Julia Portela Piñón

Spanish-Argentinian mezzosoprano Julia Portela Piñón is the first international singer to join the Judith Neilson Young Artist Programme at Cape Town Opera. This season’s engagements include La suora zelatrice and Zita in a Puccini Double Bill of Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi, the alto solo in Mozart’s Requiem with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, cover of Elle in Poulenc’s La voix humaine and Alisa in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. In 2023, Julia debuted in South Africa with the alto solo in Mozart’s Requiem collaborating with Jazzart Dance Theatre and Phoenix Dance Theatre as well as embodying Flora Bervoix in Verdi’s La Traviata. Julia studied for over a decade in London, UK, first at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and subsequently at the Royal Academy of Music. F