Anna Schubert

A lover of new music and performance, Anna recently created the role of Bibi in the world premiere of Ellen Reid’s opera, p r i s m, which debuted at both LA Opera and at the Prototype Festival. Directed by James Darrah and conducted by both Julian Wachner and Daniela Candillari, the production garnered glowing reviews; Anna’s performance was described as “revelatory” (Catherine Womack, I Care If You Listen). p r i s m won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in Music, which led to an album release of the opera on the Decca Gold label, as well as a successful run at Theatro Municipal de São Paulo. Anna made her debut on the new music scene with the LA-based company The Industry, singing the ethereal soprano role of L in Anne LeBaron’s scenes from LSD: The Opera, first with Marc Lowenstein and Wild Up, and again a few months later in a staged version with Partch and under the baton of Christopher Rountree. In 2017, she made her debut with Opera Omaha singing the role of the Controller in their production of Jonathan Dove’s Flight, where she was pleased to collaborate again with conductor Christopher Rountree and for the first time with director James Darrah. She then made her soloist debut with Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil in Bernstein’s Mass, directed by Elkhanah Pulitzer and choreographed by Laurel Jenkins. That production inspired a remount at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival, where she reprised her role under the baton of Louis Langrée. Anna also performs actively as a dynamic concert soloist, embracing a wide variety of repertoire. Highlights include Orff’s Carmina Burana; Handel’s Laudate Pueri; and Mozart’s Exsultate, Jubilate, Requiem, Vesperae solennes de confessore, and Mass in C Minor. Anna is also particularly well-known for her masterful Messiah solos; in 2013, she made her LA Master Chorale debut as a soloist in Handel’s Messiah for their 50th anniversary season at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Since then, her soloist credits with the Master Chorale have included Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, Gubaidulina’s Canticle of the Sun, a version of Handel’s Alexander’s Feast staged by Trevore Ross, Handel’s Israel in Egypt, and several performances of Messiah. In 2016, Anna was one of 21 Master Chorale singers to perform in a new staged production of Orlando di Lasso’s Lagrime di San Pietro, directed by Peter Sellars and conducted by Grant Gershon, which the LA Times lauded as “a major accomplishment for the LA Master Chorale” and “a major accomplishment for music history.” In 2018, Lagrime launched a worldwide tour, and over the next year, Anna performed the piece at the Ravinia Festival, the Salzburg Festival, and in Australia, Mexico, England, France, Germany, and several U.S. states. Outside the world of classical vocals, Anna enjoys a stimulating career as a session singer. Her voice appears in various film and TV soundtracks, including The Lion King (2019), Mulan (2020), Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker, Call of the Wild, Creed, Minions, and her solo soprano vocals can be heard dramatically soaring over orchestra and choir in the films Birds of Prey (2020) and Keanu (2016). Anna attended Chapman University as a Provost Scholar, where she studied voice with renowned soprano Carol Neblett and pursued her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance. With Opera Chapman, she performed the roles of Suor Genovieffa (Suor Angelica), Madame Herz (The Impresario), and Pamina (Die Zauberflöte). At the age of 19, Anna attended the Aspen Summer Music Festival and School on a full scholarship, where she sang in scenes from The Tender Land, Die Zauberflöte, and Mark Adamo’s Little Women. Her experience in Aspen, where she studied in the Mozart & 20th Century group, ignited her passion for new music, which she carried back with her to California. In her final years at Chapman University, Anna received the encouragement award from the Palm Springs Opera Guild, placed as a Top 5 finalist in Classical Singer’s Undergraduate Vocal Competition, and received the Bramlage Opera Award from the Hall-Musco Conservatory of Music. When she is not singing, Anna can usually be found outside somewhere, hiking and daydreaming, or inside somewhere, eating desserts. Pre-pandemic, she would occasionally wander into a karaoke bar and try to channel Pat Benatar. But traversing our present-day dystopia, she has focused her attention toward honing her recording and editing skills, and brainstorming ways to help shape our musical landscape into something sustainable, accessible, and equitable.