Biography

Described as a ‘superb singer actress’ (Opera Today), Anglo-Venezuelan soprano Sofia Kirwan-Baez is a Rising Star of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (2025-27), a recipient of both the Musicians’ Company Award (2023) and the Sybil Tutton Award (2022), as well as the winner of the RCM Concerto Competition in 2021. She was a Young Artist on the National Opera Studio’s (NOS) Global Talent Programme 2023/24.

In 2026 Sofia will be returning to the Opéra National de Bordeaux as Papagena in Die Zauberflöte. The 2025/26 season features a return to Longborough to cover Mélisande (Pelléas et Mélisande) and making her role debut in August 2025 as Susanna in Cumbria Opera Group’s The Marriage of Figaro.

Operatic roles include Rosina Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Young Artists Academy of the Opéra National de Bordeaux 2025), Musetta La Bohème (Longborough Festival Opera 2024), Elle La Voix Humaine (Barricade Arts / Cumbria Opera Festival), Adina L’Elisir d’amore (Wild Arts), Eurydice Orpheus in the Underworld (RCM Opera Studio), Le Feu L’Enfant et les Sortilèges (RCM Opera Studio), Papagena Die Zauberflöte (RCM Opera Studio) and World premieres of works by Jasper Dommett (RWCMD Atmospheres Festival), Marco Galvani (Faded Ink Productions) and Toby Young (Oxford Music Faculty). In Summer 2023, she covered Eurydice in Longborough Festival Opera’s Orfeo and in March 2024, covered Karolka in English National Opera’s Jenůfa. 

A seasoned recitalist, concert work includes Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire at Birmingham Cathedral (2022) – and a fully-staged performance at the Midlands Arts Centre (2023) – as well as Handel’s Messiah with Nevill Holt (2022) / Wild Arts (2023), Bach’s John Passion and Christmas Oratorio, Bach’s B minor mass and Trauerode BWV 198 (City Music with Adrian Butterfield), Haydn’s Creation (Mayfield Festival), Mahler’s 4th Symphony, Monteverdi’s Vespers (Cadogan Hall), Vivaldi’s Gloria, Handel’s Dixit Dominus (Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford with Schola Cantorum), Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb, among others. A passionate song recitalist, she made her Wigmore debut in September 2023 as part of their 2023 French Song Exchange, a programme supervised by Felicity Lott and François Le Roux. Sofia also performed in the 2023 Oxford International Song Festival as an Emerging Artist in a recital called Tell me the truth about Love. As of 2025, she is also a Samling artist.

Having begun her musical studies with the violin in El Sistema in Caracas (Venezuela), she later started playing the piano, continuing both instruments in the Périgueux Conservatoire. Sofia studied Music at Oxford University and Vocal Performance at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, where she was supported by Rotary International. Sofia was a Huffner Scholar supported by the Sir Gordon Palmer Scholarship in the Royal College of Music Opera School. She was also a member of Genesis 16 (2018-19).

Artist Manager:
Stephen Svanholm
+46 738 777 631
stephen@svanholmartists.com

Reviews

“…superbly acted…”

Sofia Kirwan-Baez’s superbly acted Papagena was a just reward

— Opera Today review of The Magic Flute at Royal College of Music

“…her luminous high notes…”

Rosina, played by the sparkling Sofia Kirwan-Baez, seduces with her agile voice, her open low notes and her luminous high notes, while brilliantly conveying the mischievous dimension of the character.

— Olyrix.com review of Il Barbiere di Siviglia at Opéra de Bordeaux

“…polish and panache”

As party-girl Eurydice, Sofia Kirwan-Baez sparkled.  A superb singer-actress, the Anglo-Venezuelan soprano flounced feistily and raced through the coloratura flights with polish and panache.

— Opera Today review of Orpheus in the Underworld at Royal College of Music