American mezzo-soprano Irene Roberts made her acclaimed debut at this year’s Bayreuth Festival as Venus in Tobias Kratzer’s celebrated production of Tannhäuser, a role she also sang with great success at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2023 and at the Opéra National de Lyon in 2022.

In the current 2024/25 season, Irene Roberts has already starred at San Francisco Opera as Offred in John Fulljames’ new production of The Handmaid’s Tale. This season, she can be seen as well as Brangäne in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde and in her role debut as Eboli in Verdi’s Don Carlo at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and as Kundry in the new production of Parsifal at the Tyrolean Festival in Erl. She will also return to the Bavarian State Opera as Suzuki (Madama Butterfly). 

Highlights of the 2023/24 season were her highly successful debut as Kundry in the new production of Richard Wagner’s Parsifal at the Staatsoper Hannover, after which she repeated the role at the Bayerische Staatsoper and the Deutsche Oper Berlin in the same season. She also made her debut at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo as Brangäne.

Irene Roberts has been a member of the opera ensemble at the Deutsche Oper Berlin from the seasons 2015/16 – 2023/24, where she performed in roles such as Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel), Marguerite (La damnation de Faust), Nicklausse (Les contes d’Hoffmann), Urbain (Les Huguenots), Suzuki (Madama Butterfly), Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro), Brangäne, Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia) and in the title role of Carmen and others.

Guest engagements in recent seasons have taken her to the New National Theater Tokyo as Amneris in Aida under the baton of Carlo Rizzi, followed by her debut with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra as Marie in Wozzeck under the baton of Sir Donald Runnicles, to the Opéra National de Lorraine and the Opéra de Dijon in the title role in Julie by Philippe Boesmans, to the Stadttheater Klagenfurt as Venus, to the Dutch National Opera as Muse/Nicklausse, to the Teatro la Fenice in Venice as Amneris, to the Macerata Opera Festival as Carmen. Roberts also has a close relationship with the San Francisco Opera where she made her debut in Les Contes d’Hoffmann in 2013. She has since returned as the title role in Calixto Bieto’s US debut production of Carmen, the world premiere of Bright Sheng’s Dream of the Red Chamber and as Dorabella in a new production of Così fan tutte. Past engagements have included Le nozze di Figaro and Parsifal at the Metropolitan Opera, Don Giovanni, Madama Butterfly, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, and Ariadne auf Naxos at Palm Beach Opera, L’Italiana in Algeri with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Marschner’s Der Vampyr at New Orleans Opera, Il barbiere di Siviglia with Atlanta Opera, and Gounod’s Faust with 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, having toured France with the Orchestre National d’Île-de-France in 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, and sung concerts with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. Most recently, she sang Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder with the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana in Palermo.

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.