Vanessa started singing lessons at age 8, after singing with great passion to the radio. She started as a child chorister from age 9 in the Singapore Lyric Opera, singing in operas La Bohème, Turandot and Carmen, and in musicals The Wind in the Willows and The Reluctant Dragon.
She then went on to specialist performing arts high school School of the Arts (Singapore), studying under William Lim and Thomas Manhart. She graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester under the tutelage of Deborah Rees. She then completed her Master of Music from the Royal Conservatoire The Hague under the tutelage of Catrin Wyn-Davies and Noa Frenkel, generously supported by the Conservatoire’s Fund for Excellence and Fonds 1999. During her time in The Hague, she was awarded the Stichting de Zaaier award for Artistic Research and the Willem Mengelberg Fonds award.
Vanessa has also studied in masterclasses with Margreet Honig, Valerie Guillorit, Jard van Nes, Lynne Dawson, Michael Chance, Ian Partridge and Robert Honeysucker.
Vanessa has an appetite for a wide range of musical styles from classical to early music to contemporary. She is inspired by strong narrative concepts and interdisciplinary interactions in classical music.
In opera, she has sung the roles of 1st Wood Sprite in Rusalka, Ninetta in La finta semplice, Zerlina in Don Giovanni and Oscar in Un ballo in maschera in scenes. She has also sung in the chorus of Massenet’s Cendrillon (Chorus) and Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel for RNCM Opera.
In interdisciplinary theatre, Vanessa has performed in Love you forever (and ever) for the Dutch National Opera’s Opera Forward Festival, in The Mermaid Manifesto by Kaya Korabiowska-Dean, and in Engine Off by Quintijn Relouw and Koenraad Spijker. She was selected for the Nederlands Kamerkoor NXT program 23/24, which combines choral singing, improvisation and interdisciplinary creation, collaborating with Muziektheater Transparant for Aïda Gabriël’s Passages, which toured Belgium. The NXT singers continue as narrative female a cappella ensemble CIRCE (NL), performing in site-specific locations around the Netherlands. She also sings as a Soprano 1 academist with the Dutch Radio Choir/Groot Omroepkoor (NL) and with contemporary dance choral group CHOREOS (DE).
In oratorio, she has sung as soprano soloist in Mendelssohn’s Psalm 42, Lidón’s Mass, Kerll’s Masses, in Handel’s Judas Maccabeus and Dixit Dominus and in several Bach cantatas.
In contemporary music, she has performed as a soloist with Orkest de Ereprijs, and has performed in Orgelpark Amsterdam, WORM Rotterdam, Nieuwe Noten Amsterdam and Sounds Like This! Festival Leeds.
Vanessa has also a passion for Lieder. She enjoys creating theatrical recital concepts, such as “The Tempest” and “It’s my wedding” for her master’s recitals.
In 2025, she will next perform in the ensemble of Holland Opera in a retelling of Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, and will join Royaumont in their Académie Voix Nouvelles program.
Her past performances are listed here.
This biography is not to be replicated. For full professional biography please contact Vanessa here.
Vanessa Guinadi 