Joana Seara

Joana Seara was born in Lisbon. After finishing her degree in Media Studies, Joana came to London to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she took her BMus and MMus degrees and completed the Opera Course. Her studies at the Guildhall were supported by the Gulbenkian Foundation, the Wingate Foundation, E M Behrens Charitable Trust and the Worshipful Company of Barbers. Awards include the Worshipful Company of Glass Sellers Music Prize 2005 at the GSMD Gold Medal and a Sybil Tutton Award. She was a finalist at the Handel Singing Competition 2007.

Joana has participated in masterclasses with Thomas Hampson, Thomas Allen, Felicity Lott (Finzi Friends, Ludlow 2004), Christa Ludwig (Park Lane Group, Wigmore Hall 2004), Graham Clark, Paul Kiesgen, Jill Feldman and Emma Kirkby.

Opera roles include Dorinda in Handel's Orlando (Independent Opera at Sadler's Wells), Nannetta Falstaff (GSMD), the title role in Violet by Roger Scruton, Ninetta La finta semplice (GSMD), Despina Così fan tutte (BYO 2005), Zerlina Don Giovanni (Opera! Festival, Netherlands) and Tartagliona The Little Green Swallow (British première, GSMD). She sang in the Glyndebourne Chorus for the 2006 Festival.

Joana is in increasing demand on the concert platform. She has recently appeared in the Oxford Lieder Festival 2006 accompanied by pianist Sholto Kynoch and is a regular soloist for the Lisbon based Baroque Ensemble of Chiado and the Divino Sospiro Baroque Orchestra, cond. Enrico Onofri. Concert performances include concerts for the Ile de France, Ambronay and Mafra Baroque Festivals, Mahler's Symphony no 2, Vaughan Williams' Sea Symphony and Handel's Messiah.

Future performances include Margery in Benda's The Dragon of Wantley for Opera Restor'd, with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin under Gary Cooper, in Potsdam, Juliet in Benda's Romeo and Juliet, for Bampton Classical Opera, Damigella in The Coronation of Poppea, for English National Opera.