Described as a ‘superb singer actress’ (Opera Today), Anglo-Venezuelan soprano Sofia Kirwan-Baez is a Kathleen Ferrier semi-finalist, a Josephine Baker Trust artist, a Sybil Tutton Award holder (2022) and a recipient of the Musicians’ Company Award (2023). She is a Young Artist on the National Opera Studio’s (NOS) Global Talent Programme, generously supported by Lionel and Marylynn Anthony. Operatic roles include Elle La Voix Humaine, Adina Elisir d’Amore, Eurydice Orpheus in the Underworld and World premieres of works by Jasper Dommett, Marco Galvani and Toby Young. Concert work comprises Handel’s Messiah (Nevill Holt 2022), Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire (Birmingham Cathedral, MAC Birmingham), Mahler’s 4th Symphony, Monteverdi’s Vespers (Cadogan Hall), Vivaldi’s Gloria and Handel’s Dixit Dominus (Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford). She made her Wigmore debut in September 2023 as part of their 2023 French Song Exchange.
Sofia began her musical studies with the violin in El Sistema in Caracas (Venezuelan). She later started playing the piano, continuing both instruments in the Périgueux Conservatoire. Sofia studied Music at Oxford University and Vocal Performance at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, where she was supported by Rotary International. Sofia was a Huffner Scholar supported by the Sir Gordon Palmer Scholarship in the Royal College of Music Opera School and is a winner of the RCM’s Concerto Competition (2021).
Future engagements include covering Karolka Jenufa for English National Opera (March 2024) and the role of Musetta for Longborough Festival Opera’s La Bohème (Jul/Aug 2024).