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.

Ms. Watkins has recently appeared in such prestigious venues as the Estates Theatre/National Theatre in Prague, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium, Weill Hall, Lincoln Centre, the Tanglewood Music Festival, the Verbier Festival (Switzerland), the Gewandhaus (Germany), The National Arts Centre (Ottawa), and in concert in Hong Kong.

Embracing musical styles from Bach to Berio and beyond, Amelia has collaborated with many esteemed composers including Augusta Read Thomas, Michael Gordon, Corey Dargel, and Peter Golub, in venues such as PS122, The Kitchen, Galapagos Art Space, and the Skirball Center for Performing Arts. Amelia will be featured in the upcoming "Songs from the Uproar" by Missy Mazzoli at The Kitchen (2012). Recent performances include Dafne in Handel's Apollo ed Dafne, conducted by John Scott, and the role of Susan Hoerchner in Clarence and Anita, by Ben Yarmolinsky, based on the 1991 hearings.

Amelia is co-founder and artistic director of Trill Vocal Projects, a production company dedicated to keeping classical vocal music relevant and accessible by performing in non-traditional venues for new audiences.

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 Grammy Award nominated Bobby McFerrin recording VOCAbuLarieS, and on various film and television scores.