British mezzo soprano Hanna-Liisa is an alumni of the National Opera Studio, and studies with soprano, Nelly Miricioiu. She is a graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music and ENO's Opera Works Programme.
In the current season she returns to Welsh National Opera to understudy Rosina in The Barber of Seville, and English National Opera to cover Rita in The Handmaid's Tale.
Recent highlights include Flora in a new production of La traviata for the Nederlandse Reisopera; WoodpeckerThe Cunning Little Vixen for Welsh National Opera; Mayor’s WifeJenůfa and WowkleLa fanciulla del West for Grange Park Opera; RuggieroAlcina and Orfeo Orfeo ed Euridice for Longborough Festival Opera; Kate Pinkerton for Iford Arts; and her international debut as FidalmaIl matrimonio segreto in a co-production between the Dutch National Opera, Nederlandse Reisopera and Opera Zuid.
Operatic roles include AngelinaLa Cenerentola, SestoLa clemenza di Tito, MercédèsCarmen, Mrs HerringAlbert Herring, XerxesXerxes, PenelopeIl ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, and MashaParadise Moscow; Old Nog in Stephen McNeff’s Tarka the Otter (Buxton International Festival); 3rd Wild Goose/PoppetPaul Bunyan (British Youth Opera); and Ensemble Orfeo(Bayerische Staatsoper). Roles understudied include ArsacePartenope (English National Opera); TisbeLa Cenerentolaand HélèneWar and Peace (Welsh National Opera); and Varvara Káťa Kabanová (Scottish Opera). On the concert platform, works include Beethoven Mass in C, Mendelssohn Elijah, Elgar Sea Pictures, Haydn Paukenmesse, Handel Messiah, Bach Magnificat and St. John Passion, Rossini Petite messe solennelle and Mozart Requiem. She also performed the world premiere of Nigel Osborne’s Bosnian Voices with the critically acclaimed Liverpool Philharmonic 10/10 ensemble and performed at the Oxford Lieder Festival. Awards have included the Miriam Licette Scholarship (Help Musicians UK), the RNCM Elizabeth Harwood Memorial Prize and an Opera Awards Foundation Bursary. She was a finalist in the Jette Parker Young Artist auditions at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in 2014 and 2015, and a 2015 Les Azuriales Young Artist.
Awards have included The Elizabeth Harwood Memorial Prize for Singers (RNCM 2013), A Miriam Licette Scholarship administered by Musicians Benevolent Fund (2013) and an Opera Awards Foundation bursary (2013).
She has sung in master classes with Sarah Connolly, Joan Rodgers, Ryland Davies, Lynne Dawson, Patricia MacMahon, Nelly Miricioiu, Ann Murray DBE and Dame Felicity Palmer, and coached with David Gowland, Raul Gimenez, John Fisher, Steven Maughan, Michael Pollock and Della Jones.