Soprano Amina Edris has been hailed as a “revelation” (Forum Opera) and praised for her “lustrous” tone (Opera News). Born in Egypt and raised in New Zealand, she has blended her cultural background to create her own unique artistic identity, performing a variety of roles ranging from baroque music to world premieres with a focus on French repertoire. Recent career highlights include Manon and Juliette at the Opéra national de Paris, Cleopatra in the world premiere of John Adams’ Antony and Cleopatra at San Francisco Opera, and Alice in the acclaimed recording of Meyerbeer’s Robert le Diable.
Amina’s 2023/24 season includes four role debuts and several house debuts. She begins her season with a return to the Canadian Opera Company where she debuts the role of Mimi in La bohème. She continues with her second role debut of the season, as Liu in Puccini’s Turandot at Teatro di San Carlo in Naples. Amina then adds another role to her French repertoire: the title-role in Massenet’s Thaïs at Opéra de Toulon in concert under the baton of Victorien Vanoosten. At Opéra national de Paris, she performs the role of Beatriz in the French premiere of Thomas Adès’ The Exterminating Angel, conducted by the composer himself, and in the Spring, she embarks on a recital tour of North America alongside tenor Pene Pati and pianist Robert Mollicone. On the concert stage, she performs Beethoven’s 9th symphony for the first time with the Philharmonie Luxembourg, conducted by Laurence Equilbey. In the summer, she makes her role debut as Berthe in Meyerbeer’s Le Prophète at the Bard Opera Festival.
“...agile, distinctive voice with a warm middle register and glittering high notes.”
- Classical Voice
In previous seasons, Amina performed the role of Cleopatra in the world premiere of John Adams’ Antony and Cleopatra at the opening of San Francisco Opera’s centennial season. She also debuted the role of Manon (Manon) to great critical acclaim at the Opéra National de Bordeaux, and later performed the role at Opéra national de Paris, and at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. She debuted the role of Adalgisa (Norma) in concert at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, performed the role of La Folie (Platée) under the baton of Marc Minkowski at Opéra national de Paris, and made her debut at the Grand-Théâtre de Genève as Fatime (Les Indes galantes) in a new production by Lydia Steier. She has also performed Musetta (La bohème) at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, the title-role in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette at the San Francisco Opera and Opéra de Paris, Marguerite in Gounod’s Faust at Detroit Opera, Glycère in Gounod’s Sapho with Washington Concert Opera, Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen at the Opéra du Rhin and Violetta in Verdi’s La Traviata both at Opéra de Limoges and the Canadian Opera Company. Equally dazzling on the concert stage, Amina’s appearances include Fauré’s Requiem, Mozart’s Requiem with the Orchestre de chambre de Paris, Mahler’s Symphony no. 4, gala concerts at the Opéra National de Bordeaux, the Rudolfinum in Prague and with Real Filharmonia de Galicia, Ravel’s Sheherazade with the Stuttgarter Philharmoniker and the Schwabacher Recital series with San Francisco Opera.
She is featured as Alice (Robert le diable) on the critically acclaimed recording of Robert le diable, which was released on the Palazzetto Bru Zane in 2022, and the title-role in Massenet’s Ariane with the Bayerischen Rundfunks (recorded by Palazzetto Bru Zane for release in 2023).
Amina holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of Canterbury New Zealand, a Masters from the Wales International Academy of Voice and a post-graduate diploma from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. After completing her studies, Amina participated in the Merola Opera Program, subsequently becoming an Adler Fellow at the San Francisco Opera. She can be found on instagram @amina_edris.