British Soprano Stephanie Hershaw is a member of the soloist ensemble at the Oldenburgsiches Staatstheater. For the 2024/25 season, Stephanie looks forward to singing Ännchen/ Der Freischütz, Romilda/Xerxes, Gretel/Hänsel und Gretel, Flora/ The Turn of the Screw and Vixen/The Cunning Little Vixen.
Stephanie recently made her house debut with Garsington Opera, returning to the role of Barbarina/Le nozze di Figaro. As well as this, Stephanie covered and made her role debut as Susanna at Garsington in the Opera First performance of Le nozze di Figaro with the Philharmonia Orchestra. Stephanie also made her role and house debut with the Danish National Opera as Lenio in The Greek Passion.
Stephanie recently successfully jumped-in for a performance of Xerxes at the Landestheater Niederbayern. Stephanie was also awarded a Theaterpreis for her time working at the Landestheater Detmold over the past two seasons, where she was a member of the Opernstudio for two seasons and was invited to take part in the Neue Stimmen: Masterclass Series 2023.
During the 22/23 season, Stephanie made role debuts as Zerlina/Don Giovanni, Romilda/Xerxes, Marie/Frau Luna, Zwangsarbeiterin/Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and Kate Pinkerton/Madame Butterfly. As well as this, Stephanie made her debut with West Green House Opera as Suzanne in Offenbach’s Robinson Crusoe.
During the 21/22 season, Stephanie sang the roles of Celia/Silla with the Northern Opera Group, Najade/Ariadne auf Naxos, Flora/The Turn of the Screw, Barbarina/Le Nozze di Figaro and Carlotta/Bär – a new work based on the music of Cavalli’s La Calisto – with the Landestheater Detmold.
Stephanie is a Master’s graduate with First Class Honours from the Royal College of Music, London. During her studies at the RCM, Stephanie was generously supported by the Midori Nishiura scholarship. Prior to this, Stephanie studied at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and the Hochschule für Musik und Theatre Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy.
Stephanie was a Leeds Lieder Young Artist 2019 and a Countess of Munster Recital Artist 2019-20 & 2020-21. Stephanie has sung Amore/L’Egisto with Hampstead Garden Opera, Papagena/The Magic Flute with Waterperry Opera Festival, Virtue/The Choice of Hercules with Benslow Music and Lauretta/Gianni Schicchi with St Paul’s Opera.
Last summer, Stephanie performed various recitals as a soloist; collaborating with The Brodsky Quartet as part of the Dante Music Festival and was invited to perform a recital as part of the Leicester Music Festival. Stephanie was also invited to take part in an episode of Rick Stein's Cornwall: Series 2 with the BBC, which was aired on BBC2 in January 2022.
During her time at conservatoire, Stephanie performed the roles of Seleuce/Tolomeo, Bellezza/L’Egisto and Zima/Les Indes Galantes in Opera Scenes in the Britten Theatre, Stephanie also performed the roles of Tiny/Paul Bunyan and Second Niece/Peter Grimes in Opera Scenes with Opera Dd’raigg. As well as this, Stephanie was invited to take part in a masterclass as part of the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Fringe Events, performing the role of Frasquita in scenes from Carmen.
Recent competition successes include being awarded 1st prize in Flat Pack Music's Opera Competition 2021, a Maureen Lehan 2021 Finalist & Prize Winner, a Bundeswettbewerb Gesang Berlin Finalist 2022, a Camille Coloratura Finalist 2020, a London Handel Competition Semi-Finalist 2019 and a Concours Corneille Semi-Finalist 2019.