Helen Charlston

Acclaimed for her musical interpretation, presence and “warmly distinctive tone” (The Telegraph), Helen Charlston has quickly cemented herself as a key performer in the next generation of British singers.

Helen won First Prize in the 2018 Handel Singing Competition, is a Rising Star of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment for 2017-19, and became a CMF Artist in 2018. Recent concert highlights include a number of high-profile London performances: Telemann Ihr Völker hört with Florilegium at Wigmore Hall (also broadcast on BBC Radio 3), Schoenberg’s Lied der Waldtaube at Cadogan Hall, and at the London Festival of Baroque Music (St John’s Smith Square), singing Storgé in Handel Jephtha.

In the 2018/19 season, Helen returns to New Zealand to perform Bach St Matthew Passion with Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, and makes her debut with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. 

When you come onto a scheme like this, the world is your oyster!

Operatic roles include First Witch (Purcell Dido and Aeneas) at Wigmore Hall, Messaggera and Proserpine (Monteverdi Orfeo) for Brighton Early Music Festival, Olga (Tchaikovsky Eugene Onegin), Florence Pike (Britten Albert Herring), and Ino (Handel Semele).  Helen created the roles of Anna (Tom Smail Blue Electric) for Tête à tête Opera and Dido (Rhiannon Randle Dido is Dead).

Helen’s recordings include Bach B Minor Mass with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Bach Cantatas 106 & 182 with Amici Voices (to be released in 2019), both on the Hyperion label. She is often heard on BBC Radio 3 in live radio broadcasts and as a guest on In Tune.

Born in Hertfordshire, Helen began singing as a chorister of St Albans Abbey Girls Choir before taking up a choral scholarship at Trinity College, Cambridge, where she read music and was a scholar on the Pembroke College Lieder Scheme.

2018 CMF Artist Helen Charlston is generously supported by William Newsom.

Helen is represented by Rayfield Allied worldwide:  www.rayfieldallied.com/artists/helen-charlston