“Her singing is a testament to self-confidence and virtuosity. Its silky and warm timbre is able to embody the multiple facets of the character through thoughtful and precise nuances. The low register is dark and menacing, but also seductive and appealing due to its natural gravity, while the high register is pleasingly piercing, uniting precision with sensuality. ”
Julia Mintzer won rave reviews stepping into the title role of Tobias Picker’s Thérèse Raquin at Theater an der Wien with under a week’s notice. She made her UK debut as Carmen at Welsh National Opera and, since moving into soprano repertoire, has sung the title role in Salome at Tulsa Opera, in a new production by Thaddeus Strassburger, and in Queen Elizabeth Hall with Odyssey Festival Orchestra. She recently debuted as Tosca at Theater Sankt Gallen and reprised her Santuzza at the Dorset Opera Festival immediately after. Passionate about contemporary music, Julia performed and recorded the title role in Bolcom’s Medusa with Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and debuted the role of Marianne in Silent Light for National Sawdust.
Julia was a member of the Junges Ensemble at the Semperoper Dresden from 2013-15 and a young artist at the Washington National Opera from 2012-13. In 2015-16 she returned to Washington National Opera as Hansel and to the Dresden Semperoper as Mercédès. She returned to Dresden again for the world premiere of Chasing Waterfalls, a co-production of the Semperoper Dresden and phase7 performing arts Berlin with the Hongkong New Vision Arts Festival and made her role debut as the Foreign Princess in Rusalka at Stadttheater Bremerhaven
Her previous roles for the Dresden Semperoper include the leading role in Der Teufel mit den drei goldenen Haaren, Zweite Dame, Flora, The Page (Salome), Dryade, and Emma May in the world premiere of Tsangaris's Karl May: Raum der Wahrheit. At the Washington National Opera, her roles were Hansel, Clotilde (Norma) and Giovanna Seymour (Anna Bolena – WNO Opera Insight, Kennedy Center).
She sang the first staged performance of David Lang’s Little Match Girl Passion at the Glimmerglass Festival in 2013. Recently, Julia has been seen as Elisabetta in Maria Stuarda and Preziosilla in La forza del Destino at Theater Aachen. She joined the Landestheater Schleswig-Holstein to sing the title role in Carmen and Elisabetta in Maria Stuarda, returning for Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana and Giulietta in Les Contes d’Hoffman before reprising the title role in Carmen at the Theater Lüneburg.
Julia graduated from The Juilliard School and the Boston University Opera Institute. Her concert engagements include Handel's Messiah with Boston Baroque, Washington National Cathedral, and the Toledo Symphony and Mozart's Requiem at Washington National Cathedral.