Mezzo-soprano Wallis Giunta was the winner of the 'Young Singer' category at the 2018 International Opera Awards and 'Breakthrough Artist in UK Opera' in the 2017 WhatsOnStage Awards. Highlights of the 2022/23 season include joining the ensemble of the Volksoper Wien to perform a number of roles including Prinz Orlofsky Die Fledermaus, Hansel Hansel und Gretel, Cherubino Le Nozze di Figaro, Angelina La Cenerentola and her return her house debut at the Opera Comique. On the concert platform, she will perform Berio Folk Songs at the Komische Oper Berlin.
Operatic highlights for Giunta include Maria Maria de Buenos Aires for Opera de Lyon following a run of performances at the festival Les Nuits de Fourvière, Angelina La Cenerentola for Opera Montpellier, Rosina Il barbiere di Siviglia for Dallas Opera, Tigrane Radamisto with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Anna 1 Seven Deadly Sins for Opera North, Dodo in Missy Mazzoli Breaking the Waves for the Edinburgh International Festival and the Adelaide Festival, house debuts for Seattle Opera as Angelina La Cenerentola and for Deutsche Oper am Rhein as Bradamante Alcina, role debuts as the title role Carmen, Rosina The Barber of Seville, and Octavian Der Rosenkavalier at Oper Leipzig, Idamante Idomeneo at Opera Atelier, Toronto, Flora La Traviata with Placido Domingo at the Royal Opera House, Muscat, Cherubino Le nozze di Figaro at The Grange Festival, the title role in Ravel L’enfant et les sortilèges, Dinah in Bernstein Trouble in Tahiti and Angelina La Cenerentola for Opera North, Weill Seven Deadly Sins with the Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla and John Axelrod, Mercédès Carmen for Oper Frankfurt, Sesto La Clemenza di Tito and Dorabella Cosí fan tutte for the Canadian Opera Company, Olga The Merry Widow for the Metropolitan Opera, and Paquette in Bernstein Candide with the Hamburger Symphoniker conducted by Sir Jeffrey Tate.
On the concert platform, recent highlights include The Sound of Argentina and a critically acclaimed solo recital at the BBC Proms in Cadogan Hall, a return to the Münchner Rundfunkorchester for Mozart Die Schuldigkeit des Ersten Gebots, a return to Koerner Hall, Toronto, for a Bernstein Centenary gala following her acclaimed performances as Anna in Weill Seven Deadly Sins with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Mozart Grosse Messe with the Gewandhaus Orchester and Beethoven Symphony No.9 with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa.
Giunta is a recipient of a 2013 Novick Career Advancement Grant and the Sylva Gelber Music Foundation Career Development Award, and has been supported by the Canada Council for the Arts. She is a 2013 graduate of both the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, and the Juilliard School’s Artist Diploma in Opera Studies, and was a member of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio 2009 to 2011.
