Danae Eleni

Born in Bahrain, British/Greek soprano Danae Eleni studied at the Royal College of Music and Oxford University. Danae is the winner of the 2021 Concorso Musica Sacra in Rome, and will therefore tour as a soloist for the Messiah in 2022 to Italy, Greece, Romania and the Czech Republic. Earlier this year, Danae made her role debut as Mimì at the Jerash Festival in Jordan, made debuts in gala performances in Canari & Barcelona, and a role debut as Donna Elvira Don Giovanni with the Szeged Symphony Orchestra in Hungary. Danae is an ambassador for contemporary music and music education, recently co-founding the online international NexTus Festival, and lecturing in “Composition for Solo Voice” at Yale-NUS, Singapore. Danae is currently researching 19th century Greek songs for an upcoming recording and recital tour.

Danae made her Purcell Room debut (London) in 2009 in the world premiere of Mrs Lazarus, a solo opera by Tim Benjamin with Radius Ensemble. Other premieres include: Nirmali Fenn’s Psychotic Episode [ISIS ensemble], Guy Newbury's Adria and Kelvin Thomson’s Bee and The Silence of the Bees: A Science Opera. Danae was soprano in residence for the 2nd international composer/performer conference in Athens, and explored the benefits of collaboration between composers and performers in the writing and rehearsal processes. She was a guest lecture at Yale-NUS, performing and coaching on the “Composition for Voice” undergraduate course.

In addition to operatic premieres by Oliver Brigall, Tim Benjamin, Joy Sigaud, Kelvin Thomson, Christopher Meux and Quentin Thomas, Danae's other operatic roles include Drusilla [Opera de Baugé]; Poppea (cover); Shepherd Girl [Everybody Can!]; Susanna Le nozze di Figaro [TCMS], Musetta [Opera 24], Gariné [Grimeborn Festival], Despina [Metta Theatre + Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra] Adina [Brent Opera], Pamina [Metta Theatre], Despina [Grimeborn Festival], Gretel at the King’s Head Theatre; the title role of Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges [Open Door Opera]; Micaela + Frasquita Carmen [Random Opera + Opera in Concert]; Lucy The Telephone in a Vodafone store and on tour [Opera Anywhere]; Suor Genovieffa Suor Angelica [Giornata Opera]; Zerlina Don Giovanni  [CarteBlancheOpera] and Emilia Marco Attilio Regolo [Ensemble Serse].

As a concert artist, Danae has performed in St George’s, Hanover Square; St John’s Smith Square; Southwell Minster; Holywell Music Room and numerous college chapels (Oxford), Cardiff, Edinburgh, Berlin, Athens, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. She works closely with Guy Newbury, performing with him frequently in Oxford, London and Edinburgh, and premiering his works for soprano voice. Equally at home on the recital stage Danae has discovered and recorded songs by Greek composers Samaras and Spathis, and also sings many Lieder and Melodie, most recently by Berg, Chausson, Hahn, Maconchy, Poulenc, Ravel, Riadis, Satie, Schumann.

A recent recital tour in Berlin with organist Sam Baker, premiered works by Howard Blake, Richard Moore and Sam Baker, alongside Vierne's Les Angelus and a programme derived from English and New Zealand folksongs for the Mendelssohn Remise.

Danae made her debut with the Oxford Philomusica at the New Theatre, Oxford, singing the role of Despina opposite Donald Maxwell’s Don Alfonso. She sang the title role in the world premiere of Gerald Papasian’s translation of Dikran Tchouhadjian’s Armenian Opera Gariné, and Musetta for the Grimeborn Festival. Danae performed at the Inaugural Opera Sark Festival, alongside Yvonne Howard, Mark Llewelyn-Evans, Jassy Husk, Christopher Diffey, Claire Filer and Liz Rowe. Concert credits include: Britten's Les Illuminations (Crossing Borders Festival, Brighton); Sark Opera Festival; Purcell Room; St John’s Smith Square; Blenheim Palace; Poulenc Gloria at LSO St Luke’s; and recent recitals in Athens, Bahrain, Berlin, Edinburgh and Jüterbog.

As an educator, Danae has led workshops for Garsington Opera Education, Baseless Fabric, and across the UK and the Middle East. Danae has also performance-lectured on Maths and Music for “Maths Teams”, a charity making Mathematics more popular and inclusive. As a storyteller and performance artist, Danae has performed for the Malala Fund and the Young Muslim Writers’ Awards.

Copyright September 2021 - to request a biography for programme use, please email contact@danaeeleni.com