Caren Friel was born in Birmingham and started her singing career as a chorister with various choirs including the City of Birmingham Symphony Youth Chorus. Following this she gained a place on the vocal and operatic studies course at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, where she studied with Miriam Bowen and Jeff Howard. During this time she was a choral scholar with the BBC National Chorus of Wales under Adrian Partington. Having recently completed post graduate vocal studies at Trinity College of Music, she now lives in Bournemouth and continues her studies with Soprano Teresa Cahill.

Recent concert engagements have included the Dartington and Kelly Choral Societies and Two Moors Festival in Devon and opera engagements with Opera South West, Welsh National Youth Opera, RWCMD productions of The Magic Flute (Papagena) and Peter Grimes (Second Niece), Dido and Aeneas (First Witch) for the Ardingly International Music School, La Belle Hélène (Juno) for Suffolk Opera and Trnity College of Music productions of Cendrillon (Spirit) and L'enfant et les sortilieges (Shepherdess).

Caren is also in demand as an oratorio singer and recitalist, and has premiered works specially composed for her, by Devon composer Andrew Wilson. Other works in her repertoire include Handel's perennial Messiah, Bach's Christmas Oratorio, Mozart and Beethoven Masses and Mendelssohn's Lobgesang. In Spring 2011, Caren performed both Mozart's C minor  and Coronation Masses for the Wimborne Music Society.

2012 will see Caren perform in a number of recitals including St Alfege Church, Greenwich, during which she will give the London premiere of Andrew Wilson's 'Silver'.