Betty

Makharinsky

SOPRANO

BIO ➳ MEDIA ➳ DIARY ➳ CONTACT ➳

BIO

Praised for her “exquisite performance” (Seen and Heard International) and “radiant serenity” (Opera Magazine), Betty is a versatile classical soprano. 2026 highlights include the role of Annina in Verdi’s La Traviata for Teatro Petruzzelli, Bari (c. Jordi Bernàcer, in a production by Sofia Coppola with design by Valentino), her Royal Ballet & Opera debut in June (Arion and the Dolphin, a family show with music by Handel, c. Collin Shay, d. John Savournin, Clore Studio). 

She returns to Buxton International Festival to sing the role of Sirena in a new production of Francesca Caccini’s La liberazione di Ruggiero (c. Jonathan Darbourne, d. Eloise Lally), sings Lieschen in Bach’s Coffee Cantata (Adderbury Ensemble, c. Laurence Cummings, Holywell Music Room), and joins Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana (c. Diego Fasolis) for an Easter Friday concert as soprano soloist for Sir John Rutter’s Requiem in Bellizona, broadcast live on RSI Rete Due.

"Drusilla, sung with radiant serenity by Betty Makharinsky“

Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea - Opera Magazine

In 2025 Betty appeared as soprano soloist for concerts of Bach cantatas BWV 23 / 127 and solo Vivaldi arias with I Barocchisti Orchestra in Ticino (c. Diego Fasolis), Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Whitehall Orchestra (c. Claudio di Meo), Mahler’s 2nd Symphony with Fidelio Orchestra at Milton Court, Barbican (c. Raffaello Morales), and Handel’s Dixit Dominus with the Covent Garden Chorus (c. Tori Longdon). She sang the role of Euridice for Vache Baroque’s sold-out revival of Charpentier’s La descente d’Orphée aux enfers for Buxton International Festival, the roles of Drusilla/Fortuna for HGO’s production of Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea, and the role of Lieschen in an immersive staging of Bach’s Coffee Cantata at the Fidelio Cafe in Clerkenwell. Betty joined Vache Baroque for a programme of Bach, Zelenka and Purcell inspired by Oscar Wilde’s De Profundis letter, with performances at Smith Square Hall and for the Brighton Early Music Festival.

"...fine singing that is secure in vocal quality and demonstrating an appreciation of the intricate niceties of French Baroque style, notably from Gwilym Bowen... and soprano Betty Makharinsky's Euridice"

Charpentier's La descente d’Orphée aux enfers - The Stage

In 2024 Betty made her Italian opera debut in Leo Nucci’s production of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly at Piacenza and Ferrara opera houses. She joined Kensington Philharmonic Orchestra as soprano soloist for Mahler’s 4th Symphony at Chelsea Old Town Hall and Brahms’ Requiem at St. John’s, Smith Square. She was nominated for an Off West End Individual Performance Award for her role in Purcell’s The Fairy Queen with Hampstead Garden Opera, and recital highlights included a programme of 20th-Century German song for The Gustav Mahler Society UK with duo partner Pavel Timofeyevsky.

"I remain astonished by the exquisite performance of ‘The Plaint’, featuring soprano Betty Makharinsky and oboist Katie Lewis, beautifully matched musically and dramatically“

Purcell's The Fairy Queen - Seen and Heard International

In 2023 Betty reached the semifinals of the Northern Aldborough Festival Vocal Competition in Yorkshire with duo partner Vladyslav Kuznetsov, and of the Concorso Internazionale di Canto Lirico “Casa Museo Enrico Caruso” in Naples. In July/August 2023, Betty joined Utopia Choir (c. Teodor Currentzis) to perform Purcell’s The Indian Queen and W. A. Mozart’s Great Mass in C Minor at the Salzburg Festival in Austria. She  joined a consort of Vache Baroque singers to celebrate the Jewish-Italian Baroque composer Salomone Rossi, culminating in a concert at St John’s Smith Square in December 2023 which was broadcast on BBC Radio 3.

“Expressive yet direct, with a lovely flexibility and strong words”

The Songs of Solomon - Planet Hugill

Other operatic roles include Flora The Turn of the Screw (Dartington International Festival), The Model WEAR (Tête à Tête Festival), Amor Orfeo ed Euridice (New Sussex Opera), and covering Zerlina Don Giovanni (HeadFirst Productions). Other operatic roles include Belinda Dido and Aeneas (at St Martin-in-the-Fields and for Woodhouse Opera), Lucia The Rape of Lucretia (with St Peter’s Opera), Falsche Angelle The Tsar has his Photograph Taken (at the Bloomsbury Studio), Phillidel/Cupid King Arthur (in Westminster Abbey), Susanna Le nozze di Figaro, Vitellia La Clemenza di Tito, Drusilla The Prophetess, Amahl Amahl and the Night Visitors (all at Oxford University). Chorus work includes performances with West Green House Opera, Westminster Opera Company, and as part of the Guildhall Consort with the Venice Baroque at the Barbican Hall.

