Biography
Ann De Renais was awarded a British Council grant for Post-Graduate Vocal Studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, having first studied Piano and Voice at the Royal Conservatoires of Brussels and Ghent in her native Belgium.

For the past four years, Ann has been training with vocal technician David Jones in New York and London, where she lives. In addition to the standard coloratura roles her concert repertoire covers a wide variety of styles, ranging from oratorio to song recitals, film scores and contemporary music.

Ann De Renais began her international career as 1st soprano of the 8-part vocal ensemble The Swingle Singers, with whom she gave many a cappella performances around the world, as well as contemporary operas at La Scala, Milan and Le Châtelet, Paris. She also features on several recordings of well-loved Swingle favourites.

Swingle Singers
Since becoming a free-lance singer, Ann has appeared in the Festival of Flanders in several premieres of new Belgian music, recorded by Flemish Belgian Radio. Composers who have written especially for her voice include Lucien Posman, Boudewijn Cox, and Daniel Schroyens. Her performance of songs by Lucien Goethals and Khoom by Giacinto Scelsi with the celebrated Spectra Ensemble was recently broadcast in Belgium.

Credits and Reviews



“Thank you for the wonderful performance”


Howard Shore


“Ann sang Vivier's BOUCHARA in a masterly fashion”

The Standaard, Belgium

Kieler Nachrichten,
15 August 2005, Schleswig-Holstein Festival, Neumunster, Germany

"During the premiere of "The Mental Traveller" by composer Lucien Posman for Soprano and Recorder trio, Ann's clear and perfectly pitched voice was a real treat. After the break she displayed her skills in "Pleasant Composition" by Simon Bainbridge for solo voice. The continuous deformation of an English Folksong was performed with great precision and flair by Ann."


Wilfried Westerlinck
Composer and Classical Radio Producer Contemporary Music concert in the Festival of Flanders, Belgium with recorder quartet Apsara and percussionist Michael Weilacher on 16th October 2002.

Download Ann's CV

Opera credits include Mozart's Queen of the Night, Handel's Cleopatra for the English National Opera Bayliss Programme, Nannetta (Falstaff) for Opus Gattières in France, the Fire and the Nightingale (L'Enfant et les Sortilèges) for New Tel Aviv Opera in Israel, Susanna (The Marriage of Figaro) for Beaufort Opera in London.

Berio Sinfonia Ekphrasis

Ann performs regularly with London Voices under the direction of Terry Edwards and has recorded for television, radio and feature films. A new recording for Deutsche Gramophon of Sinfonia by Luciano Berio with Peter Eötvös conducting the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra was released in 2005. In the BBC Proms she sang 1st soprano solo part in Coro for 40 voices and orchestra by Luciano Berio.

Howard Shore and Ann De Renais
Among her other most recent performances may be listed Brahms' German Requiem in Belgium and Holland, Mozart C Minor Mass in the UK, and Berio Sinfonia with London Voices and the Berliner Philharmoniker in Berlin. In the US and Europe she appeared as vocal soloist in The Lord of The Rings Symphony by Howard Shore.

Future solo engagements include chamber music recitals with Ensemble Andromeda and the Spectra Ensemble in the UK and in Belgium, baroque music concert in Belgium, duet concert with soprano Wendy Nieper and pianist Julian Cheryan in London, Brahms German Requiem with the Flemish Radio Orkest and the Flemish Radio Choir on tour in Belgium.

In addition to maintaining an extensive concert schedule, Ann De Renais runs her private voice studio as Associate Teacher of David Jones in London and Belgium.