About

 
 

Hailed by Opera News as “radiant and riveting” and the New York Times as “a spitfire”, Canadian Mozart/Strauss soprano Julia Dawson is a winner of the George London Award and Anny-Schlemm Preis from Oper Frankfurt. She most recently made her role debut as Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni with the Banff Center for Arts and Creativity.

From 2015 to 2019, Dawson honed her craft as a member of Oper Frankfurt's opera studio and solo ensemble, appearing in leading roles. Further engagements include Pulcinella with the Munich Philharmonic and the French Radio Orchestra under the baton of Barbara Hannigan, Zibaldona in Alma Deutscher’s Cinderella with Opera San Jose, Scarlatti’s Erminia and Emilia in Vivaldi’s Catone in Utica with Opera Lafayette, Mozart's Great Mass in C minor with the Vocal Concert Dresden, and Poème de l'amour et de la mer with the Frankfurter Opern-und Museumsorchester. Julia has been presented in recitals by Vocal Arts DC, the New York Festival of Song at Caramoor, Musica Plus, and the Hessischer Rundfunk in Frankfurt.

Combining her love of contemporary and classical music, Dawson recently conceived and performed in the musical film "Obscura Nox," which features Mozart's "Exsultate, jubilate" and new commissions from Iranian-Canadian composer Iman Habibi. The film was selected for Opera Philadelphia's O22 Festival and the Canada Shorts Festival.

Dawson has received training at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, Rice University, Oberlin Conservatory, the Music Academy of the West, Santa Fe Opera, Aspen Opera Theater Center, and The Glimmerglass Festival. She was nominated for Singer of the Year from the Opus Klassik awards for the album 'Girl in the Snow;' songs by American composer Scott Ordway. She is grateful to have been mentored by artists such as Barbara Hannigan and Marilyn Horne.

 

Repertoire & Programs:

  • B. Britten: Paul Bunyan
    Wild Goose, Moppet

    C. Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande
    Mélisande (cover)

    A. Deutscher: Cinderella
    Zibaldona

    A. Dvorak: Rusalka
    Küchenjunge, 2nd Waldelfe

    C. Gounod: Faust
    Siébel

    G.F. Handel: Ariodante
    Ginevra

    G.F. Handel: Rinaldo
    Goffredo

    G.F. Handel: Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno
    Piacere

    E. Krenek: Das geheime Königreich
    2. Singende Dame

    C. Monteverdi: L'incoronazione di Poppea
    Poppea (cover), Virtù, Pallade, Drusilla

    W.A. Mozart: Don Giovanni
    Donna Anna, Zerlina, Donna Elvira

    W.A. Mozart: Così fan tutte
    Dorabella

    W.A. Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro
    Cherubino, Susanna

    W.A. Mozart: La clemenza di Tito
    Sesto

    H. Purcell: Dido and Aeneas
    2. Hexe

    G. Puccini: La bohème
    Musetta

    G. Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia
    Rosina

    G. Rossini: La Cenerentola
    Angelina

    G. Rossini: L'Italiana in Algeri
    Zulma

    A. Scarlatti: Erminia
    Erminia

    D. Shostakovitch: Lady Macbeth of Mtsenk
    Axinja

    H. Schrecker: Der ferne Klang
    Mizi

    S. Sondheim: Sweeney Todd
    Johanna

    A. Thomas: Mignon
    Frédérick (cover)

    G. Verdi: Don Carlo
    Tebaldo

    G. Verdi: Stiffelio
    Dorotea

    G. Verdi: Rigoletto
    Countess Ceprano, Page

    A. Vivaldi: Cato in Utica
    Emilia/Arbace

    A. Vivaldi: La verità in cimento
    Rustena

  • A. Berg: Lulu
    Lulu

    G. F. Handel:
    Alcina: Alcina
    Giulio Cesare: Cleopatra

    J. Massenet: Manon
    Manon

    W.A. Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail
    Konstanze

    I. Stravinsky: The Rake’s Progress
    Anne Truelove

    R. Strauss:
    Der Rosenkavalier: Sophie
    Capriccio: Gräfin
    Daphne: Daphne

    G. Verdi: La traviata
    Violetta

  • J.S. Bach:

    Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen BWV 51
    h-Moll-Messe

    J. Brahms:
    Ein deutsches Requiem

    E. Chausson:
    Poème de l’amour et de la mer (Excerpts)

    G. Mahler:
    3. Symphony (Soprano)
    4. Symphony

    W.A. Mozart:
    Exsultate, Jubilate
    Große Messe in c-Moll
    Requiem

    I. Stravinsky
    Pulcinella

    A. Vivaldi
    Gloria

    W. Walton
    Façade (excerpts)

  • A. Berg: Sieben frühe Lieder

    R. Strauss: Vier letzte Lieder

  • dis l illusions of grandeur

    Venue: Kühlhaus Berlin 2024 with pianist Jess Rucinski

    Concept: In 1901, Arnold Schoenberg made his debut in Berlin as the music director of the literary cabaret, the "Überbrettl," located in Alexanderplatz. Inspired by Nietzsche's concept of the "Übermensch," the "Überbrettl" aimed to blend entertainment with high art. In pursuit of this vision, we intertwine Arnold Schoenberg's cabaret songs with those of Satie, William Bolcom, and Schoenberg’s LA neighbour and tennis partner, George Gershwin together with a selection of Strauss Lieder.

    Repertoire:

    Richard Strauss
    Ständchen Op. 17, no. 2
    Waldseligkeit Op.49 No 1
    Für fünfzehn Pfennige Op. 36: No. 2
    Malven op. posth. AV 304
    Meinem Kinde Op. 37, No. 3
    Zueignung Op. 10, No. 1
    Befreit Op. 39, No. 4

    Cabaret Songs
    Galathea Arnold Schönberg
    The Man I Love George Gershwin
    Daphéneo Erik Satie
    La grenouille américaine Erik Satie
    Aus dem »Spiegel von Arcadia« von Emanuel Schikaneder Arnold Schönberg
    Der genügsame Liebhaber Arnold Schönberg
    George William Bolcom
    Mahnung Arnold Schönberg
    Gigerlette Arnold Schönberg

  • Wilde Things

    This program is based around a song cycle written for Julia by Mexican composer, Francisco Ladron de Guevara. “Wilde Things” are a series of miniatures setting forth the pearls of wisdom of Oscar Wilde’s indomitable matriarch, Lady Bracknell, a character from his play “The Importance of Being Earnest.”

  • “Obscura Nox” is a 30-minute concert piece of Mozart’s motet, “Exsultate, Jubilate” and two newly commissioned interpolated movements by Iranian-Canadian composer, Iman Habibi for soprano, chamber orchestra, and projected live-edited film.

    LEARN MORE