
ABOUT /
VANESSA
Dominick Gravel Photography
A critically acclaimed soprano, Vanessa Croome is known for her work in contemporary, classical, and baroque repertoire. A recent graduate of the Santa Fe Opera, Opéra de Montréal, and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis artist residency programs, Vanessa is also the co-founder of the rising voice and cello chamber ensemble, Duo Étrange
Recent engagements include Queen of the Night (The Magic Flute, Jacksonville Symphony), Königin der Nacht (Kosky’s Die Zauberflöte, l’Opéra de Montréal), Soloist in the world premier of M.Butterfly at the Santa Fe Opera, La Folie (Platée, Orchestre de L’Agora) and concert debuts with l'Orchestre Métropolitain and l’Orchestre Symphonique de Drummondville, as well as critically acclaimed recital debuts at the Chapelle Historique du Bon-Pasteur and L’Association des Arts et Culture dans les Hautes Vosges.
Dedicated to creating contemporary classical art for modern audiences, Vanessa is a founding member of the voice and cello duo, Duo Étrange. Since the Duo’s founding in 2023, they have had remarkable early success. In May 2025 the duo will record their début disk with Montreal’s iconic label ATMA Classique supported by the Canada Council for the Arts featuring a world premieres by four Canadian composers: Nicole Lizée, Airat Ichmouratov, Laurence Jobidon, and Jeffrey Fong alongside works from Luna Pearl Woolf, Andre Previn, and other canon works. The Duo is rapidly making a name for themselves on the concert stage and in the world of new music; additional recent engagements include a coveted spot on the 2024-2025 Le Vivier Pôle Relève, a residency with Yellow Barn chamber music institute developing an original arrangement of Ligeti's Mysteries of the Macabre.
A graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and McGill University, Vanessa received young artist training with Opéra de Montréal, the Santa Fe Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and the Staatstheater Augsburg. A winner of the Opéra de Montréal Prix Étoile Stingray, Vanessa was a finalist for the Canadian Opera Company Centre Stage Competition and the McGill University Elizabeth Wirth Vocal Prize, as well as a semi-finalist for the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Competition, a two-time winner of the Francis Poulenc Foundation Award, and a 2020, and 2023 winner of Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques with Théâtre Lyrichorégra.
Passionate about introducing audiences to classical music in unconventional ways, Vanessa was named one of Montreal's Top 50 Women Leaders for 2024 for her work creating unconventional classical music-centric events. Recent collaborations in this space include projects with the critically acclaimed chamber music festival Alto/Fest, the Japanese Consulate, the Embassy of Hungary, project grants from the UK based Daisie.com, and an Art X Tech project called ‘Galerie’ with the Atelier Lyrique of Opéra de Montréal.
ROLES
Bernstein: Cunégonde / Candide
Britten: Miss Wordsworth / Albert Herring
Miles / Turn of the Screw
Bizet: Frasquita / Carmen
Delibes: Lakmé / Lakmé
Donizetti: Corilla / Viva la Mamma
Handel: Morgana / Alcina
Jobidon: Léa / L'hiver attend beaucoup de moi +
Massenet: La Fée / Cendrillon
Mozart: Königin der Nacht / Die Zauberflöte
Pamina / Die Zauberflöte
Susanna / Le nozze di Figaro
Barbarina / Le nozze di Figaro
Despina / Così fan tutte
Rameau: La Folie / Platée
Ravel: Le Feu / L'enfant et les sortilèges
Rossini: Comtesse Adèle / Le comte Ory
Ruo, Huang: Josephine Young* / An American Soldier +
Schönberg: Cosette / Les Misérables
Strauss II: Adele / Die Fledermaus
Verdi: Oscar / Un ballo in maschera
(*) Cover (+) World Premiere
CONCERT & CHAMBER
Barber: Knoxville, Summer of 1915
Chausson: Chanson Perpétuelle, Op. 37
Fauré: Requiem in D minor, Op. 48
Handel: Messiah
Honegger: Le Roi David (Soprano soloist)v
Lang: Heroin
Prayers for Night and Sleep
Ligeti: Mysteries of the Macabre
Mahler: Symphony Nº 4
Mendelssohn: Elijah, Op. 70 (#7, 28, 35 soloist)
Previn: Four Songs for Soprano, Cello, and Piano
Vocalise
Tavener: Akhmatova Songs
Pearl Woolf: Rumi: Quatrains of Love
Epithalamion
Cycles
Copland: Four Early Songs
Debussy: Quatre chansons de jeunesse
Fêtes galantes, L.86 Book I
Larsen: Songs from Letters
Poulenc: Fiançailles pour rire
Deux poèmes de Louis Aragon
Métamorphoses
Strauss: Brentano Lieder
Ophelia Lieder