Spanish-Argentinian mezzosoprano Julia Portela Piñón is the first international singer to join the Judith Neilson Young Artist Programme at Cape Town Opera, South Africa. This season’s engagements include La suora zelatrice and Zita in a Puccini Double Bill of Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi, cover of Elle in Poulenc’s La voix humaine and Alisa in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. In 2023, Julia had her South-African debut with the alto solo in Mozart’s Requiem in a staged production directed by the renowned South African choreographer Dane Hurst and conducted by Bernhard Gueller, Music Director Laureate of Symphony Nova Scotia in Canada and principal guest conductor of the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra. Her operatic debut came with Flora Bervoix in Verdi’s La Traviata at the Artscape Opera House.

Julia has studied for over a decade in London, UK, first at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and subsequently at the Royal Academy of Music. From the latter, she obtained a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance, a Master of Arts in Vocal Performance with Distinction and an Advanced Diploma in Opera Performance, generously supported by the Norman Ayrton Award. Julia was a regular performer at the renowned series of Bach Cantatas at the at the Duke’s Hall of the Royal Academy of Music; a special highlight was leading the BWV 24, 44 & 134 with Iain Ledingham conducting the Royal Academy Baroque Orchestra in 2018. As a member of the prestigious Opera School of this institution, Julia performed the roles of Tirinto in Handel’s Imeneo conducted by David Bates (2022), cover of Komponist in Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos (2022), Concepcion in Ravel’s L’heure espagnole (2021), Zita in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi (2021) and Dido in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas conducted by Elizabeth Kenny (2021). Julia made her professional debut in London performing the role of Nerone in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea with Ensemble OrQuesta conducted and directed by Marcio da Silva at the Grimeborn Opera Festival (2022).

This year, Julia competed at the 42nd International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition in Latvia, being the Spanish and Argentinian representative of this edition. As a dedicated baroque performer, she has recently been selected for the upcoming 15th International Singing Competition for Baroque Opera ‘Pietro Antonio Cesti’ held at the Haus der Musik in Innsbruck. Prizewinner of the Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg International Singing Competition (Berlin, 2020) and the Marjorie Thomas Art of Song Prize (London, 2017), Julia has been a finalist at the Certamen Nacional “VIII Estepona CREA-2022” Lírica (Estepona, 2022), a semifinalist at the Premiere Opera Foundation Virtual Edition (New York, 2022), the V Concurso de Canto ‘Compostela Lírica’ (Santiago de Compostela, 2022), the XVIII Certamen Nuevas Voces Ciudad de Sevilla (2022) and reached the Second Round of Neue Stimmen (2021 & 2024).

In orchestral solo engagements, Julia has performed with the Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Vlad Iftinca during the 3rd International Opera Workshop Waiblingen run by Thomas Hampson (2022), the Royal Academy Baroque Orchestra conducted by Masaaki Suzuki in a performance of Bach’s B minor mass (2019), and the City of Cambridge Symphony Orchestra with whom she performed Elgar’s Sea Pictures at the West Road Concert Hall (2018).

Julia enjoys an extensive career in oratorio performance. Highlights as a soloist include Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (London, 2022), Beethoven’s Choral Fantasia (Cambridge, 2020), Mozart’s Coronation Mass (Cape Town, 2024 & Cambridge, 2020), Bach’s St John Passion (Leith Hill Music Festival, Dorking, 2019), Mozart's Vesperae Solennes de Confessore and Haydn's Missa in Angustiis (Bath, 2019), and Bruckner’s Requiem (London, 2019). In 2020, Julia was excited to be making her oratorio debut in Spain with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 conducted by Maximino Zumalave in A Coruña and Vigo, but it was unfortunately cancelled due to COVID-19.

Her experience also includes masterclasses with Kyungho Kim (Cape Town Opera, 2023), Rachelle Jonck (NATS Conference South Africa Chapter, 2023), Anne Sofie von Otter (Royal Swedish Opera, 2023), Susan Bullock, Dame Sarah Connolly (Royal Academy of Music, 2022), Alberto Zedda (A Coruña, 2016), and concerts with Semyon Bychkov (2017) and Santtu-Matias Rouvali (2022) in performances of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 at the Royal Festival Hall in London with the Philharmonia Orchestra & Chorus.

Aside from her musical career, Julia is a dedicated private singing teacher and language coach with a determined acquisition and passion for languages. She is trilingual in Spanish, Galician and English, fluent in Italian and French, and has a strong command of German and Russian.

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