About Diane
British native, Diane Atherton has garnered attention for her "silvery and winsome" performance (Washington Post). Her "rich and ringing tone" and "magical singing" truly position her as one of the most exciting sopranos in this region. As well as singing in the prestigious Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Chicago's Symphony Center,
Diane has sung in every major concert hall in the British Isles, The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and has toured extensively throughout Europe, recorded for TV and radio as well as many of the major record labels including EMI and Naxos. Her vocal dexterity and flexibility illustrated by the wide variety of repertoire she has sung.
On the concert platform in Europe, Diane was the guest soprano in the "J Strauss Gala" promoted by Raymond Gubbay where she sang 31 concerts in a month starting in London's prestigious Royal Festival Hall. Diane has also sung Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream with the Bournemouth Sinfonietta conducted by Tamás Vásáry; numerous performances of Handel's Messiah with the Scholars Baroque Ensemble which was recorded for HTV in Wales and toured in Spain; Purcell's "Fairie Queen” recorded for Naxos and toured throughout Spain in the Canary Islands Festival; Handel’s Samson; Vaughan-Williams’s Serenade to Music as well as a variety of Bach Cantatas (including The Koffee Cantata, Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen) plus St. John Passion, St. Mathew Passion, Magnificat, concerts of various Masses by Haydn (The Creation, The Seasons, Nelson Mass, Paukenmesse) Mozart (Requiem, Mass in C Minor, Solemn Vespers, Coronation Mass) Schubert (Mass in G), Rossini (Stabat Mater, Petite Messe Solenelle), Gounod, Poulenc (Gloria) and Tippett - including A Child of Our Time for many of the choral societies in the UK.; concerts and a recording with EMI of Janácek’s The Diary of One Who Disappeared with Ian Bostridge and Ruby Philogene. Diane also made her Italian debut under the director Gabriele Ferro in the Teatro di San Carlo, Naples singing Rhapsodia by Aldo Clementi.
Opera roles performed in Europe include: Gilda, Rigoletto at the Linbury Studio, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Adele, Die Fledermaus with European Chamber Opera in France; Eve in the contemporary opera The Garden, by Josef Tall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London; Tytania, A Midsummer Night's Dream at The Hampton Court Festival UK; Ist Priestess in Gluck’s Iphigènie en Tauride at the Royal Opera House and at the Herodias Theatre Athens with Marc Minkowski; Belinda in Dido and Aeneas at the Alba Festival in Italy; Micaela and Frasquita in Carmen and Musetta in La Bohème touring with Opera East in the UK.
Diane is also becoming increasingly well known for her interpretation of Mozart roles. She has sung Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Linbury Studio, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and at Opera Holland Park, Aminta in Il Ré Pastore conducted by Tamás Vásáry at the Britten Pears School; Despina in Così Fan Tutte with Opera á la Carte in Ireland; Zerlina in Don Giovanni with British Youth Opera; Pamina, 1st Lady, 1st Boy, Papagena in Die Zauberflöte, Berta in Il Barbiere di Siviglia on tour with Travelling Opera.
Performances in the USA include the role of Angelo in Handel's La Resurrezione and Handel’s Messiah with Baroque Band in Chicago. Lola, in Douglas Moore's Gallantry with Forgotten Opera; Bruckner’s Te Deum and a Rodger's and Hammerstein Gala with Norman Scribner at the Kennedy Center; Carmina Burana with Reilly Lewis at Washington National Cathedral and Mozart’s Exultate Jubilate with Mike McCarthy; the US premier of Kleiburg's Requiem Mass at Washington National Cathedral; Bachianas Brasileiras at National Presbyterian Church, Washington, D.C.
Diane can also be heard singing on sound tracks for films such as Star Wars, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. She resides in Silver Spring, Maryland, USA with her two gorgeous girls and their cat!