Amina Edris is an Egyptian/New Zealand lyric soprano.
Education
Edris was born in Cairo, Egypt, to parents who worked in the tourism industry. She was introduced to music as a child by her uncle who plays the lute, guitar and Egyptian percussion instruments. Edris' musical studies began with piano lessons at age seven. The family moved to New Zealand in 2002, where she continued her musical studies in high school. In addition to private voice lessons, she was a member of the Barbershop Quartet and choir, and she played trombone in the school's orchestra, concert band and jazz band. She initially enrolled in the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, as an Engineering student. After one semester, however, she auditioned and was accepted into the music programme, and began studying with Dame Malvina Major. In 2011, she graduated with her Bachelor of Music degree. Her studies then brought her to Wales, where she enrolled in the master's degree programme at the Wales International Academy of Voice, studying under Dennis O'Neill. After graduating in 2013 with her Masters in Music, she met her current teacher, Cesar Ulloa, with whom she began private lessons before studying with him at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as a postgraduate student. She was awarded her postgraduate diploma in 2015. She was accepted into the Merola Program in the summer of 2015, where she made her role debut as Norina in Don Pasquale. In 2016, she became an Adler Fellow at the San Francisco Opera. During her two years as a fellow she sang Frasquita in Carmen, Trainbearer in Elektra, Flower/Lady in Waiting in Dream of the Red Chamber, Countess Ceprano in Rigoletto, and Annina in La traviata. She also covered the roles of Karolka and Barna in Jenůfa, Norina in Don Pasquale, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Musetta in La bohème, and the title role in Manon.
Career
Edris made her professional debut with Opera San José as Susanna in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro in 2015. In 2017, she sang Tina in the rarely performed opera Flight by Jonathan Dove with Opera Parallèle. In 2018, she made her debut with New Zealand Opera as Adina in L'elisir d'amore, followed by her debut with Washington National Opera as Glycère in Gounod's Sapho. In 2019, she made her debut in France singing the title role in Manon at Opéra national de Bordeaux substituting for Nadine Sierra, receiving praise from the French press, including Le Monde that called her voice "beautiful and round". The same year, she returned to the San Francisco Opera for her debut in the role of Juliette in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, followed by her debut at the Grand Théâtre de Genève as Fatime in Les Indes galantes. She returned to the role of Manon in February 2020, when she made her debut at the Paris Opera in a new production by Vincent Huguet. Her operatic repertoire includes Micaëla in Carmen, Mimì and Musetta in La bohème, Violetta in La traviata, Leïla in Les pêcheurs de perles, Adina in L'elisir d'amore, and Norina in Don Pasquale. Her concert repertoire includes Fauré's Requiem, Mahler's Symphony No. 4, Rossinis Petite messe solennelle, J. S. Bach's cantata Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, BWV 51 and St John Passion, and Vivaldi'sLauda Jerusalem. Edris is represented by Zemsky/Green in New York City.
