Raphaela Papadakis

London born soprano Raphaela Papadakis, winner of the National Mozart Competition, made her professional début at Garsington Opera whilst still a student at the Guildhall School, for which she was praised by the Financial Times as giving "the most attractive solo performance" of the show. Since then, she has gone on to perform roles with Independent Opera and Bury Court Opera, and covered at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, the Royal Opera House and the Berlin Staatsoper. Operatic highlights this year include appearing as Mozart’s Susanna as reimagined by composer Ollie Brignall in a new opera called Roles, a Metta Theatre production taking place as part of the V&A’s Opera: Passion Power and Politics exhibition, and at West Green House Opera in her house début as Duzzwadeva in Morag Joss’ new English translation of Offenbach’s one act operetta Ba-ta-clan. 

A passionate recitalist and concert singer, Raphaela made her début at Carnegie Hall in 2014, and this year has appeared at the Oxford Lieder Festival, the Beethoven Woche in Bonn, Musicfest Aberystwyth, St John’s Smiths Square and Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, with collaborators such as Tom Poster, Sholto Kynoch, James Cheung and the Meta4 Quartet. 

Raphaela’s other awards include the York Early Music Festival Prize at the London Handel Festival, 1st Prize and Audience Prize at the Clonter Opera Competition, and 1st Prize at the Maureen Lehane Vocal Awards. She is a Samling, IMA, and City Music Foundation Artist, and a winner of the Making Music Award for Young Concert Artists. She is also a Selected Artist for Making Music’s brochure 2019/20. Raphaela studied at Clare College, Cambridge, graduating with a first-class degree in English Literature.