Vanessa is a soprano specializing in German opera repertoire and is a co-founding artist of MusikfürMusik artist collective in Berlin, Germany (www.musikfuermusik.com).
A young artist of the 2019 Bayreuth Festival Masterclass in Bayreuth, Germany and semi-finalist of the 2018 Richard Wagner International Singing Competition at Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, she has performed the roles of Sieglinde (Die Walküre), Freia (Das Rheingold) and Gutrune (Götterdämmerung) where she received glowing reviews. In the 2022 season, Vanessa sang her premier performance of Chrysothemis in Strauss´s Elektra in Toronto, Canada and repeated this role in June, 2023 with MusikfürMusik, where she also made her debut performance as Senta (Der fliegende Holländer) in May, 2023. In December, 2023 she premiered the role of Ariadne/Primadonna (Ariadne auf Naxos) with MusikfürMusik, which recieved such postive reviews that future engagements of the opera are planned for 2024/2025.
Other performances with MusikfürMusik for spring, 2024 include the title role of Strauss' Salome (with conductor Emmanuel Plasson) and Chrysothemis in Elektra (with conductor Thomas Hennig).
In Septemer, 2024 Vanessa will make her Konzerthaus Berlin debut as soprano soloist in Janacek's Glagolithic Mass with conductor Thomas Hennig and the Konzerthaus Orchestra.
Born in Toronto, Canada and of German heritage, Vanessa studied at York University, Canada where she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in music and theatre production. Vanessa went on the complete a masters degree at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London (Music Performance with Distinction) where she studied with Penelope Mackay and Sarah Walker. She received an additional masters degree in Opera Performance from the Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität, Vienna, Austria. Vanessa has also been a member of the distinguished Bayreuth Festival Chorus and is a laureate artist of the Flanders Opera Studio, Belgium.
Vanessa began her career singing contemporary and 20th century music. She was the winner of the Tracey Chadwell Memorial Prize at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, finalist in the Patricia Routledge English Song Competition and the third place winner of the prestigious Canada Council sponsored Eckhardt-Gramattée Competition. She went on the perform works by several contemporary composers. She also showed a particular passion and affinity for German repertoire after she was selected to sing in the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme where she worked with Roger Vignoles and Dame Ann Murray (sponsored by the Canadian Aldeburgh Foundation). This later led to her first professional role debut as Agathe in C. M. von Weber’s Der Freischütz in Germany.
Early operatic credits included Mélisande in the Constant / Debussy / Brook's Impressions de Pelléas, Drusilla (L’incoronazione di Poppea), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Madama Cortese (Viaggio a Reims), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Giulietta (I Capuletti e i Montecchi, Bellini), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) the Governess (The Turn of the Screw, Britten) and Agathe (Der Freischütz).
Current repertoire includes Leonore (Fidelio), Senta (Der fliegende Holländer), The title roles of Strauss’ Salome, and Ariadne auf Naxos, Chrysothemis (Elektra), Sieglinde and Brünnhilde (Die Walküre), Brünnhilde (Siegfried) Gutrune, Elsa (Lohengrin), Elisabeth (Tannhäuser), Gerhilde (Die Walküre) and Marie (Wozzeck).
Performances in concert for Vanessa inlude Opera Biel (Switzerland), the Leipziger Barockorchester (Germany), Konzertgesellschaft Bad Kreuznach (Germany), Stratford Symphony Orchestra (Canada), The London Singers (Canada), Haydn Orchester Eisenstadt (Germany), Ensemble Neue Streicher Klosterneuburg (Austria), Collegium Instrumentale Brugense (Belgium) and the Pax Christie Chorale (Canada).
Vanessa currently resides in Berlin, Germany.
Photo by Craig Lemont Walters
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