Having completed her postgraduate studies at the Guildhall School of Music in London, Meta Powell embarked on a career as a mezzo soprano, debuting at Drottningholm Court Theatre as Lisbe in Zemire et Azor following a personal invitation from Elisabeth Söderström. She sang the same role at Tèatre des Champs Elysées, Paris the following year.
She continued to add mezzo soprano roles to her repertoire, such as Afra (La Wally), Dorabella (Cosi fan tutte) and Cherubino (Nozze di Figaro), Aurelio in the British premiere of Donizetti’s L’assedio di Calais, Hansel (Hansel und Gretel) at Opera Holland Park , Helen in Helen of Braemore for English Country Opera (specifically composed for Meta by Eddie McGuire). She sang Charlotte (Werther, scenes from) at Wexford Opera Festival, and was invited back the following year to sing Radka in Sarka by Fibich.
It was while enjoying this critical acclaim that Meta started on a quest to find her ‘true’ voice, as she never felt entirely comfortable that mezzo was her real voice type. While living in New York she was encouraged by a close friend and conductor to make the transition from mezzo to soprano, initially exploring the lyric soprano repertoire. Her first role as soprano was Pamina in Mozart’s Magic Flute at the Riverside Theater with TEV Opera. In NYC, she was also a prizewinner in the Gerda Lissner Vocal Competition.
Recent performances in the dramatic soprano repertoire include Brünnhilde in scenes from Die Walküre and Götterdämmerung for Opera Forge at the Royal Festival Hall and St John Smith Square,Sieglinde (cover) and Ortlinde Die Walküre, Brünnhilde (cover) Siegfried, Dritte Norn and Gutrune (cover) in Götterdämmerung for Longborough Festival Opera and the Wagner Society, London.
Meta has performed extensively throughout her career with orchestras and she is a regular soloist with many of the major and regional Swedish orchestras. She was soprano soloist in the world premiere and live broadcast of Puja Trinity by Emanuel Schulz for Allegro Vivo Festival in Austria. She sang a program of Mozart arias in Wiener Konzerthaus with Ensemble Wiener Klangrede, and while in Vienna, she also sang with Akademische Symphonieorchester in a program of arias by Puccini, Verdi and Catalani. Other oratorios and orchestral repertoire include Hanne in Haydn Die Jahreszeiten, Mozart’s Requiem with the Vienna Boy’s Choir, Janacek Glagolitic Mass with Nottingham Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven 9th Symphony, Verdi Requiem, and many others.
Roles in preparation or completed preparation include Leonore Fidelio, Iphigenie Iphigenie en Tauride, Turandot, Isolde, Senta Der Fliegende Holländer, Kundry Parsifal.
Future engagements include Brünnhilde Die Walküre, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung (2017), all for Opera Forge. Meta is also covering Isolde for Longborough Festival Opera in rehearsals in May 2015.