Korean-Australian soprano Gemma Nha is currently a first-year soprano at Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center. She will be making her house debut this upcoming season as the Page in Rigoletto, reprising Barbarina, and singing the role of Jess and covering Ashley in Missy Mazzoli’s The Listeners. Gemma has a Master of Music in Vocal Arts from The Juilliard School where she studied with Darrell Babidge as a Toulmin Scholar (2022-2023) and a Kovner Fellow (2023-2024), and a Bachelor of Arts Gesang (Honours) from the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna where she was under the tutelage of Peter Edelmann.

In the 23/24 season, Gemma made two role debuts as Ruth Baldwin in John Musto and Mark Campbell’s Later the Same Evening, and Flerida in Cavalli’s Erismena, both with Juilliard Opera. She also debuted with the Albany Symphony, at Carnegie Hall as a prize winner of the Gerda Lissner Foundation Lieder/Song Competition, and with Grant Park Music Festival in Mahler’s Symphony 8, celebrating the end of Maestro Carlos Kalmar’s tenure as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the festival. Gemma recently became a National Semifinalist of the Laffont Metropolitan Opera Competition representing the New England Region, and won First Prize at the 18th Seoul International Music Competition, being the first female to do so in the Voice category.

In previous seasons, Gemma made her house and role debut as Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro at the Volksoper Wien, sang La Conversa I and covered Lauretta in Juilliard Opera’s double bill Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi, and was an Apprentice Singer at the Santa Fe Opera. Other operatic credits include: Zerlina in Don Giovanni and Esmeralda in Die verkaufte Braut in the Schlosstheater Schönbrunn for the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw); and Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel with PlusOpera. In concert, Gemma performed in Händel’s Dixit Dominus at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and Messiah with the Fiori Musicali Chamber Choir as well as the Tagkhanic Chorale under the baton of Maestro Jason Tramm. She has also worked in masterclass settings with conductor Speranza Scappucci, Roger Vignoles, Helmut Deutsch, Keval Shah, and soprano Lisette Oropesa.