Soprano Amelia Watkins has performed with leading orchestras and opera companies in the United States, Canada, Asia and Europe. Since her European debut at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, she has appeared with the Los Angeles Opera, New York City Opera, the Estates Theatre/National Theatre Prague, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Carnegie Hall, Weill Hall, Lincoln Centre, the Tanglewood Music Festival, the Verbier Festival, The National Arts Centre, and in concert in Hong Kong. Her operatic roles include Pamina Die Zauberflöte, Valencienne Merry Widow, Norina Don Pasquale, Despina Così fan Tutte, Zerlina Don Giovanni, Musetta La Bohème, Mme. Herz The Impresario, Gretel Hansel & Gretel, Frasquita Carmen, Dafne Apollo e Dafne, Elle La Voix Humaine, and extensive scenes of Handel heroines Armida and Cleopatra performed with baroque orchestra. Oratorio performance highlights include Handel's Messiah, Bach’s Magnificat, the Requiem of Mozart, Fauré and Rutter performed at Carnegie Hall, and of Manfred Trojahn performed at the Gewandhaus, Mozart's Exultate, Jubilate and Coronation Mass, and Mahler's Symphony #2, performed at The National Arts Center in Ottawa. Amelia drew critical praise for her portrayal of Brainy Woman in Michael Gordon and Deborah Artman’s Acquanetta for the Prototype Festival, and at the Bard Festival. After a performance of arias from operas by longtime collaborators Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek at the American Library in Paris, Amelia returns to her native Alberta in the Spring of 2024 for a tour of concerts of reinterpreted Mahler works with chamber orchestra. Amelia is also featured as a contributing vocalist in the MOMA installation “Meta'/Physical Therapy” by renowned media artist Shana Moulton.

Embracing musical styles from Bach to Berio and beyond, Amelia specializes in the works of living and experimental composers, performing at Joe’s Pub, Le Poisson Rouge, Roulette, and Issue Project Room, among other venues. She is a frequent vocalist in Darmstadt’s In C. For her portrayal of Mabrouka in the staged premiere of Mohammed Fairouz’s opera Sumeida’s Song, The New York Times praised “the soprano Amelia Watkins, who brings bright sound and touching vulnerability to her performance”. Amelia’s voice was represented in a 496 channel wavefield synthesis speaker array at EMPAC in Troy, NY, by experimental composer Zach Layton, the first use of this technology.

Amelia has been featured in recording on the Grammy-nominated album Vocabularies with Bobby McFerrin, Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s highly acclaimed opera Song From The Uproar, Albany Record’s New Growth, and the studio recording of Acquanetta. Her film and television work includes 'Breastmilk:The Movie', Bravo TV (Canada) "Comédies Musicales", and various commercial and indie film scores. A versatile singer, Amelia enjoys backing up rock and pop bands in the NYC circuit.

A graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Ms. Watkins is the recipient of multiple substantial grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, The Jacqueline Desmarais Foundation for Young Canadian Opera Singers, and has been recognized in other regional, national and international competitions. She has been a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Festival, a Young Artist at Berkshire Opera, a featured academy artist at the Verbier Festival, participant in the Cleveland Art Song Festival, the Carnegie Hall Professional Training Workshop with Thomas Quasthoff, and a resident performer with the Metropolitan Opera Guild outreach program. Amelia is a citizen of Canada, Ireland (European Union), and the United States.