Anglo-German contralto Claudia Huckle studied at the Royal College of Music in London, the New England Conservatory in Boston and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. She was a 2004 Grand Final Winner of The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and is a graduate of the prestigious Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program at Washington National Opera. Claudia is the 2013 winner of the Birgit Nilsson Remembrance Award at Plácido Domingo’s Operalia competition - the first female, and first British recipient. She was a member of the ensemble at Leipzig Opera for four seasons from 2009.

Current season highlights include the release of Mahler Das Lied von der Erde in the composer’s own arrangement for piano, with the conductor and pianist Justin Brown and tenor Nicky Spence on the Champs Hill Records label; as well as two appearances with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra: Beethoven Symphony No. 9 and Mahler songs conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, and Mahler Symphony No.8 with Vasily Petrenko. She will also sing and record Delius A Mass of Life with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Sir Mark Elder and debut in the role of Magdalena Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, under Daniele Gatti.

Claudia recently appeared at Teatro alla Scala Milan singing Die allwissende Muschel in Strauss Die Ägyptische Helena, conducted by Franz Welser-Möst; and at the Bregenzer Festspiele as Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, a role she has also sung for Zurich Opera and Glyndebourne on Tour. She returned to Teatro Real Madrid as 1st Norn/Flosshilde in Götterdämmerung; sang both Flosshilde in the Ring Cycle and BlumenMädchen/Stimme von Oben in Parsifal for Opéra National de Paris; and sang Erda/Flosshilde in Das Rheingold for the Bregenzer Festspiele. She has also sung Erda for Oper Leipzig, Grand Théâtre de Genève and Opera North.

Other roles sung on stage include the title role in Britten The Rape of Lucretia and Hippolyta in Britten A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Glyndebourne On Tour and Glyndebourne Festival respectively; Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel for Garsington Opera; Olga Eugene Onegin for ENO, Opera Nantes and WNO; Marfa in Mussorgsky Khovanshchina for Birmingham Opera Company; Irene in Tamerlano and Smeton in Anna Bolena for Washington National Opera; and Dalila in Samson et Dalila for the Chelsea Opera Group. For the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden she has sung Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte, Schwertleite/1st Norn in Wagner’s Ring and Mérope in Oedipe.

Claudia’s notable concert appearances in Baroque and Classical repertoire include Haydn Paukenmesse at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino under Zubin Mehta; Mozart Requiem at the 2021 BBC Proms; Beethoven Missa Solemnis with the Rouen Philharmonic Orchestra; Beethoven Symphony No 9 with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra; Bach St John Passion with the Ulster Orchestra; Bach St Matthew Passion with the Dunedin Consort in Edinburgh and at the Wigmore Hall; and also on tour with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. She has sung Handel’s Messiah with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and Trevor Pinnock and with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra, Washington DC.

Claudia’s performances of Mahler include Symphony No. 2 with the Boston Philharmonic, and under Myung Whun Chung at both the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and at the Festival de Saint-Denis with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France; Symphony No. 3 with the Real Filharmonía de Galicia; Symphony No. 8 for her 2018 Proms debut with BBC NOW; Kindertotenlieder with the Britten Sinfonia and with the BBCSSO and Michael Sanderling; and Rückert Lieder with the RSNO.

Claudia’s performances of Elgar include Dream of Gerontius and Sea Pictures with The Hallé Orchestra and Sir Mark Elder; Sea Pictures with the BBC NOW; and The Apostles at Three Choirs Festival.

Claudia has also sung Saint-Saëns Oratorio de Noel with the Netherlands Radio Philarmonic Orchestra; Mendelssohn Elijah with the BBCSO and Sakari Oramo; Schubert Mass in A flat and Beethoven Choral Fantasy with Kent Nagano and the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester; Verdi Requiem at King’s Chapel, Cambridge; Flosshilde in Götterdämmerung with Sir Andrew Davis at the 2019 Edinburgh Festival; Dritte Dame in Die Zauberflöte at Festspielhaus Baden-Baden with Yannick Nézet-Séguin; Anna in Berlioz Les Troyens with Valery Gergiev; Brahms Alto Rhapsody with the Northern Sinfonia and Lars Vogt; and Schwertleite in Die Walküre with the Bayerische Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle.

Claudia lives in Bath, UK with her husband, two children and dog, Alma.