Praised for her “formidable aplomb” (Le Devoir) and “lovely mezzo voice” (Berkshire Fine Arts), American-Canadian mezzo-soprano Ilanna Starr joins The Atlanta Opera as a Studio Artist for the 2025–26 season, where she will sing Flora in La traviata, cover Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, and cover Belle in Philip Glass’s La Belle et la Bête. She recently completed a two-year residency with the Atelier lyrique of Opéra de Montréal (OdM), where her roles included Flora in La traviata, L’écureuil and La chatte in L’enfant et les sortilèges, Sesto in La clemenza di Tito, and Nerone in L’incoronazione di Poppea.

Highlights of the 2024–25 season include Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro with the Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera, the title role in Giulio Cesare with Concerts Lachine, and L’enfant in L’enfant et les sortilèges as a Vocal Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Festival. Additional credits include the Baker’s Wife in Into the Woods with Opera North and Mercédès in Carmen with l’Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières.

She is a two-time award winner and regional finalist of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, and has received awards from the National Opera Association, the National Society of Arts & Letters’ Martorella Vocal Competition, Nuits Lyriques de Marmande, the Opera Ithaca Edward Murray Competition, and the John Alexander National Vocal Competition, among others. She was also a finalist in the 2024 Canadian Opera Company Centre Stage Competition and a semifinalist in the 2024 Hans Gabor Belvedere Competition.

Passionate about exploring human experience through song, she has curated recital programs on women’s voices, domestic violence, and Jewish resilience. She has trained at Tanglewood, SongFest, and Chautauqua and holds degrees from Vanderbilt, Northwestern, and McGill. A lover of dogs, yoga, and Baroque rage arias, Ilanna digs singing from her heart and laughing from her belly (and vice versa).