Elizabeth Atherton is a British lyric soprano. Born and brought up in London, she is the daughter of conductor David Atherton. She studied at Trinity College, Cambridge and at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama with Patricia MacMahon. She is a winner of the Maggie Teyte Prize and the Handel Singing Competition. Atherton is known for her versatility across a broad spectrum of music and her natural presence on stage. She first came to press attention whilst still at college with a Park Lane Group recital at the Purcell Room in 2002. The Times noted, "her voice is already formidable. Each note is hit dead in the centre; the tone is warm, the projection vast... there’s a dramatic actress in chrysalis here". On leaving college, she made her professional debut with English Touring Opera as Helena in Britten's Midsummer Night's Dream and was then immediately contracted to Welsh National Opera, where her roles included Mozart's Pamina, Donna Elvira and Countess. Richard Morrision in The Times wrote, "Elizabeth Atherton's Countess is radiantly sung, especially her gorgeously poised Porgi amor." From Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabe...) under Creative Commons Attribution CC-BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...)