High lyric soprano Heather Phillips, whose performances have been described by Opera News as “beautiful” and “shimmering”, has performed over 20 operatic roles across North America and Europe, specializing in the Italian bel canto repertoire as well as the repertoire of W.A. Mozart & Richard Strauss.
Heather Phillips recently made her professional European debut at Oper Frankfurt as Bianca in Rossini’s Bianca e Falliero. She reprised the role for her debut in Austria at the Tiroler Festspiele Erl. Both have been acclaimed by critics.
Since her recent European debut, her international career has continued throughout Europe including her return to one of her signature roles, Donna Anna, in two new productions of Don Giovanni for her house debuts with the Staatstheater Nürnberg and the Landestheater Coburg, and most recently in concert with the Orchestre national de Lyon. Last season included a return to Staatstheater Nürnberg for her role debut as Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel as well as her house debut with Staatstheater Darmstadt as Adina in L’elisir d’amore.
Her notable roles include Konstanze (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Adina (L’Elisir d’amore), Musetta (La Bohème), Nannetta (Falstaff), Elvira (L’italiana in Algeri), Helena (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and Micaëla (Carmen). She has performed with the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Centre, Tiroler Festspiele Orchestra, the Santa Fe Opera, the San Francisco Opera, the Philadelphia Opera, at the Ravinia Festival and the Cincinnati Opera… Heather Phillips can also be heard on the Grammy nominated original cast recording in the role of Katie in Jennifer Higdon’s Cold Mountain, a role she created at the Santa Fe Opera that was recorded with the Pentatone Recording Label.
Future projects include operatic role debuts in Leipzig as La Contessa di Folleville in G.Rossini’s Il Viaggio a Reims, Patricia in K.Saariaho’s Innocence as well as concert & recital engagements with European venues (Beethoven’s Symphony Nr. 9, Carmina Burana, Brahms-Requiem…)..
An alumna of the Santa Fe Opera apprentice program, Heather Phillips also trained at The Aspen Opera Institute, and at the Ravinia Steans Institute and received both her Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music.
Heather Phillips has received many awards including top honors from Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition, the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation and the Giulio Gari International Vocal Competition. She is also the recipient of one of the Santa Fe Opera’s outstanding apprentice singer awards and advanced in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, winning prizes at the district and regional finals. She also received awards from the George London Foundation, Kurt Weill Foundation’s Lotte Lenya Competition, Marcello Giordani Foundation among others.
Heather Phillips speaks English, French, Italian and German.