Idit Arad

Idit Arad is a British-Israeli opera singer and professional singing and voice teacher, founder and former director of the Madrid Opera Studio (closed down in 2014).

Idit grew up in a home entrenched in musical love and tradition. Her mother is a piano teacher and doctor of the philosophy of music. She started her music studies as the age of 4 with the violin, and then moved to the cello before at 14 starting to study singing.

Idit has shown keen interesting in the art of teaching from an early age, and initially guided by her mother, was encouraged to make comments and help with the instruction of students at home. Later on it seemed that many colleagues sought her help, which she always enjoyed and loved giving. Teaching later therefore seemed a natural thing to Idit.

Idit met the renowned Professor Vera Rózsa in the Jerusalem music centre at the end of her high school years, and came to study with her at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. Idit then carried on her operatic training at the Federico Davia Opera Studio, London.

Since then she has performed as a soloist in concerts and operatic productions in England, Spain, Israel, Hungary, France and the USA. Highlights of her Operatic career include principal operatic roles in productions of Don Giovanni (Donna Elvira), The Magic Flute (Pamina), The Dinner Engagement by Lennox Berkeley (Susan), The Marriage of Figaro (Countess),La Boheme (Musetta), Donizetti's Rita (Rita), Falstaff (Nannetta) and Hansel and Gretel.

Her most recent Operatic performance was in the lead role of Antigone, first at the Shakespeare Globe in London and then on tour, in a new Opera by the Royal Opera Covent Garden's associate composer Dominique Le Gendre, set to the text of the Nobel prize winning poet Seamus Heaneys' The burial at Thebes, a version of Sophocles' Antigone, directed by another Nobel prize winner, Derek Walcott.

Idit also had an extensive career as a concert artist. A regular soloist with the Schubert Players with which she went on tours in Andalucía, Spain, as well performing with them at St John’s, Smith Square, London, the Penrith Music Society, Faversham Music Society, and in the Mansfield Theatre. She performed with the Rosalfni String Trio and as Donna Elvira in a concert performance of Don Giovanni at St John's, Smith Square; Mozart's Requiem with BES; an Operatic concert at the Juan Miro Institute, Barcelona; Vaughan Williams' "Serenade to Music" with The Sinfonia of Westminster at St John's, Smith Square; Mozart's "Vespere Solennes" and Vivaldi's "Gloria" with the Atlas Camerata Orchestra, Israel and Mozart's "Coronation Mass" with Ensemble Vocal Solist de Paris; a devised show of operatic arias for Opera Stripped in various venues in London, Budapest and Israel, directed by Antonio Peluso; soloist for AmourLebenFolia in the Covent Garden Theatre. She also featured in a trailer for Opera Stripped of operatic scenes accompanied by Michael Pollok. Idit has given many song recitals in such venues as St John's, Smith Square, St James's Piccadilly, the Kenneth More Theatre and St Martin in the fields in the UK, and many, many more recitals in Israel, France and the USA.

Her personal project of love is her solo album recorded in 2005 of Spanish classical song, Alma Española with the acclaimed Meridian Records label.

At the age of 26 Idit started her teaching career, teaching young singers whilst living in Paris for 2 years. She then carried on teaching in London until 2011, teaching singing and voice to actors, singers and voice users of all professions, privately and also at London School of Dramatic Arts. For the last year she has been teaching privately in Madrid. She was a founder and artistic director of the Opera Studio of Madrid, Spain till it closed down in 2014.