Italian-Canadian mezzo-soprano Simona Genga (she/they) possesses an "exceptional and rare voice" known for its "vocal plushness, amplitude and range" (Ludwig van Toronto/Opera Canada).  During the 21/22 season, Mx.Genga debuted the title role in Carmen with Saskatoon Opera, the premiere of Ian Cusson's Fantasma with the Canadian Opera Company, Handel’s Messiah with the Peterborough Singers, Olga in Eugene Onegin for Highlands Opera Studio and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Brott Music Festival. 

 

“Showing a vocal and theatrical maturity that belies her age” (The Edmonton Journal), Simona first experienced the deep impact of opera while singing Sister Helen Prejean in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking with the Opera NUOVA in 2015. She subsequently joined Canadian Opera Company’s prestigious Ensemble Studio after winning both First Prize and Audience Choice Awards at their 2017 Centre Stage Competition. While with the Ensemble Studio Simona sang Berta in Il barbiere di Siviglia under the baton of Speranza Scappucci, Gertrude in the Opera for Young Audiences performances of Hansel and Gretel, the Second Maid in Elektra and Cindy in an Ivany/Rossini mashup called WOW Factor: A Cinderella Story. 

 

As a Gerdine Young Artist at Opera Theatre of St. Louis, she sang Annina in Patricia Racette’s production of La Traviata and covered the role of Mother Chen in the premiere of Huang Ro’s An American Soldier, as well as the Cabin Mistress in Ricky Ian Gordon's The Grapes of Wrath.

 

Equally at home in recital, Simona has sung in Elora Festival’s Shaftsbury Salon Series, won the 2017 Norcop Song Recital Prize, and has held fellowships with the Ravinia Steans Music Institute, The Chautauqua Institute, Highlands Opera Studio, and the Franz Schubert Institut in Baden bei Wein. In summer 2021, she joined Toronto Summer Music for ‘Midsummer Melodies’, an evening of art song curated by Adrianne Pieczonka with pianist Steven Philcox.

Simona is the recipient of a 2019 Sullivan Foundation Career Development Grant, and is a 2021 finalist for the Women's Musical Club of Toronto’s Career Development Award. She has also been recognized by Opera Theatre Saint Louis with the 2018 Barbara and Stanley Richman Award for demonstrating "exceptional potential for a significant career", career grants from the Hnatyshyn Foundation, the Jacqueline Desmarais Foundation, Ruby Mercer Awards, the Norcop Song Recital Prize and the Christina and Louis Quilico Competition, where she won third prize in 2019.

Simona’s training has included apprenticeships with Highlands Opera Studio, the Ravinia Steans Music Institute, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, The Franz Schubert Institut, and the Chautauqua Institute. Simona holds a BMus, Honours Voice Performance (Western University) and a Masters in Opera (University of Toronto).