Soprano Heather Phillips recently made her professional European debut at Oper Frankfurt as the title role in Rossini's Bianca e Falliero in which the Frankfurter Allgemeiner Zeitung noted, "Der Sopranistin Heather Phillips gelingt ein famoses Debüt”. She has performed over 20 operatic roles across North America and Europe in the high lyric coloratura repertoire.
Ms. Phillips recently made her professional European debut at Oper Frankfurt in Germany as the title role in Rossini's Bianca e Falliero in which the Frankfurter Allgemeiner Zeitung noted, "Der Sopranistin Heather Phillips gelingt ein famoses Debüt.” Ms. Phillips reprised her role in Bianca e Falliero for her Austrian debut at the Tiroler Festspiele Erl, also to critical acclaim. Since her recent European debut, her international career has continued throughout Europe including concerts with the Tiroler Festspiele Erl Orchestra and her return to one of her signature roles, Donna Anna, in two new productions of Mozart's Don Giovanni for her house debuts with Staatstheater Nürnberg as well as Landestheater Coburg. Last season included a return to Staatstheater Nürnberg for her role debut as Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel as well as her house debut with Staatstheater Darmstadt as Adina in L'elisir d'amore. Future projects include operatic role debuts as La Contessa di Folleville in G.Rossini's Il Viaggio a Reims and Patricia in K.Saariaho's Innocence, for her house debut with Oper Leipzig.
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Ms. Phillips began her professional career in her home country of the United States of America. Notable operatic highlights in the USA include Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail at New Orleans Opera, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni at Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Adina in L’elisir d’amore at Charleston Opera Theatre, Katie in Cold Mountain at both Santa Fe Opera and Opera Philadelphia, Musetta in La bohème at Crested Butte Music Festival, Nannetta in Falstaff at Arizona Opera, Elvira in L’italiana in Algeri at both Lyric Opera of Kansas City and Opera Southwest, Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Aspen Opera Theatre and Micaëla in Carmen at Opera Naples, Austin Opera and Kentucky Opera. Notable symphonic highlights in the USA include performing as the soprano soloist in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy for her debut with the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center, soprano soloist in Brahms’s Ein Deutsches Requiem with Austin Symphony Orchestra and The Oregon Music Festival, soprano soloist in Orff’s Carmina Burana with The McAllen Valley Symphony Orchestra, The Boise Philharmonic, and The Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra as well as many concert appearances in various repertoire with the Dayton Philharmonic, Las Vegas Symphony Orchestra, True Concord Orchestra and the Canton Symphony Orchestra. She has been a guest recitalist at The Tucson Desert Song Festival, Dayton Opera, Chamber Performance Santa Fe, Columbus Opera, The McDowell Music Club & Northern Kentucky University.
An alumna of the Santa Fe Opera apprentice program, Ms. Phillips also trained at The Aspen Opera Institute, The Ravinia Steans Institute and received both her Master's and Bachelor's degrees from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music. She studied German at the Bonn Institut für Sprachvermittlung in Germany, Italian at The Lucca Festival in Italy and French at the École de Langues FRATE de Dijon in France.
Ms. Phillips has received many awards including top honors from Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition, the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation and the Giulio Gari International Vocal Competition. She is also the recipient of one of the Santa Fe Opera's outstanding apprentice singer awards and advanced in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, winning prizes at the district and regional finals. She also received awards from the George London Foundation, Kurt Weill Foundation’s Lotte Lenya Competition, Marcello Giordani Foundation, Irma M. Cooper Vocal Competition, Schuyler Foundation Competition for Career Bridges, National Opera Association Vocal Competition, Orpheus Vocal Competition, Violetta Dupont Vocal Competition, and the Anna Sosenko Assist Trust. She made her Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall debut as a finalist in the Nico Castel Master Singer Competition and in the same year was selected to represent the United States at the Queen Sonja International Vocal Competition in Oslo, Norway.
Alongside her performance career, Ms. Phillips has worked as an arts educator. Outside of her private teaching studio, her engagements have included mentoring, teaching and masterclasses at the Canadian Vocal Arts Institute Montréal, Tiroler Festspiele Erl Austria, Aspen Music Festival (high school division), Women's Artistic Leadership Initiative (ALI), ArtSmart Philadelphia, College of Charleston and Texas State University.