Elaine Padmore read music at Birmingham University and the Guildhall School of Music, and began her career as a singer, répétiteur and writer, becoming a lecturer in operatic history at the Royal Academy of Music.
After a period as an editor at Oxford University Press, she joined the BBC in 1971 as a Radio 3 producer and, during a 20-year career at the BBC, became Chief Producer of Opera and was well known as a presenter and broadcaster. In 1982 she was appointed Artistic Director of the Wexford Festival in Ireland and, from 1991, also became involved in running large-scale opera such as the Harvey Goldsmith productions of Tosca and Carmen at Earl’s Court. From 1993 to 2000, she lived in Copenhagen as Artistic Director of the Royal Danish Opera, and in 2000 was appointed Director of Opera at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, a post she held until 2011 and where, amongst her many other achievements, she initiated the Young Artists Programme.