Amelia Watkins: Biography

Quickly gaining a reputation for her beautiful fluid top register and dramatic flair, Canadian soprano Amelia Watkins has performed with leading orchestras and opera companies in the U.S., Canada, Asia and Europe.

She has recently appeared in such prestigious venues as the Estates Theatre (National Theatre, Prague), the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Carnegie Hall, Weill Hall, Lincoln Centre, the Tanglewood Music Festival, the Verbier Festival (Switzerland), the Gewandhaus (Germany), and in concert in Hong Kong. 2010 season highlights include Amelia's debut with New York City Opera in L'etoile (Laoula cover), as a featured performer in the 2010 NYCO VOX festival, and her role debut as Königen der Nacht (Queen of the Night) in Die Zauberflöte.

Embracing musical styles from Bach to Berio and beyond, Amelia has collaborated with many up-and-coming composers and performers, including the Anti-Social Music Society, Friends & Enemies of New Music, and the Minimum Security Composers Collective, among others. Amelia is co-founder of Trill Vocal Projects, a production company dedicated to keeping vocal music relevant and accessible by performing in non-traditional venues for new audiences.

Ms. Watkins has been a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Festival, a Young Artist at the Berkshire Opera, a featured academy artist at the Verbier Festival, a participant of the Cleveland Art Song Festival, and a resident performer with the Metropolitan Opera Guild outreach program.

A graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Amelia is the recipient of substantial grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Jacqueline Desmarais Foundation for Young Canadian Opera Singers, and a laureate of the Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques. She is the winner of the Deuxième Prix Lyrique Français at the Concours d'interpretation de Musique Française de Montréal, finalist in the Concert Artists Guild International Competition, and has been recognized in other regional, national and international competitions. Amelia can be heard in recording on Albany Records, as well as with the MDR symphony in the premiere of German composer Manfred Trojahn's Requiem, on the new Bobby McFerrin recording of choral music for solo singers, and in various film and television scores.

Ms. Watkins is a citizen of Canada, Ireland (E.U.), and holds a US Green Card.