Dramatic coloratura soprano Stefanie Kemball-Read trained at Trinity College of Music, graduating with distinction from their postgraduate diploma programme.  During her time there she performed lead roles in every college production, her portrayal of nun Constance in Les Dialogues des Carmélites earning her the Paul Simm opera prize. She was also selected to perform the Song cycle ‘On this Island’ at the W.H. Auden centenary concert at the Greenwich Old Royal Naval College Chapel and gained accolades for her performance in both Lieder and French song. Her vocal dexterity and magnetic stage presence have enabled her to perform across a number of genres from cabaret to coloratura. She excels in exciting and diverse repertoire, ranging from the vocally virtuosic to the delicately expressive, running the full gamut of the emotional palette in between. Stefanie continues her vocal training and development with celebrated soprano Cathy Pope, in the Swedish / Italian school of singing technique.

Stefanie is renowned for her portrayal of the role of Königin der Nacht, Die Zauberflöte / Queen of the Night in Mozart’s The Magic Flute and has performed the role many times throughout her career. Other operatic roles performed across England and Europe include Nedda, I Pagliacci, Violetta, La traviata, , Euridice and Cupidon in Offenbach’s Orphée aux enfers, Adele in Die Fledermaus, Lady Harriet in Flotow’s Martha, Adina, L’elisir d’amore, Countess, The Count Ory, Ilia, Idomeneo, the title role in Mozart’s Zaide, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Belinda & First Witch, Dido and Aeneas (English Sinfonia), 1st genie, The Magic Flute, Euridice, Orfeo ed Euridice, Tytania in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Lucy Brown in Weill’s Threepenny Opera, and Constance in Poulenc’s Les Dialogues des Carmélites. She has also appeared in many Gilbert & Sullivan roles including Phyllis, Iolanthe, Elsie, Yeomen of the Guard, Mabel, Pirates of Penzance and Josephine, HMS Pinafore.

Like all personnel working in the Performing Arts, Stefanie was extremely hard hit by the Pandemic when all performance work ceased. This period afforded her a very special experience however in working with the medium of online performance. During this time she performed the one-woman Poulenc opera La voix humaine for London based company Opera at Home. Performing live on Zoom to the audience, she was able to deliver this extremely complex, beautiful and moving piece with a multi-faceted media interface, the performance interwoven with previously shot video inlays.

Stefanie has sung in many masterclasses in Italy and the United Kingdom, notably with Romano Franceschetti, Ian Page, Donald Maxwell, Ubaldo Fabbri, Alberto Jamelli, and Richard Jackson. She is a regular performer on the recital platform and has given solo recitals at London’s most celebrated performance venues including St-Martin-in-the-Fields, St James’s Piccadilly, St John’s, Smith Square, and King’s Place.  Her repertoire has ranged from the traditional art song – the 2007 Schumann Festival with Eugene Asti – to the more eclectic – performing the European premiere of selected Venezuelan songs by composers Sojo and Carreño at Bolìvar Hall. A natural linguist, she has sung in four dialects of Spanish alone! She is also a regular soloist on the oratorio platform. Recent performances include Haydn’s Creation, Handel’s Messiah, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Poulenc’s Stabat Mater and Gloria, Brahms’ Requiem, Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus, Bach’s Matthew Passion, Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate (English Sinfonia), C Minor Mass and Requiem.  She has recently performed Mozart’s Requiem at Portsmouth Cathedral and will be performing this work again in the spring, together with Haydn’s Nelson Mass.

Stefanie was the inaugural Musical Director for the Portsmouth Military Wives Choir and the initial music adviser to the newly established national Military Wives Foundation.  She conducted them to chart topping success, performing and recording a track on the recent Military Wives album ‘In my Dreams’ from Decca Records. Stefanie is currently the Producer and Artistic Director for the Asociación Arturo Darch, directing and performing in a series of productions in Sotogrande, Spain. Her next Gala in 2023 will be an abridged version of Carmen with other professional soloists flown out to Spain to perform with her and the Málaga Symphony Orchestra.

Future engagements for Stefanie include performing in a Vaughan Williams concert in Portsmouth as part of the PortsFest festival in Summer 2022. This will be followed by opera gala performances on the South Coast and in London and a lead role in a newly written contemporary opera which will have its première in London in autumn 2022. A Christmas opera recital performance in Sotogrande, Spain will also take place in December of this year.

Stefanie is also teacher of singing at Portsmouth Grammar School and Barton Peveril Sixth Form College, vocal coach to the junior choristers at Portsmouth Cathedral and has a busy private practice of students. She is also a qualified and accredited vocal health first aider.