ABOUT
Soprano Roberta Philip has recently finalised her Master of Performance at Guildhall School of Music and Drama under the tutelage of John Evans, supported by the Help Musicians Postgraduate Award and The Behrens Foundation. She was a 2024 British Youth Opera Serena Fenwick artist and 2023-24 Pegasus Opera Company mentee.
This summer, Roberta made her Buxton International Festival debut in the Festival’s inaugural commissioning project that showcased four brand new 20-min operas, rewriting the rules for contemporary opera. She was cast as lead role Nomvula in Thanda Gumede’s Tears are not meant to stay inside, as well as Soprano chorus in the Festival’s headline production of Hamlet by Ambroise Thomas.
A versatile opera and jazz singer, Roberta has been praised for her “powerfully expressive” (The Opera Critic, Jul ‘25) and “outstanding voice” (The Stage, Jul ‘25). She won first place in the 2024 Edith Poulsen Singing Prize Competition. Prior to her masters, she read Music and English Literature at the University of Birmingham.
Previous roles include Barbarina Cover (The Marriage of Figaro, English National Opera), Una Novizia (Suor Angelica, West Green House Opera), Orpah (Ruth, Pegasus Opera Company). In scenes, Atalanta (Serse), Frasquita (Carmen), Héro (Béatrice et Bénédict), Phénice (Armide) and Amy (Little Women) at Guildhall School. Miss Jessel (Turn of the Screw), Mathilde (Guillame Tell) and Fiordilligi (Cosi Fan Tutte) with Morley Opera.
Other highlights in Roberta’s singing portfolio are performing (and walking) in London Fashion Week, at the National Gallery, the Biennale di Venezia, and in choruses at the Royal Albert Hall, Philharmonie de Paris and Lucerne Festival, Switzerland.
In masterclasses, she has worked with leading industry professionals such as Danielle de Niese, David Gowland, Miah Persson and Nelly Miricioiu.
Roberta undertakes her second contract with the English National Opera in the coming 2025/26 season, covering Frasquita in the company’s production of Carmen.