BIOGRAPHY
Canadian-German soprano Anna-Sophie Neher, a former member of the prestigious Ensemble Studio of the Canadian Opera Company, is impressing audiences as a Mozart, Baroque and French repertoire specialist. While in the program, she appeared as Gretel, the Sandman, and the Dewfairy in Hänsel und Gretel; the First Woodsprite in Rusalka; and she created the role of Lavia in the world premiere of Rufus Wainwright’s Hadrian. Ms. Neher is the first prize winner of the OSM Manulife Competition (2017), the Wirth Vocal Competition (2017), the Christina and Louis Quilico Competition (2019), and the Prix Étoile Stingray (2017).
This season, Ms. Neher returns to the Canadian Opera Company as Micaela in Carmen and to the Opéra National de Paris as the First Niece in a new Deborah Warner production of Peter Grimes. Future engagements include a return to the Canadian Opera Company.
Last season, Anna-Sophie made her Opéra National de Paris debut as Antigone in Enesco’s Oedipe, returned to the Canadian Opera Company as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, made her debut with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra as the Soprano Soloist in Messiah and appeared with the Calgary Philharmonic in a program of Mozart arias.
In the 2020-2021 season, Anna-Sophie appeared in concert with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra in a virtual presentation of the Vivaldi Gloria and excerpts from Handel’s Messiah and performed the role of Servilia in Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito and as the Soprano Soloist in Mozart’s C minor Mass (the latter conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin) as part of the Classica Festival in Montreal. Praised for her “gleaming tone and excellent agility” (Ludwig van Toronto), Anna-Sophie has sung an extensive amount of orchestral concert repertoire from Bach and Mozart to Pärt and Williams.
Ms. Neher earned her master’s degree from McGill University and her bachelor’s degree from the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal. She also perfected her art for a year at Bard College. During her studies, she performed as Blanche in Dialogue des Carmélites, Adele in Die Fledermaus, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, and Belinda in Dido and Aeneas. Anna-Sophie has also received many scholarships including the Sylva Gelber Foundation (2018-2019) and the Jacqueline Desmarais Foundation (2016-2017-2018).