BIOGRAPHY

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Romanian Soprano Iulia Maria Dan’s “richly coloured, beautifully finished but still radiantly clear sound” (Sydney Morning Herald) has made her in demand in prestigious theatres, including Bayerische Staatsoper, Gran Teatre del Liceu and Théâtre des Champs-Elysées.

 

A graduate of the National University of Music in Bucharest, Dan is a recipient of many prizes and awards at competitions such as Most Promising Young Artist at the Hans Gabor Belvedere International Singing Competition (where she was also awarded the Graz Opera Special Prize and the Soroptimist Prize), the Hariclea Darclee International Singing Competition and the Ionel Perlea National Song Competition.

 

Iulia Maria Dan was a member of soloist’s ensembles at Semperoper Dresden, Staatsoper Hamburg and Bayerische Staatsoper (where she began at the prestigious Opernstudio, before embarking on a freelance career in 2021).

 

Her recent standout roles include Mimì in Puccini’s La Bohème, Contessa in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro and Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello. Dan’s 2024/25 season sees her making a series of important company debuts, including Micaëla at the Volksoper Wien, in a new production of Carmen, signed by Lotte de Beer, and Secon Nymph in Dvorak’s Rusalka at the Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, staged by Dimitri Tcherniakov. Further highlights include returns to two of her signature roles: Desdemona at the Israeli Opera and Micaëla at the Hong Kong Arts Festival. On the concert platform, she embarks on a major European tour together with Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre singing Rosalinde in J. Strauss II’s Die Fledermaus. The tour begins at the Festspiele Baden-Baden, marking her house debut, and continues with her return to Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. Additional performances are held at Teatro de la Maestranza de Sevilla, Palau de la Musica de Valencia, Auditorio de Tenerife and in Gran Canaria, at the Alfredo Kraus Auditorio.

 

Recent highlights include Desdemona in Otello, at the Oper Leipzig; Mimì at Opera Australia, Semperoper Dresden and Staatsoper Hamburg; and Tatyana in Eugene Onegin at Norwegian National Opera and Semperoper Dresden.

 

Mozart - specifically the “Da Ponte’s trilogy” - has formed an important part of her seasons. She sang Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Contessa in Le Nozze di Figaro and Fiordiligi in Così fan Tutte, as part of a special Mozart-Da Ponte trilogy’s production with Les Musiciens du Louvre, bringing Iulia to perform at Ravenna Opera Festival, Opéra royal de Versailles, Israeli Opera, Opéra national de Bordeaux, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Staatsoper Hamburg and Semperoper Dresden.

 

Other recent performances include Musetta in La Bohème, Violetta in La Traviata and Micaëla at the Semperoper Dresden; Aminta in Mozart’s Il Re Pastore, at the Verbier Festival; the title role in Massenet’s Manon, at the Oper Graz; Tatyana, Freia in Das Rheingold, Mathilde in Rossini’s Guillaume Tell, Rosalinde, Helena in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Agathe in C. M. von Weber’s Der Freischütz, at the Staatsoper Hamburg; Ofelia in Franco Faccio's Amleto, at the Bregenz Festival; Gilda in Rigoletto and Violetta, at the Romanian National Opera; Micaëla at Opéra national de Rouen-Normandie and Théâtre des Champs-Elysées; and the premiere of Stefan Wirth’s Francesca da Rimini at the Münchner Opernfestspiele.

 

Recent successes on the concert platform include Verdi’s Requiem with London Philharmonic Orchestra-Edward Gardner at the Royal Festival Hall, Munich Philharmonic- Daniele Gatti and Israeli Opera Orchestra- Dan Ettinger; Zemlinsky’s Lyric Symphony with Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen-Ariane Matiakh; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa-Marc Minkowski, at the Verbier Festival and with Staatstheater Kassel; a programme of Mozart arias at Lviv MozArt Festival, conducted by Oksana Lyniv; Strauss’ Vier Letzte Lieder at the YST Conservatory of Music in Singapore; a gala concert alongside Freddie de Tommaso, at the Smetana Festival in Litomyšl; and Beethoven’s Cantata for the Death of Emperor Josef, with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Mark Wigglesworth.

 

Highlights of Iulia Maria Dan’s 2025/26 season include Contessa in Le Nozze di Figaro, at The Atlanta Opera.