About Nadia...

Praised by The Buffalo News as “world class…her high notes were clear as bells, her demanding lines dazzling", Nadia Petrella recently made an acclaimed début as Violetta in Verdi's beloved La Traviata with Opera On The Avalon in St. John's, Newfoundland (June 2013). Other recent performances include The Judgement of Paris by Eccles, in May 2013, with an encore performance in Washington Square Park in New York City in July. She completed a Masters degree at the Manhattan School of Music, where performances included the lead role in Manly Romero’s “Dreaming of Wonderland” with MSM Opera Theatre & American Opera Projects, Mimi in Puccini’s La Boheme in a concert production conducted by Thomas Muraco, Ravel's L'enfant et les sortileges under the baton of Kenneth Merrill and various programs of opera scenes. While at MSM she studied with Patricia Misslin & Catherine Malfitano and also coached & worked with such luminaries as Mignon Dunn, William Tracy, Cynthia Hoffmann, and Kenneth Cooper.

Ms. Petrella made her American and International professional débuts in the role of "Rosina" in the highly acclaimed 2009 Nickel City Opera production of Rossini's The Barber of Seville, performing alongside prominent international artists John Packard as "Figaro", Benjamin Brecher as "Count Almaviva", and Valerian Ruminski as "Basilio", returning to NCO in June, 2010 to cover Heather Buck in the role of "Gilda" in Verdi's Rigoletto. She is a gifted young artist who has already performed many other leading roles in opera, including "Michaela" in Carmen with Pellegrini Opera and "Lucy" in Menotti's The Telephone with Ottawa Pocket Opera (Ottawa, ON, 2011), the “First Lady” in Mozart's The Magic Flute (2009), “Rosina” in Rossini's The Barber of Seville, “Lola” in Douglas Moore's Gallantry, “Catherine” in Ralph Vaughan Williams Riders to the Sea (2008), “Dido” in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, and “Soeur Constance” in Poulenc's Les Dialogues des Carmelites (2007). She also appears frequently in concerts & recitals, including the Ars Musica Chamber Orchestra Opera Gala in Toronto, ON (October 2011).

Prior to moving to Manhattan, Nadia was a scholarship participant in 2010 at Joan Dornemann's Canadian Vocal Arts Institute in Montréal, QC, and in May of that year was also the recipient of a major sponsorship grant from the Leacross Foundation, through the Ottawa Kiwanis Music Festival, that supported and made possible her studies at Manhattan School of Music. In addition to her Master Of Music in Vocal Performance from The Manhattan School of Music she holds a Bachelor of Music with Honors in Vocal Performance from Carleton University, where she studied with tenor David MacAdam, and Nadia traveled to Costa Rica in the summer of 2008 to work with internationally recognized vocal instructor and operatic director Gary E. Burgess.

With the Opera Lyra Ensemble from 2007-2009 Nadia appeared in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, the Hamlet of Amboise Thomas, Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro and Verdi's La Traviata. In concert, she has appeared as guest soloist for Ars Musica, Theatre lyrique de Gatineau, CAMMAC, Musica Viva and the Carleton University Choir, among other organizations, singing works such as the Vivaldi Gloria, Fauré Requiem and Zelenka Mass. With CAMMAC she was the featured soloist in the 2010 world premiere of Canadian composer Dr. Deirdre Piper's cantata The Canticles of Asaph.

In August 2009 Nadia won third prize in the Vocal category at the prestigious Canadian National Music Festival (held that year in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan), becoming the first musician from the National Capital Region to place at the national level in over fifteen years. In April of 2008 she won second prize in the highly regarded Ottawa Chamber Orchestra Vocal Competition, and in both June 2008 & 2009 won her division in the Ontario Provincial Music Festival. She has received many other awards and prizes, including The Laura & Harris Arbique Memorial Grant, The Ottawa Welsh Society Award, The Adele Starcher Memorial Award, and The Laurentian Junior Music Club Award.

Nadia has been a guest soloist for the Celebration of Life Service, held annually in Ottawa, Ontario during Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness week and performs for the benefit of charitable organizations whenever she can.