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Sophie Burns is an Australian mezzo soprano based in Berlin, Germany.
For the beginning of the 2022/23 season, Sophie will make her role debut as ‘Mercedes’ in Bizet’s Carmen touring the UK with Opera Brava, and as ‘Lola’ in Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana with Opera al Laghetto under the baton of Claudio Luongo. In addition, Sophie will reprise the role of ‘Giovanna’ in Verdi’s Rigoletto again returning to Teatro Savoia, Italy.
Further, Sophie is excited to return to the stage of Opera de Tenerife in Spain, making her role debut of ‘Zweite Mädchen’ in Zemlinsky’s Der Zwerg under the baton of Alessandro Palumbo. Sophie will also have the honour of taking a place in the chorus of the Donizetti Opera Festival, under the direction of La Scala’s most prestigious chorus director Bruno Casoni, in the production of Donizetti’s La Favorite.
Previous operatic highlights include performing the role of Dorabella (Cosi Fan Tutte) Teatro Garibaldi, Maddalena (Rigoletto) Teatro Savoia, Giovanna (Rigoletto) Opera de Tenerife, Maestra delle Novizie and Badessa and covering Zia Principessa (Suor Angelica) with both Vienna Summer Opera Festival and Berlin Opera Academy.
In 2018/19 Sophie was fortunate to have been selected as one of eleven young artists from all over the world to take part in Opera de Tenerife’s Opera (e)Studio. This opera studio allowed Sophie the opportunity to make her professional Spanish debut at Opera Tenerife singing the role of Zulma in Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri under the baton of Maestro Nikolas Nägele while the production was directed by Giorgia Guerra. The following year in 2019 saw Sophie reprise the role, making her debut at Teatro Comunale di Bologna.
Sophie has also enjoyed many performances as a soloist in the concert throughout Europe, performing arias from Carmen (Bizet), Dalila (Saint-Saens), Tancredi (Rossini), Isabella (Rossini), Octavian (Strauss), Leonora (Donizetti), Farnace (Mozart) and many more.
Throughout her career thus far Sophie has been the recipient of many awards and honors that have further supported her development as an artist. Most recently Sophie was a prize winner and finalist in the Elizabeth Connell Award for Young Dramatic Voices. This award from the Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge Foundation was immensely generous and supports Sophie’s next steps in her career as a young artist. In addition, Sophie was selected as Young Artist by the Richard Wagner Society Australia, received the Hugh Rogers Scholarship for the Acclaim Italian Opera Awards, and was named Scholar of the Year from the Maroondah Singers Melbourne.
As a young singer Sophie has been selected to take part in several prestigious masterclasses with world-class artists such as Daniela Barcellona with GV Management, Mariella Devia at Opera de Tenerife, Luciana Serra and Maestro Vincenzo Scalera at the Accademia Teatro alla Scala and Giulio Zappa also at Opera de Tenerife.
Sophie is a graduate of the Conservatory of Music at both the University of Melbourne and Monash University Australia. In support of her studies and to award excellence in performance, Sophie was given the Barbara Bishop Hewitt Scholarship for excellence in performance.
A keen linguist, Sophie has also spent many years honing her Italian, French and German; all of which she is able to speak to a high degree.