American singer Irene Roberts is one of the most remarkable mezzo-sopranos of her generation, captivating audiences with her powerful vocal expressiveness and intense stage presence.

At the beginning of the 2026/27 season, Irene Roberts will appear as the Composer in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, followed by three major debuts: her role and house debut as Santuzza (Cavalleria rusticana) at the Semperoper Dresden, her house debut as Brangäne (Tristan und Isolde) at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden under the musical direction of Christian Thielemann, and her house debut as Venus (Tannhäuser) at the Teatro Real Madrid.
She will also return as Kundry (Parsifal) to the Bavarian State Opera and the Tiroler Festspiele Erl, where she will make as well her highly anticipated role debut as Isolde in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde. Following her overwhelmingly acclaimed debut as Sieglinde in Tobias Kratzer’s production of Die Walküre at the 2026 Munich Opera Festival, she will return to the role at the 2027 Festival.

On the concert stage, she will perform Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with the MDR Symphony Orchestra and appear as Judith in Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle with the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, a role she debuted at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence 2026 under the baton of Klaus Mäkelä.

Recent highlights include performances as Brangäne in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde at Deutsche Oper Berlin, Dutch National Opera Amsterdam, the International May Festival in Wiesbaden, and Teatro Massimo Palermo. She has also appeared as Kundry (Parsifal) at the Tiroler Festspiele Erl, at the Hanover State Opera, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, and the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. At Deutsche Oper Berlin, she has additionally sung the title role in Carmen and made her role debut as Eboli in Verdi’s Don Carlo.
At the 2024 Bayreuth Festival, Irene Roberts made her acclaimed festival debut as Venus in Tobias Kratzer's celebrated production of Tannhäuser, a role she also sang to great acclaim at the 2023 Edinburgh International Festival and in 2022 at the Opéra National de Lyon.

From 2015/16 to 2023/24, Irene Roberts was a member of the ensemble at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where she sang a wide repertoire, including Hänsel, Marguerite (La damnation de Faust), Nicklausse, Cherubino, Rosina, Brangäne, and the title role in Carmen. 
During these years, she made guest appearances as Amneris (Aida) at the New National Theatre Tokyo (conducted by Carlo Rizzi) and at the Teatro La Fenice, in the title role in Philippe Boesmans' Julie at the Opéra National de Lorraine and the Opéra de Dijon, as Venus in Klagenfurt, as Muse/Nicklausse at the Dutch National Opera, and as Carmen at the Macerata Opera Festival.

Irene Roberts has a particularly close artistic relationship with San Francisco Opera, where she made her debut in Les contes d’Hoffmann in 2013. Since then, she has appeared there in roles including Carmen, in the world premiere of Bright Sheng’s Dream of the Red Chamber, as Dorabella (Così fan tutte), and most recently in her internationally acclaimed debut as Offred in John Fulljames’ new production of The Handmaid’s Tale. Further appearances in the USA have taken her to the Metropolitan Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, New Orleans Opera, Atlanta Opera, and Lyric Opera Baltimore, among others.

Irene Roberts can be heard on Opera Rara's studio recording as Malvina Douglas in Mercadante's Il Proscritto, conducted by Carlo Rizzi, which was released in 2023.

Irene Roberts is also in demand internationally as a concert singer, performing with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Harding, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra under Vladimir Jurowski, the San Francisco Symphony and Atlanta Symphony Orchestra under Sir Donald Runnicles, and in recitals at Wigmore Hall in London. She sang Verdi’s Missa da Requiem at the Alte Oper Frankfurt, the Rheingau Music Festival, the Audi Summer Concerts and others.

Irene Roberts was born in Sacramento, California, and studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music and the University of the Pacific. She is a graduate of the Palm Beach Opera Young Artist Program and a prize winner of the Palm Beach Opera Vocal Competition.