Betty thrives in contemporary classical repertoire and has returned several times to Oxford University to workshop student compositions with Professor Martyn Harry and pianist Jonathan Powell. She also collaborates with Jonathan on performances and recordings of 20th Century repertoire; they have given recitals together at the Levoča Indian Summer festival in Slovakia, and in the UK at venues including Pushkin House in London, the Jacqueline du Pré Hall in Oxford, and the Brighton Fringe festival. Betty also collaborates with pianist Pavel Timofeyevsky, with whom she has given a number of UK recitals.

“Makharinsky provided excellent support, with lovely line and timbre and good intelligibility”

Purcell's Dido & Aeneas - BachTrack

For the 2023 Al Bustan International Festival in Lebanon, Betty sang the soprano solos of Haydn’s Missa in Tempore Belli (c. Gianluca Marciano). She sang Michal Saul (c. Laurence Cummings) and the soprano solos of Tippett’s Five Spirituals and Beethoven’s Choral Fantasia (c. Stephen Barlow) at the 2019 Dartington International Festival. For the 2018 Suoni dal Golfo Festival in Italy, Betty sang the soprano solos of Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle (c. Gianluca Marciano), as well as a recital dedicated to Nadezhda von Meck and a commissioned musical-theatrical piece composed by Anna Segal. Other oratorio repertoire includes Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Fauré’s Requiem, Brahms’ Requiem, Bach’s Magnificat & St. John Passion, and Will Todd’s Mass in Blue, and gala concert appearances includes the venues Cadogan Hall, St. John’s Smith Square, and Queen’s House Greenwich.

Betty trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and on the Barock Vokal programme in Mainz, Germany, as part of which she recently made her solo concert debuts in Germany, performing Spanish songs with guitarist Hans-Werner Huppertz at the Koblenz International Guitar Festival in June 2019, Italian concert arias with a string ensemble at Schloss Engers and the Mainz Landesmuseum in October 2019, and a masterclass with Andreas Scholl & Tamar Halperin culminating in a folk-baroque concert programme. She previously received a First Class Music BA from the University of Oxford (Exeter College).

Betty has held choral scholarships at Exeter College, Oxford and St Martin-in-the-Fields Church, London; she has also sung extensively with professional choirs and consorts, including Oxford Consort of Voices, St Martin’s Voices, Blenheim Singers, The Hanover Band, Locrian Singers, The Arb Ensemble, Oxford Bach Soloists, and Sansara, through which she has toured to the USA, Germany, Italy, Spain, and France. She is the soprano soloist on the EM Records world premiere recording of C.V. Stanford’s Mass in G, as well as being part of the solo-voice consort for the Pan Classics CD of Pelham Humfrey Symphony Anthems lead by Edward Higginbottom and accompanied by Instruments of Time and Truth.

Betty is co-founder and Executive Director of Vache Baroque (Registered UK Charity 1193591), and co-founder of Philomel Creative Circle. She continues to study voice privately in Italy with tenor Antonio Lemmo.

“One of the highlights was the singer Betty Makharinsky singing If Love’s a Sweet Passion so majestically”

Purcell's The Fairy Queen - ★★★★ The Spy in the Stalls

MEDIA

Pianist Florent Mourier
Audio Engineer Jan Capinski

Pianist Gus Tredwell
Audio Engineer Jan Capinski

“the soprano has a pleasingly pure voice”

Stanford Mass in G CD - MusicWeb-International

DIARY

Sunday 30 August 2026 | 11.15am
Oxford Coffee Concerts
at Holywell Music Room, Oxford

Laurence Cummings Conductor
Adderbury Ensemble
Betty Makharinsky Lieschen
J. S. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto no 5 in D major, BWV 1050
J. S. Bach's Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht, BWV 211 (“Coffee Cantata”)

Friday 4 September 2026 | 7.15pm
Lakeside Water Music Concert
Vache Baroque Summer Festival

Le Sommeil d’Ulisse (movements 1-5)
Elisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre (c.1715)

They that go down to the sea in ships
Henry Purcell (c.1684)

As pants the Hart
George Frideric Handel (1713)

INTERVAL

Violin Concerto in Eb major ‘La Tempesta di mare’
Antonio Vivaldi (1725)

‘Wassermusik’ Suite in C major ‘Hamburger Ebb’ und Fluth’
Georg Philipp Telemann (1723)

Thursday 1 October 2026 | 8.45pm
Mozart's Requiem
at Teatro Mario Del Monaco, Treviso

Conductor Diego Fasolis
Soprano Betty Makharinsky
Contralto Lucia Cirillo
Tenor Matteo Lacon
Bass Marco Bussi

Thursday 15 October 2026 | 7pm
Evening Recital
at St Mary’s Church, Old Amersham

An Italian in England: A Musical Tribute to Francesco Ticciati (1893–1949)
Produced by the Amersham Museum
Betty Makharinsky Soprano
Pavel Timofeyevsky Piano

CONTACT