Mezzo Soprano
About Lorna
Adam Gorb's The Path to Heaven “The work ... is framed by touching Hebraic laments from Esther (the mezzo Lorna Day)"
- Martin Dreyer, Opera Magazine
Lorna is a British mezzo soprano, highly accomplished in solo and ensemble singing. Lorna has given recitals at the English Music Festival, Rekstensamlingene in Bergen, Leeds Lieder Composer’s Forum, and works regularly with duo partner Olivia Dance, where they recently performed a successful programme celebrating Madeleine Dring for Wye Valley Music and Wigan Music Society. Solo concert highlights include Elgar Sea Pictures with Stockport Youth Orchestra, Handel Messiah with Manchester Camerata and Kantos Chamber Choir, Mozart Requiem with Northern Chamber Orchestra and Elgar The Music Makers with Stafford Choral Society. Opera chorus highlights include Bergen National Opera Parsifal, Rusalka, Die Fledermaus, Die Tote Stadt, Asle og Alida and La Traviata, and Longborough Festival Opera Orfeo ed Euridice. She looks forward to performing in 2026 with Kantos Chamber Choir as the chorus for English National Opera's production of Angel's Bone.
Lorna is an experienced ensemble singer, and performs and records regularly with several ensembles, including Kantos Chamber Choir, the Edvard Grieg Kor, the Daily Service Singers for BBC Radio 4, Jervaulx Singers, and The Mancunium Consort. She recently performed in a recording of Delius' A Mass of Life with Sir Mark Elder and the Edvard Grieg Kor, Bergen Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra, which won a Spellemanprisen in Norway and was nominated for a Gramophone award. Lorna has performed at the BBC Proms 2019 with Britten Sinfonia Chorus and Genesis Sixteen alumni, and at the BBC Proms 2023 with the Edvard Grieg Kor, under Edward Gardner. She is an alumnus of Genesis Sixteen, led by Harry Christophers and Eamonn Dougan.
Lorna studied under the tutelage of Jane Irwin at the Royal Northern College of Music. She won the RNCM Elsie Thurston Prize, was a finalist in the Kennedy Strauss Award, was highly commended in the Frost/Brownson Song Cycle Competition, and she performed various operatic roles in the RNCM Opera productions during the course of her studies, including Woodpecker The Cunning Little Vixen, Suora infermiera Suor Angelica, Esther The Path to Heaven (world premiere) and various roles in the RNCM Opera Scenes. Her studies were generously supported by the Alice Orrell and A&N Kendall Award, Headley Trust, Help Musicians UK Postgraduate Award, Mario Lanza Educational Foundation and the Sir Richard Stapley Educational Trust.
In her spare time, Lorna enjoys climbing, hiking, cake making and playing the flute.