Blessed with a ‘full soprano voice, crystal clear’, ‘sensuous and sensitive phrasing’, Valda Wilson has gained a reputation as a true singing actress on the operatic stage, an outstanding interpreter of the works of Mozart, Strauss, Handel, Verdi and Puccini.

She enjoys collaborative relationships with conductors including Sébastien Rouland, Marko Letonja, Richard Bonynge, Christopher Ward, Gaetano d’Espinosa, Philippe Herreweghe, John Fiore, Erin Helyard and John Nelson, and directors Eva-Maria Höckmayr, Lorenzo Fioroni, Roland Schwab, Vasily Barkhatov, Wolfgang Nägele and Lindy Hume.

Recent highlights include performances of Beethoven 9 and the concert aria ‘Ah! Perfido’ with the Bremer Philharmoniker, the Strasbourg Philharmonique, and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra; house debuts at the Royal Opera House Copenhagen (Die Walküre) and the New National Theatre Tokyo (Orfeo ed Euridice); as well as major role debuts at the Saarländisches Staatstheater where she has been a member of the ensemble for several years. These include the Feldmarschallin (Der Rosenkavalier, R. Strauss), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte, Mozart), Vitellia (La clemenza di Tito, Mozart), Marguerite (Faust, Gounod), Violetta (La Traviata), Leonora (Il Trovatore), Elisabeth de Valois (Don Carlos, 5-act French version), and most recently an immense success in her first major Puccini role: ‘So intimate, so moving, yet in the depths of tragedy so beautiful in timbre… Suor Angelica unquestionably crowned the evening.’ (Il Trittico).

Valda’s irreverent Australian sense of humour has proven an asset to the world of German and Austrian operetta - particularly the characters of Hanna Glawari (Die lustige Witwe) and Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus).

In 2012, she was chosen by Richard Bonynge to be the only featured soloist at the Westminster Abbey memorial service for the late Dame Joan Sutherland with the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano.

Valda’s extensive discography includes a recording of Handel’s Rodelinda with Maestro Bonynge, Theodora for Pinchgut Opera (ABC Classics), songs of Franz Schreker and Paul Hindemith with the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz and Christopher Ward, Verdi’s Un giorno di regno and a CD of Beethoven with Marcus Bosch and Capella Acquilea.

bio updated 18.03.24