seductiveness in the lower register.
Heather Lowe’s Cenerentola was a more than usually pensive heroine, so that her closing aria at her moment of forgiveness seemed especially apt; the nobility of her character was equalled by the pathos and accuracy of her singing, and she was ideally partnered by the genuine Rossini tenor of Nico Darmanin
Heather Lowe’s Cherubino was possibly the stand-out performance in this very strong cast; she has previously impressed as Sesto in the company’s Giulio Cesare, so her convincingly boyish, fervently sung page was not unexpected, but she brought to the role a quicksilver presence allied to more than usual vulnerability. Both arias were exceptionally well sung, and we look forward to hearing much more from this talented young mezzo.
There are also standout performances from Heather Lowe as Cherubino...
As Cherubino, mezzo Heather Lowe was a deliciously gangly moonstruck adolescent and a natural comic actor...
And every appearance by Heather Lowe in the breeches role of Cherubino, delights. Her physical embodiment of a brash, hormonal youth is as convincing as her singing.
Mezzo Heather Lowe was terrific in the trouser role of Sesto, with an impressively agile voice and considerable acting ability.
Ms Lowe was a lanky, boyish Sesto whose determination and vulnerability were finely expressed in her singing.
...Heather Lowe drew a fine picture of a young man adrift in a complex work.
Also outstanding in a fine cast of eight is Heather Lowe who sings the apprentice hero Sesto with superb attack and expressiveness.
Mezzo Heather Lowe sounds ravishing as Sestro who avenges the death of his father, Pompeo.
The freshness and clarity of Heather Lowe’s voice suits the adolescent intensity of Sesto.
There was no doubting her son Sesto’s lust for vengeance in Heather Lowe’s fiery portrait.
Heather Lowe and Filipe Manu make a musically distinguished couple as Cinderella and Ramiro respectively: Lowe achieves a sense of vulnerability alongside an impressive grandeur later on...
Heather Lowe has sung one of the ugly sisters in Rossini's opera for Welsh National Opera and for Opera Holland Park so it was lovely to see her making the move up to the title role. She made a charming, and quite spirited, Angelina, combining fast-paced passage-work with some expressive detail. Her plea to her father to be allowed to go to the ball was profoundly moving, yet elsewhere Lowe allowed Rossini's busy vocal lines to express Angelina' sheer joy, culminating in a glorious account of her final aria.
...Heather Lowe as Angelina, Cinders herself. The range, subtlety and assurance of her singing is reflected in her acting and dancing, even as she emits cascades of semiquavers in her joyous closing rondo.
Leading the young team, Heather Lowe made a wholly sympathetic Cinderella, no lily-livered personality here but a spirited young woman burdened by her lot without being entirely submissive to it. Vocally she was a joy to listen to, assured from her first folk-like ballad through to her enraptured final aria. On the way she combined an easy command of the role’s extended tessitura with a vocal agility that made room for plenty of expression no more so than her pleas to attend the prince’s ball. Hers was a voice that dispatched her multitudinous notes with an effortless facility, yet always placing technique at the service of the music.
The comedy was built around a heroine of substance – this Angelina showed some spirit from the start – leaving space for tension, sentiment and tightly choreographed knockabout...Heather Lowe, in the title role, produced cascades of semiquavers with apparent ease. ... her performance was exceptional for it assurance, subtlety and emotional range. She even led the cast in some funky dancing as she reveled in her final rondo.
The singers’ words work well in an English translation by David Poutney, and come across clearly without surtitles, with the main vocal pairings strongly executed by Heather Lowe (Hansel)...
The singing, in English, is clear and audible throughout. Heather Lowe as Hansel and Elizabeth Karani as Gretel convince as brother and sister and as children.
Heather Lowe and Elizabeth Karani bring a youthful energy to the roles of Hansel and Gretel, bounding around the stage with glee.
Heather Lowe and Elizabeth Karani in the title roles ... are frisky kids, dancing away their hunger pangs with the Floss...Star casting indeed.
We enjoy the sweetness that Heather Lowe and Elizabeth Karani share as the siblings. Lowe is incredibly playful as Hansel, and has the childlike physicality down to a tee.
Heather Lowe is a jovial Hansel, clearly emotionally close to his sister.
These darker hues deepen her characterisation as inward‚ dreamy‚ even melancholy‚ in contrast with the fizz and glitter of her boisterous‚ preening siblings‚ Clorinda and Tisbe‚ sung with just the right degree of sugary‚ superficial giddiness by Aoife Miskelly and Heather Lowe.
As the not-so-ugly sisters‚ Aoife Miskelly and Heather Lowe provide excellent support‚ pulling faces‚ and being generally horrible through a veneer of respectability‚ all while singing very beautifully.
The singers excel‚ the ugly trio of Clorinda (Aoife Miskelly)‚ Tisbe (Heather Lowe) and father Magnifico (Fabio Capitanucci) oozing vileness in garish consort.
In the trouser role of Idamante‚ Heather Lowe was forthright in her opening aria and duetted warming with Bottone’s Ilia at the close of Act 2.
The trouser role of Idamante was given a masculine yet sympathetic portrayal by rising star Heather Lowe...
Heather Lowe gave us a real sense of Idamante’s youth‚ this was a young man who had not yet been tried in the crucible. Lowe sang with light‚ flexible tone and great beauty of phrasing...
New was Heather Lowe in the travesty role of the son Idamante. She looked particularly well in her costume‚ acted well and sang with careful musicianship...
