Praised for the “thrilling vocal color” and “sweetly winning” presence, American soprano Anya Matanovič (ma ta’ no vich) made her international opera debut as Musetta in Franco Zeffirelli’s captivating production of Puccini’s La bohème during the New Israeli Opera’s 2008-2009 season.

The soprano's 2011-2012 season will include returns to Utah Opera, as Adina in L'elisir d'amore, and Kentucky Opera, as Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, along with appearances with the Boston Youth Symphony, for Nannetta in Falstaff, the Crested Butte Music Festival, for Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, and the Illinois Symphony Orchestra for a concert featuring works by Mozart. The soprano returns to Seattle Opera in the autumn of 2012 for Marzelline in Beethoven's Fidelio, and also returns to the Santa Fe Opera during the 2013 summer festival season.

In the 2010-2011 season, Anya Matanovič essayed her first Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro with Madison Opera, returned to Seattle Opera for Erste Dame in Die Zauberflöte, reprised the role of Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel with Utah Opera, and made her anticipated role and company debut with the Glimmerglass Festival as Micaëla in Carmen, conducted by Music Director David Angus.

The 2009 - 2010 season saw Ms. Matanovič‘s company debut as Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel withKentucky Opera, her official stage debut with Seattle Opera, as Nannetta in Falstaff, and her debut with the Richmond Symphony as the soprano soloist in Orff’s Carmina Burana. She also appeared in Madison Opera's Opera in the Park concert.

In the fall of 2008, Ms. Matanovič made her Opera Cleveland debut as Gretel in Humperdinck’sHänsel und Gretel, conducted by Artistic Director Dean Williamson, and returned for their spring production of Verdi’s Falstaff as Nannetta. In summer of 2009, she joined the Seattle Opera artist roster for their internationally revered production of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, directed by Stephen Wadsworth.

Other notable engagements include New York City Opera, as Frasquita in Bizet’s Carmen, as well as productions of Massenet’s Cendrillon, La bohème, and Purcell’s King Arthur, and Santa Fe Opera, as a “pert, appealing” Papagena in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte.

Ms. Matanovič is a graduate of the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program and the Seattle Opera Young Artist Program, where she appeared in their productions of Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, as Flora, Mozart’s La Serva Padrona, as Serpina, and Falstaff, as Nannetta.

Anya Matanovič made her professional opera debut, directly from her undergraduate studies, as Mimì in the Los Angeles commercial engagement of Baz Luhrmann’s Tony Award-winning production of La bohème. She appeared in University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music productions of The Crucible, Gianni Schicchi, and Hänsel und Gretel.

Ms. Matanovič is equally comfortable on the concert stage, having appeared with the Portland (OR) Chamber Orchestra, Hoku Concert Series in Hawaii, the Palm Springs Orchestra and theMusic of Remembrance Concert Series in Seattle. Ms. Matanovič was also a Regional Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and has been a prizewinner in competitions sponsored by such institutions as the Gerda Lissner Foundation, Opera Buffs, Leni Fe Bland, and the Sun Valley Opera. She is a co-founder of NachtMusik, an operatic outreach group dedicated to bringing opera to the many different communities of Los Angeles.

Born in Madison, Wisconsin and raised in Issaquah, Washington to a Slovenian father and American mother, the soprano now calls New York City her home, where she lives with television writer John Roche and their cat, Grippus.