Hamish McLaren is a London based countertenor and history graduate of St. John’s College, Cambridge, and of the Royal Academy of Music. Between 2013 and 2016 he appeared as Oberon (Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Marcellina (Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro), Damon (Rameau’s Les Sauvages), and as Vava, an excessively petulant mistress in Shostakovich’s Cheryomushki Moskva. In 2016 Hamish moved to London to study at the Royal Academy of Music. In November 2017 he appeared at the V&A Museum in Tim Watts’ opera Kepler’s Trial, and in September 2018 covered Ferdinand in BYO’s production of The Enchanted Island by Jeremy Sams. In May 2019 Hamish was Arsace in Handel’s Partenope (Hampstead Garden Opera), which was revived at the Valletta Baroque Festival at the Teatru Manoel in 2022. In 2020 he reprised Oberon for The Royal Academy of Opera, as well as appearing as a witch in Dido and Aeneas at The Master Shipwright’s House in Deptford. 2021 saw Hamish as a sorcerer(ess) in Hurn Court Opera’s production of Dido and Aeneas, and he also covered the role of Dorian for ETO’s animated film Aidan, a contemporary retelling of Handel’s Amadigi for children.
In the summer of 2023 Hamish will cover the role of Athamas (Handel’s Semele) for the Glyndebourne Festival. In January 2019 Hamish joined The Monteverdi Choir and has since toured Europe, Russia, and South America. In May 2021 Hamish released his debut album “Sphinx” on the Orchid Classics label. “Sphinx” explores Russian and Soviet art song, and includes premier recordings of Shostakovich, Myaskovksy, and Firsova.