Australian/British Soprano Anita Watson grew up in Sydney and studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and the Australian Opera Studio. Anita’s career has been varied with opera, recitals and concerts and she has won prizes in many prestigious international competitions. These include the Australian Singing Competition, the Queen Sonja International Music Competition in Oslo, Neue Stimmen in Germany and the Plácido Domingo Operalia competition. In 2009 she was awarded the first prize and the Audience Award at the international ARD Music Competition in Munich and the 2010 SWR Emmerich-Smola Prize.

As a Jette Parker Young Artist at the Royal Opera House (2007-9), she performed the title role in Donizetti’s Rita, Naiad (Ariadne auf Naxos), Gretel and Dewfairy (Hänsel und Gretel), First Lady (Die Zauberflöte), Flowermaiden (Parsifal) and Second Woman (Dido and Aeneas).

In 2010 Anita made her house debuts at Teatro La Fenice in Venice as Governess (The Turn of the Screw) and at the Salzburg Festival as Fifth Maid (Elektra). This was followed by Mimì (La Bohème) for the Nationale Reisopera in the Netherlands and Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) for the Salzburg Landestheater. In 2011 she returned to La Fenice in the role of Donna Anna, followed by her Opera Australia debut in the same role.

Recent engagements include First Lady (Die Zauberflöte) for the Royal Opera House, Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) for Scottish Opera, Mimì (La Bohème) for Opera North, Governess (The Turn of the Screw) for Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse, Pamina (The Magic Flute) for Welsh National Opera, Anne Trulove (The Rake’s Progress) for Teatro Municipal de Santiago and Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte) for Diva Opera.

Concert highlights include Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Sir Antonio Pappano and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Strauss Vier letzte Lieder with the Rheinische Philharmonie in Koblenz and the Mariinsky Orchestra in St Petersburg, Mahler’s Eighth Symphony and Parsifal at the Proms with Sir Mark Elder and the Hallé Orchestra.