Dutch-Argentinian soprano Ana Balestra (1998) is a promising young singer praised for her passionate and emotional interpretations combined with a warm and elegant voice. She recently began the Opera Studies program at the Guildhall school of Music & Drama where she will be studying with John Evans. Ana is honored to have been awarded a full scholarship by The Rudge Shipley Trust Scholarship and The Worshipful Company of Weavers. 

 

After graduating with distinction ‘cum laude’ from the Conservatory of Amsterdam’s bachelor program in 2021, she pursued her master’s degree at the Royal Opera Academy in Copenhagen where she performed the role of Denise in En aften med monsieur Choufleuri (Offenbach), Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro (Mozart) and in Dalinda in Ariodante (Händel). 

 

Ana regularly performs in Amsterdam, most notably through the young artist program Jonge Grote Zangers where she sang at the opening for Ian Bostridge and Julius Drake at Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ. 

In 2022 she performed the special newly written opera ‘Sometimes I visualize myself back in the belly of my mother’ written by Mees Vervuurt at the Rotterdam Opera Festival in Rotterdam and at the Tête-à-Tête Festival in London. 

 

Ana has won prizes in numerous competitions such as the Miluška Duffková scholarship (2021), the first prize of the Opera Viva! competition (2021) and the Sinfonia Rotterdam Award (2019), where she became a laureate of Classic Young Masters, a foundation in Rotterdam dedicated to promising young musicians. 

 

One of Ana’s greatest aspirations is to make opera accessible for a broader audience. Last summer, she performed in “Ride! Sing! Repeat!” at the Copenhagen Opera Festival, a special project to bring opera closer to the people. Driving around while singing in a van and performing on the streets of Copenhagen directed by Anna Sofie Keller. 

 

During her studies, Ana worked with renowned teachers such as Audrey Saint-Gill, Neville Dove, Susanna Eken, Ed Spanjaard, Bretton Brown, Bejun Mehta, Nickolas Kok, Margreet Honig and Claron McFadden. 

Since 2018, Ana has received the precious support of the Van den Ende Foundation, the Prins Bernhard Cultuur Fonds and the VSB Fonds.