Soprano Eleanor Pennell-Briggs trained as an oboist at the Royal College of Music and the Norwegian Academy of Music, and then as a singer at Trinity Laban, with Dennis O’Neill at the Wales International Academy of Voice and at English National Opera as an OperaWorks artist. Notable concert performances include Villa-Lobos’s ‘Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5’ at Cadogan Hall, Handel’s ‘Messiah’ at St John’s Smith Square, ‘The Ultimate Opera Gala’ with Welsh National Opera Orchestra, Paul Carr’s ‘Requiem for an Angel’ with the Orchestre de Opera de Toulon, and Mahler’s ‘8th Symphony’ with both the Orchestre National de Lille and the Cheltenham Music Festival. In the operatic field, Eleanor has worked as principal or cover with companies such as the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Teatro Garibaldi (Sicily), Orchestre National de Lille, English Touring Opera, Philharmonie Luxembourg, and has also workshopped new compositions with English National Opera. For HGO Eleanor sang Violetta in our 2018 Traviata.

The 2024-25 season sees Eleanor join the Royal Opera chorus as a full-time member, where she will also cover the role of Barena in Janacek’s ‘Jenufa’. This season includes performances of Strauss’ ‘Four Last Songs’ with the Peregrine Orchestra, Richard Blackford’s modern oratorio ‘Babel’ with Bournemouth Symphony Chorus, and the Brahms ‘Requiem’ at Royal Festival Hall.