Bio
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 and 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. Concert performances in the USA include; Angelo in Handel’s La Resurrectione, Messiah, both with Baroque Band in Chicago, Bruckner‘s Te Deum with Norman Scribner at the Kennedy Center, Carmina Burana with Reilly Lewis at Washington National Cathedral and Mozart Exultate Jubilate and the US premier of Kleberg‘s Requiem mass with Mike Mccarthy, plus Bachianas Brasileiras at National Pres. Church Washington DC, Vaughan-Williams’s Serenade to Music with The River Concert series. Other performances in Europe include Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, St. John Passion, St. Matthew Passion, Purcell’s Fairie Queen (Naxos), various masses by Mozart, Haydn, Rossini, Tippett, Gounod, Poulenc, Janacek, Aldo Clementi, and Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Diane has sung a number of operatic roles including Gilda in Rigoletto and Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, both at The Studio Theatre, Royal Opera House, London, Adele in Die Fledermaus in France, Tytania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Hampton Court Fesitval, London, Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream the Britten Pears School, Aldeburgh,UK. Diane is also an Assistant Adjunct Professor at Shenandoah University and Minister of Music at St. Dunstan’s Episcopal Church in Bethesda, Maryland. She lives in Bethesda with her cat and occasionally with her 19 and 22 year old daughters!