biography

“The steel was particularly noticeable once one heard Caroline Blair’s Eve - a voice just as sweet, but with a warmer honeyed character, perfect for the delivery” - Music OMH

British Soprano Caroline Blair is a member of Royal Academy Opera (London) where she studies with Kate Paterson and Christopher Hopkins. She is grateful to have received support from the Munster Trust, Wayne Sleep Foundation, Josephine Baker Trust and the Leverhulme Centenary Trust throughout the course of her studies.

 Caroline’s recent engagements include Amore/2nd Woman, Orfeo ed Eurydice - Gluck and Dido and Aeneas - Purcell (The Grange Festival) Galatea, Acis and Galatea - Handel (Ryedale Festival), Kate Warner in The Agency for Tête-à-Tête Opera Festival, Frantìk, The Cunning Little Vixen (Hampstead Garden Opera) and Soprano Soloist for Claude Vivier’s Bouchara with the Academy Chamber Orchestra conducted by Barbara Hannigan. Upcoming roles include Dew Fairy - Hänsel und Gretel and Pamina - Die Zauberflöte and a recital with Roderick Williams and Christopher Glynn.

In 2022, she was a Young Artist for Waterperry Opera Festival performing in the chorus for The Marriage of Figaro – Mozart, and recently covered the role of Frasquita in their 2023 production of Carmen. Opera roles at the Academy include Cis – Albert Herring and Foxcub/Hen – The Cunning Little Vixen. 

 In her time at the Academy, she has been awarded numerous prizes such as First Prize in the Joan Chissell Schumann Lieder Prize, the Dame Patricia Routledge and Norman Ayrton Award, the Edlee award for outstanding studentship and 2nd Prize Isabel Jay Opera Prize/ Michael Head English Song Prize. Last December, Caroline was selected as an inaugural representative for the Sir Elton John Global Exchange Programme Scholarship, where she benefitted from coaching at the Bayerische Staatsoper. This culminated in her making her international concert debut in Munich with Christian Gerhaher.

Additionally, Caroline is a member of the Academy’s Transcending Borders Series, where she has performed in various cultural forums across Central London exploring works by Wolf, Ravel and Debussy. Caroline has a great appreciation for Oratorio, she regularly performs with Choral societies and the Academy’s Bach the European series, where she has worked as a soloist with prominent conductors such as John Butt and Philipe Herrewhege.

 Aside from classical singing, Caroline has been featured as a solo backing singer on Mercury Award Winning C Duncan’s Album Health and recent releases by the producer SAULT.