VICTORIA ERICKSON, SOPRANO

Praised for her "beautifully ruby-throated quality" (Classical Voice North Carolina), Minnesota native Victoria Erickson is establishing herself as a unique and innovative soprano. Recent roles include Zerlina in Don Giovanni (Off-Brand Opera) and Juliette in the world premiere of The Eleanors (Savannah VOICE Festival), both in January 2025. Upcoming roles in the 2025 season include Quinn in Alice Tierney, (Opera Reading Project), Holly in Green Thumbed, (Opera Athena/Really Spicy Opera, World Premiere), and Nella in Gianni Schicchi, (Hometown Opera) adding to her varied career as both a champion of new works and interpreter of standard repertoire. 

In service to her interest in creating new and engaging works, Erickson received a Respekt und Wertschätzung Grant from the DAAD-Stiftung (German Academic Exchange) to perform, teach, and research as a Visiting Fellow with Professor Elmar Lampson at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg, Germany from October 2023 to March 2024. Additionally, she performed and consulted as an Artist In Residence with Really Spicy Opera and Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich as a co-founder of Opera Athena.  In April 2024, she premiered the title role in The Miller's Daughter, a radical expansion of Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin with music by award-winning composer Jodi Goble in conjunction with the Iowa Arts Council. Erickson and Goble presented and premiered The Miller's Daughter at the National Opera Association National Conference in January 2025. The piece will be performed by universities such as Penn State and University of Nebraska-Omaha. Through a generous individual artist grant, The Miller's Daughter will have its Minnesota premiere at St. Olaf College in conjunction with Opera Athena in September 2025.

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During the 2022-23 season, Erickson premiered the role of Alex in Meow and Forever in the Minneapolis Music in the Parks Series at the Lake Harriet Bandshell and performed as the Soprano Soloist with St. Clement's Episcopal Church Choir during their residency at St. Albans Cathedral in the United Kingdom in August 2023, alongside other summer engagements with the Aria Institute, Opera on Tap, and the Bach Society of MN. Spring and summer 2024 concerts included engagements with the U.S. Embassy in Berlin, the Hochschule für Musik und Theaters in both Hamburg and Munich, and Out of the Box Opera in Minneapolis, MN. In the 2024-25 season, Erickson performed in Michael Ching's Notes on Viardot and sing excerpts of Donna Anna in Don Giovanni and Ellen in Peter Grimes with Music On Site in Wichita, Kansas. Following her Kansas premiere, Erickson sang the role of Juliette in the world premiere of The Eleanors at Savannah VOICE Festival, performed as Rosalinda in the New Media Opera Scenes and will sing the role of Nella in Gianni Schicchi, both with Hometown Opera Company in Rochester, MN. Additionally, Erickson made her role debut as Zerlina in Don Giovanni with Off-Brand Opera in New York City.

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Previously, Ms. Erickson sang the role of Alex in the new opera Meow and Forever with Opera Arlington and toured Madagascar as a featured soprano with Minnesota-based company Really Spicy Opera, where she performed concerts and participated in outreach around the island. Erickson spent the summer and fall of 2021 as an Emerging Artist with Seagle Festival, where she sang the role of Harmony Twichell in the world premiere of Harmony with music by Robert Carl and libretto by Russell Banks. In 2020, Erickson made her international debut with Really Spicy Opera, performing the title role of Émilie in André-Modeste Grétry's 1781 comic opera Émilie ou la belle esclave in Paris.

In 2019, Erickson received the Encouragement Award at the North Dakota-Manitoba District of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and covered Nedda in Greensboro Opera's production of Leoncavallo's Pagliacci. She also made her Greensboro Opera mainstage debut as Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors in December 2019.

Also in the 2018-19 season, Erickson performed the role of Blanche in Dialogues des Carmélites with Saltworks Opera, the Resident Opera Company of the Eastern Shore of Virginia, and portrayed Alice Ford in Verdi's Falstaff, where Voix des Arts praised her for her "pointed wit, and sparkling tone wielded with comedic potency" (UNCG Opera Theatre). 

Previous engagements include Liù in Turandot (North Carolina Summer Opera), Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, and Granny in a children's touring opera production of Little Red Riding Hood (UNCG Opera Theatre). Erickson received an Encouragement Award at the Charlotte Opera Guild Competition (Opera Carolina) in 2017 and 2018 and was a finalist for the Student Artist Competition at the UNCG School of Music.

Additionally, Erickson received a merit-based scholarship to attend Berlin Opera Academy and was awarded a Colburn Fellowship with SongFest in Los Angeles, California. Other opera credits include Maggie in The Clever Artifice of Harriet and Margaret (Really Spicy Opera) and The Baron in an all-female production of Cendrillon (Garden of Song Opera).

A versatile performer, Erickson has also appeared in musical theatre roles such as Rapunzel in Into the Woods (Phipps Center for the Arts, College Light Opera Company) and Hedy LaRue in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying  (College Light Opera Company), in addition to performing in a touring revue of Irving Berlin songs with Seagle Festival in Fall 2021.

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As the founder of Opera Athena, Victoria lives in Minneapolis, MN, and teaches private voice students in the Twin Cities metro area and is the Fall Musical Vocal Director at Chaska High School. Her students have regularly received Superior ratings at the MSHSL Solo and Ensemble Festival, gotten into Minnesota All-State Choir, and received music scholarships to aid in their college education. In addition to singing and teaching, she writes a blog about living in Germany, vocal injury, resiliency, and artistry at The Shifting Soprano.