Scottish soprano, Rachel McLean, is a Young Artist at The National Opera Studio in London and is a recipient of the Sybil Tutton Opera Award. She is a Samling Artist and completed her postgraduate studies at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland under Wilma MacDougall, after graduating from the RCS with a first-class Bachelor of Music under Margaret Izatt. Rachel’s MMus studies were generously supported by the ABRSM.

Rachel thrives in recitals and won the Tony & Tania Webster Russian Song Prize with her duo partner Abhisri Chaudhuri, the Florence Veitch Ibler prize for oratorio performance, the Edith Brass Prize for Development in Lieder, and the Hugh S.Roberton Prize for Scottish Singing during her time at the RCS.

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As a Young Artist with the National Opera Studio, Rachel has performed in various opera scene projects including, Lust & Laughter at Scottish Opera where she sang as Elvira Ernani, and Mistress Ford The Merry Wives of Windsor, Deception & Desire at Welsh National Opera where she sang as Donna Anna Don Giovanni, and Maria Stuarda Maria Stuarda, and a contemporary music project Shakespeare Revisited at the National Opera Studio where she sang as Miranda The Tempest (Adès), Lady Anne Richard III (Batistelli), and Ophelia Hamlet (Searle).

On the operatic stage, Rachel performed with Lyric Opera Studio Weimar as Countess Almaviva in their production of Le nozze di Figaro.  She has previously performed Donna Anna in their production of Don Giovanni in 2023, and Pamina in Die Zauberflöte in 2022.

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In concert, she performed at Glasgow's RSNO Royal Coronation Concert alongside Jamie MacDougall, Glasgow Chamber Orchestra, and RSNO chorus.  She was the soprano soloist in Haydn's Nelson Mass, performing with the Garleton Singers under Stephen Doughty.  Rachel 

was also the soprano soloist in Jenkins' The Armed Man as part of the National Youth Choir of Scotland (NYCoS).

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Rachel has performed in Verdi's Nabucco and Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor at the Dorset Opera Festival 2019.  She also performed the role of Youka in the RCS Opera production of Chabrier’s L’étoile.  Rachel has also performed many opera scenes including, Fiordiligi Così fan tutte, Arabella Arabella, Ilia Idomeneo, Rosalinde Die Fledermaus, Elettra Idomeneo, Vitellia La clemenza di Tito, and Anne Trulove The Rake’s Progress.

As a choral singer, she was an avid member of the Les Sirènes Female Chamber Choir, and the Glasgow Youth Choir.  Also the National Youth Choir of Scotland, performing Haydn's The Creation, Berlioz's Lélio, ou Le retour à la vie, and Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust.

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