Simona Mihai

Romanian born Simona Mihai trained in the UK where she attended the European Opera Centre, the Royal College of Music, London and the Benjamin Britten International Opera School as a Queen Mother Scholar.

She was awarded the Rosemary Bugden Junior Fellowship and the David Bowerman Junior Fellowship at the RCM and is a Samling Foundation Scholar. A recent graduate of the Jette Parker Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

In 2009, she made her Royal Opera House debut: Dew Fairy (Hansel and Gretel), Belinda (Dido and Aeneas) and Poussette (Manon). Later she has returned to sing Frasquita (Carmen), Poussette and Musetta (La bohème).

In the 2017/18 season she returns to sing Mimì (La bohème) and Nedda (Pagliacci). Engagements include Despina (Così fan tutte) for Glyndebourne on Tour, Servilia (La clemenza di Tito) for Aix-en-Provence Festival, Adina (L’elisir d’amore) for Salzburg Landestheater, and Second Niece (Peter Grimes) and Poussette for La Scala, Milan. Has performed with recitals at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Royal Danish Theatre, Copenhagen; Edinburgh International Festival; Brighton Festival and Bath Festival, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Birmingham Symphony Hall, the Philharmonic Hall in Liverpool, Fairfield Halls, Wigmore Hall.

Simona is the recipient of numerous singing prizes including first prize at the Takasaky International Competition in Japan (1996); the Kathleen Ferrier Bursary for Young Singers; the National Mozart Competition; the Miriam Licette Prize and the Maggie Teyte Scholarship (in both 2003 and 2004); the Joaninha Trust Award and the Clonter Opera Prize.