Lowe’s Idamante’s hint of youthful swagger is matched by a warm‚ proud mezzo with a fine heroic ring – like Strauss’s Octavian grew up and knuckled down...
...Heather Lowe’s Page‚ in red city-style braces‚ made a strong impression at his side.
Add a supporting cast of consistent strength‚ with notable contributions from Oliver Johnston as the doomed Narraboth and Heather Lowe as the Page of Herodias‚ and this powerful concert of Salome became immersive theatre of the mind’s eye.
It was left to Heather Lowe’s Dorabella and Kiandra Howarth’s fascinating‚ complex Fiordiligi to add the requisite splash of bitters to Thomas’s sweet-sour concoction‚ and to give voice to that most redemptive of Mozartian qualities‚ forgiveness.
The girls were really deserving of the production’s focus however‚ Kiandra Howarth impressing as Fiordiligi and Heather Lowe bringing that extra little characterisation to Dorabella with little interpolations‚ gasps and sighs fitted into the singing expression.
Heather Lowe also did a very good job in the role of Dorabella and the character’s shift from resolute paragon of virtue to free and easy woman about town was captured well. Occasionally‚ I would have welcomed a little more projection and vocal colouring but some of the singing was excellent and her Act II aria was an absolute delight.
Heather Lowe brought the same ardour and warmth to the role of Iosolier‚ Ory’s lovesick page‚ as she did for Chelsea Opera Group last year‚ and turned out to be a dashing lover.
Isolier was sung by Heather Lowe‚ who sang the role in the COG performance mentioned above‚ and had the volume and vibrancy to do the role justice‚ showing a glimmering quality in her tone.
Heather Lowe brought refined and measured tone as well as an appropriately cocksure manner to Lel.
Lowe does capture the charm and easygoing nature of the part in her musical performance‚ however‚ particularly in the two ballads she sings.
The man she really fancies is Lel‚ a trouser role for a mezzo soprano excellently taken by another talented young singer‚ Heather Lowe.
Heather Lowe was a near ideal Lel‚ the shepherd boy whose on/off romancing of the Snow Maiden triggers the final crisis. Lel has a series of songs which form set pieces of the opera‚ with Heather Lowe singing with attractively flexible tone and great charm and personality. This latter was key‚ she looked and felt like a lively teenager with a convincing rangy physique du role‚ and a lively sense of how a young man behaves.
The role of Lel‚ a young and handsome youth who the girls all adore‚ is sung by Heather Lowe. She has a beautiful mezzo soprano voice‚ which does not seem at all out of place. With her short‚ blonde hair and masculine stride she is the epitome of an English pantomime’s principal boy. But she wrings every ounce of cheek and cockiness out of the part‚ until you eventually forget she is a girl.
Lel is a young village man over whom all the girls faun and swoon. Rimsky writes it as a trouser role and I do think Heather Lowe’s performance was one of the most effective operatic portrayals of a male by a woman that I’ve even seen. She managed to avoid that artificial strutting about and hands on hips that never really convinces.
Lel‚ the trouser-role love interest engagingly portrayed by Heather Lowe‚ carries a smartphone.
...just as Heather Lowe nicely caught the sunny bravado of the peasant lad Lel.
Heather Lowe perfectly suggests the laddish cockiness of village heartthrob Lel...
...and a striking debut from Heather Lowe as the Cupid figure of Lel.
...the spirited Heather Lowe as the androgynous glamour boy Lel...
Heather Lowe in the trouser role of the local Lothario‚ Lel‚ was tirelessly nimble‚ pleasingly reactive...
The two squabbling sisters are sung by Fleur de Bray and Heather Lowe‚ the latter in particular making a strong impression with her warm yet penetrating mezzo.
Fleur de Bray and Heather Lowe as Angelina’s demanding sisters Clorinda and Tisbe set the comic tone. Both were totally comfortable with the demands of the music and delighted the audience with their grotesque humour‚ creating much comic hilarity. Their coloratura was both accurate and firm of tone and I particularly loved the way they developed the comic pose into an art form.
...Heather Lowe as the mezzo-sister Tisbe‚ providing a mellower portrayal but with no less narcissism‚ both sang beautifully. They made a marvellous trio with Jonathan Veira as their father...
As the ‘ugly’ sisters - who are in fact ‘beautiful’ of voice and visage‚ but certainly not of virtue and moral compass - soprano Fleur de Bray and mezzo-soprano Heather Lowe were excellent as Cinders’ stepsisters‚ Clorinda and Tisbe respectively.
Heather Lowe was spirited as the smitten page‚ Isolier‚ her high mezzo has plenty of punch. Lowe acted well in the ensembles‚ particularly the Act 2 trio in which Ory’s fortunes take a nosedive.
Heather Lowe was a sparky Isolier...
As Isolier‚ Heather Lowe impressed with her spinto-like high-mezzo voice‚ and allowed her contributions to ensembles to really register‚ particularly that which closes the first Act – which Rossini re-worked from Il viaggio a Reims. Her contribution to the trio that brings Ory to an end was super!
Everyone’s singing is a delight... Heather Lowe‚ as a gin-soaked‚ chainsmoking Fidelma‚ thrums desperately with her misplaced passion.
It helps that three of the singers are accomplished farceurs – Heather Lowe’s commanding Fidalma...
Heather Lowe gave a stirring performance as the heartbroken but unforgotten wife‚ assuming the character of Penelope sensitively‚ with a dramatic sense of loss and regret.