Performance Database

American mezzo-soprano Irene Roberts made her acclaimed festival debut at the Edinburgh International Festival 2023 as Venus in Richard Wagner's Tannhäuser, followed by her highly celebrated debut as Kundry in the new production of Richard Wagner's Parsifal at the Staatsoper Hannover, a role she has repeated as well at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich in the current season. She also made her debut at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo as Brangäne (Tristan und Isolde) and sang the role as well at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. At this year's Bayreuth Festival, she will make her debut as Venus in Tobias Kratzer's acclaimed Tannhäuser.

Highlights in the upcoming 2024/25 season will include her return to San Francisco Opera as Offred in the new production of Poul Rudder's The handmaid's tale, Brangäne at Deutsche Oper Berlin and in a concert version with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Kundry in the new production of Parsifal at the Tyrolean Festival, and her debut as Princess Eboli (Don Carlo), also at Deutsche Oper Berlin.

Irene Roberts was a member of the opera ensemble at the Deutsche Oper Berlin in the 2015/16 to 2023/24 seasons, where she thrilled the audience in roles such as Brangäne, Wellgunde (Götterdämmerung), Waltraute (Die Walküre), in the title role of Bizet's Carmen, as Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel), Siébel (Faust), Marguerite (La damnation de Faust), Muse/Nicklausse (Les contes d'Hoffmann), Die Rätselstimmung (Antikrist), Urbain (Les Huguenots), Fenena (Nabucco), Suzuki (Madama Butterfly), Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro), Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia) and many others.

Guest performances in recent seasons have taken her to the Opéra National de Lyon and the Stadttheater Klagenfurt as Venus, to the Teatro la Fenice in Venice and the New National Theatre Tokyo as Amneris (Aida), to the Staatsoper Hannover as Carmen, to the Opéra National de Lorraine and the Opéra de Dijon in the title role in Julie by Philippe Boesmans, to the Dutch National Opera as Muse/Nicklausse and to the Macerata Opera Festival as Carmen. She also has a close relationship with San Francisco Opera, where she made her debut in Les contes d'Hoffmann in 2013. Since then, she has appeared in the title role of Calixto Bieto's US debut production of Carmen, the world premiere of Bright Sheng's Dream of the Red Chamber and as Dorabella (Così fan tutte). She has also sung in Le nozze di Figaro and Parsifal at the Metropolitan Opera, Muse/Nicklausse, The composer in Ariadne auf Naxos, Cherubino and others at Palm Beach Opera, Isabella in L'Italiana in Algeri at Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Yanthe in Marschner's Der Vampyr at New Orleans Opera, Rosina at Atlanta Opera and Siébel at Lyric Opera Baltimore.

Irene Roberts can be heard on Opera Rara's studio recording as Malvina Douglas in Mercadante's Il Proscritto, under the baton of Carlo Rizzi, which was released in 2023.

Irene Roberts is also a sought-after concert singer and has been on tour in France with the Orchestre National d'Île-de-France with Rossini's Stabat Mater under the direction of Enrique Mazzola, made her debut at London's Wigmore Hall together with tenor Bryan Hymel and pianist Julius Drake, sang concerts with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl and with the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana Wagner's Wesendonck-Lieder in Palermo. In 2023, Irene Roberts made her debut with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra as Marie in a concert performance of Wozzeck under the baton of Sir Donald Runnicles.

Irene Roberts was born in Sacramento (California, USA) and studied voice at the University of the Pacific and the Cleveland Institute of Music. She is a graduate of the Palm Beach Opera's Young Artist Programme and a winner of the 41st Palm Beach Opera Singing Competition.