Praised for her “blinding brilliance,” Canadian Soprano Andrea Núñez is establishing herself as a versatile young artist.
Ms. Núñez is a graduate of l’Atelier Lyrique de l’Opera de Montréal. As part of her tenure, she has performed the roles of the Page in Rigoletto, Woglinde in Das Rheingold, and Alice B. Toklas in Ricky Ian Gordon’s 27. She also performed the roles of the Governess in The Turn of the Screw in collaboration with the Orchestre de l’Agora and Giulia in La Scala di seta in collaboration with the Orchestre Galileo.
Ms. Núñez’s 2022/2023 will include two house and role debuts. In October, she will be performing the role of Frasquita in Pacific Opera Victoria’s production of Carmen. To close out 2022, she will be returning to Toronto Operetta Theatre to perform the role of Adele in Die Fledermaus. In April 2023, she will be making her role and house debut with Opéra du Royaume as Juliette in their production of Roméo et Juliette.
Her 2021/2022 season had her returning to Opéra de Montréal as a principle artist for two productions. In September of 2021 she performed the roles of Cathleen in Riders to the Sea and A Passenger in the world premiere of Le Flambeau de la nuit. She returned to OdeM in May 2022 to perform the role of Erste Dame in Barrie Kosky’s production of Die Zauberflöte. Ms. Núñez also made her house debut with Toronto Operetta Theatre in June 2022 in the Canadian Premiere of A Waltz Dream where she performed the role of Princess Helene.
For the 2020/2021 season, she was scheduled to perform the roles of the High Priestess in Aida with the Festival de Lanaudiere, Micaëla in Carmen with Sofia Opera, and Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro with Opéra de Montréal.
In 2018, Ms. Núñez returned to Opera Theatre of Saint Louis for her second year as a Gerdine Young Artist and was a recipient of a Richard Gaddes Career Award. That season, she went on to create the role of Pvt. Sonia Gonzalez in the world premier of Huang Ruo & David Henry Hwang’s An American Soldier. During her first year at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Ms. Núñez performed the role of Butterfly’s Cousin in Madame Butterfly and she covered the role of Rosasharn in Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath.
In 2017, Ms. Núñez had the opportunity to cover the role of Fiakermilli in the Canadian Opera Company’s production of Arabella.
Ms. Núñez is an alumnus of the Calgary Opera Emerging Artist Program where she performed the roles of Ellen in Lakmé, and Le Feu and Le Rossignol in L’enfant et les sortilèges, and Papagena in Die Zauberflöte. She also covered the title role in Lakmé and the Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte.
In June 2015, Ms. Núñez joined the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Artist Program where she had her American debut as Monterone’s Daughter/Page in Rigoletto. She also created the role of Laura in the world premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s Cold Mountain. In March and April she had the pleasure of touring Ontario and Quebec performing the role of Norina in Don Pasquale as part of the Jeunesses Musicales Canada Emerging Artist Tour.
Along with her many operatic credits, Ms. Núñez has also performed concert works with the Pax Christi Chorale, the Toronto Mozart Players, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
Ms. Núñez represented Canada at the Queen Sonja International Music Competition in August 2019. In January 2018, she was a semi-finalist at the Voix Nouvelles competition in Massy, France. In 2017 she was District Finalist (Buffalo/Toronto District) at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and the recipient of the Roberta Peters Award from the George London Foundation. She was also 2017 Laureate for the Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyrique and the 2016 winner of the Toronto Mozart Project Vocal Competition. She was one of seven finalists at the Canadian Opera Company’s Centre Stage Competition in 2016.
Along with her opera and concert engagements, Ms. Núñez is currently creating a song cycle with Pulitzer Prize-winning Librettist, Royce Vavrek, and Juno Award-winning Composer, Vivian Fung. This song cycle is based on Ms. Núñez’s upbringing in a multi-racial household and as a first-generation Canadian. The team recently completed a residency at National Sawdust in July 2022. This project is being funded by the Canada Council for the Arts.
Ms. Núñez completed her Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance at the University of Western Ontario under the tutelage of Jackalyn Short. She then went on to complete her Master of Music in Opera Performance at the University of Toronto under the instruction of Nathalie Paulin. She currently studies with Ariane Girard in Montréal.
Ms. Núñez has 11 years of competitive dance training in various styles including ballet, jazz, tap, and lyrical. She is of Peruvian and Chinese heritage and is fluent in Spanish.