Recognised as „a name to watch“ (The Times of London, 2023), British-Pakistani soprano Mimi Doulton has a growing reputation as an interpreter of 20th and 21st century repertoire. She has recently made debuts in Mexico at Festival Cervantino with London Sinfonietta, in Munich with soloists of the BRSO, and at Staatsoper Hamburg / Kampnagel in the world premiere of Spring Awakening by Ludger Vollmer.
A graduate of King’s College London and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Mimi won second prize at the 2021 John Cage Interpretation Award, and was a finalist in the 2022 Royal Overseas League Vocal Competition and the 2024 Peter Hulsen Orchestral Song Prize. She was a young artist at Fondation Royaumont, Academie Aix-en-Provence, Leeds Lieder, Longborough Festival Opera, Opera Prelude, Live Music Now, and Park Lane Group.
She made her professional debut in 2018 in the world premiere of Giorgio Battistelli’s Wake with Birmingham Opera Company. Subsequent engagements included understudying in Gerald Barry’s The Intelligence Park for the Royal Opera / Music Theatre Wales in 2019, a new work by Jonathan Higgins that toured in 2020 and 2021, and her Wigmore Hall debut in 2021.
In 2022/23 she made concert debuts at the Southbank Centre’s Purcell Room, Spitalfields Festival, Ny Musik i Birkerod (Denmark), and Sommer in Stuttgart, premiering works by composers including Michael Finnissy, Rasmus Zwicki, and Neil Luck. She created the role of DHL Driver in Oliver Leith’s Last Days and made role debuts as Max in Knussen’s Wo die wilde Kerlen wohnen with the Bamberger Symphoniker, Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel, and Miss Wordsworth in Albert Herring. She also had a residency at Fondation Royaumont, and received career development bursaries from the Opera Awards Foundation and the Guildhall Futures Fund.
In 2023/24 she made debuts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Thomas Adès in the US premiere of Last Days, at Staatsoper Stuttgart in Kurt Weill’s Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, and at the Salzburg Taschenoper Festival in a Bernhard Gander world premiere. Concerts included her debut with Birmingham Contemporary Music Group under Vimbayi Kaziboni, with the Mozartists under Ian Page, at Snape Maltings, and with Decoder Ensemble at Time of Music in Viitasaari; she premiered works by composers including Julian Anderson, Alison Bauld, and Rachel Sullivan.
24/25 saw her acclaimed debut in the Austrian premiere of GF Haas’ opera Liebesgesang at the Tiroler Landestheater, praised by critics as „breathtaking“ (Tiroler Tageszeitung) and „captivating“ (Online Merkur). Other engagements included her Canadian debut jumping in with Nouvel Ensemble Modern for Vivier’s Trois airs pour un opera imaginaire, a performance of the same work with the oesterreischisches ensemble fuer neue musik (oenm), and her Swiss debut singing Jörg Widmann’s Versuch über die Fuge conducted by the composer, She covered the role of Muchacha in Beat Furrer’s Das grosse Feuer at Opernhaus Zürich, and jumped-in for the dress rehearsal of Philippe Manoury’s Die letzten Tagen der Menschheit at Oper Köln.
Engagements in the 25/26 season include returns to the Royal Opera for a revival of Last Days, and the oenm for works by Sara Glojnaric and John Cage, alongside debuts with ICTUS ensemble and London Sinfonietta, and a tour of three world premieres for voice and electronics (details TBA).
Alongside singing, Mimi is a Trustee of Eye Music Trust and volunteers with UNICEF Stuttgart and Freelancers Make Theatre Work. Until 2023, she held numerous jobs parallel to her singing career, including telesales for a streaming service, IT support, and charity social media management. She has been living in Stuttgart, Germany since autumn 2020.
Please email mimidoulton@googlemail.com for an up-to-date biography for inclusion in concert programmes and elsewhere online.