Anna Stephany was born in the North East of England and studied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and the National Opera Studio, London. In 2005 she won the Gold Medal Competition at the Guildhall and went on to win the Kathleen Ferrier Award in the same year. Anna also represented England in the 2009 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition.
Regular performances with the BBC Symphony Orchestra include her 2007 BBC Proms debut as Wellgunde Götterdämmerung with Donald Runnicles, an album of Rodrigo songswith David Zinman (Sony BMG) and Martinu's Juliette with Jiri Belohlavek. With the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Colin Davis she has recorded Mozart's Requiem (LSO Live) and most recently Janacek’s Glagolitic Mass to be released in 2011.
From Baroque to Contemporary, Anna has collaborated with Early Opera Company/Christian Curnyn (Wigmore Hall Live recording of Handel’s Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno to be released in 2011), the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Gabrieli Consort & Players, the Classical Opera Company (Wigmore Hall Live recording Blessed Spirit – A Gluck Retrospective released May 2010), Ensemble Intercontemporain and Nieuw Ensemble Netherlands. She has also worked with Harrison Birtwistle for performances of The Last Supper (London Sinfonietta) and The Mask of Orpheus (BBC Proms).
Recent highlights include Laurette in Offenbach's La Chanson de Fortunio for Opéra Comique, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater at the BBC Proms with the Early Opera Company/Christian Curnyn, Stefano Romeo et Juliette with the State Symphony Orchestra of Russia, a recital with Simon Lepper at Chatsworth House, a return to Garsington Opera for Hermia A Midsummer Night's Dream and her Bolshoi debut as Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus.
Engagements last season included Blumenmädchen in Parsifal for ZaterdagMatinee at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the role of Rosina Il Barbiere di Siviglia and staged performances of Handel’s Messiah for Théâtre du Châtelet and her US stage debut in the title role in Charpentier’s Médée for Chicago Opera Theater. Anna also returns to Festival d'Aix-en-Provence for Annio La Clemenza di Tito with the London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Colin Davis and appears as Concepción L’heure espagnole with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/Andris Nelsons and Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius with the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest/Jaap van Zweden.
This season projects include Bruckner’s Requiem with the NDR Sinfonieorchester, Beethoven 9th with Musikkollegium in Winterthur, Dido Dido and Aeneas at the Wigmore Hall with Christian Curnyn, L’enfance du Christ with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Octavian Der Rosenkavalier at the Bolshoi, Dvorak Love Songs with Manchester Camerata and Speranza Orfeo with the Balthasar Neumann Chor and Thomas Hengelbrock.
