Canadian born, international soprano and actress, Melissa Purnell, is currently living and working in Italy. She has performed in Canada, Mexico, and across Europe.
Melissa Purnell is a Canadian soprano born in Calgary, Canada. She is currently based in Italy, where she has developed an active international career in opera and concert performance while studying with Fernando Cordeiro Opa.
Among her most recent engagements, she debuted on the stage of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna as Mimì in La Bohème in the celebrated production by Graham Vick. She also debuted the role of Leonora in Il Trovatore at the Festival del Luglio Musicale Trapanese, performed Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte in Conímbriga, Portugal under the baton of S. Alapont, and appeared as soprano soloist in Ecce Cor Meum by Paul McCartney at the Teatro Comunale Pavarotti-Freni in Modena and the Teatro Comunale di Ferrara. In 2024 she also appeared in a production of Aida and was featured in the Gran Galà dell’Opera at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice.
In 2023 she debuted Violetta Valéry in La Traviata at the Taranto Opera Festival with conductor Francesco Bottigliero and director Luigi Travaglio, later reprising the role at the Rendano Arena in Cosenza with conductor Massimo Testa. That same year she debuted Mimì in La Bohème at Teatro Zandonai in Rovereto with conductor Lorenzo Tazzieri and stage director Danilo Coppola and appeared with the Orchestra Città di Vigevano for their New Year’s Day concert at Teatro Cagnoni.
She previously debuted Donna Anna in Don Giovanni at Teatro Duse in Bologna with conductor Tommaso Ussardi and director Giovanni Dispenza in 2021, reprising the role in 2022 at the Teatro Cagnoni in Vigevano with conductor Andrea Raffanini and director Fabio Buonocore.
Melissa attended the Accademia Lirica Internazionale di Padova masterclasses in 2017 and 2018 with Fernando Cordeiro Opa and Stefano Vizioli. In 2018 she performed Alice in Verdi’s Falstaff under the stage direction of Stefano Vizioli. She has also appeared as Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte in Rovigo (2018) and Musetta in La Bohème in Cesano Boscone (2019), and participated in Corso d’Opera 2020, appearing in concert under the stage direction of Hugo de Ana.
In Italy she has also performed as a soloist in Bach’s Cantata BWV 79 with the Collegium Musicum Almae Matris choir in Bologna conducted by Carlo Tenan, participated in the Festival Piano Voce in Grans, France, and appeared in the Verdi Gala in Brindisi alongside Fabio Armiliato and Stefano Miceli.
Before moving to Europe, she performed extensively in Vancouver, appearing in the title role of Suor Angelica, Hanna in Lehár’s Die Lustige Witwe, and the Contessa in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro. In 2013 she won the Eva Bene Prize and performed at the Orpheum Theatre with conductor Leslie Dala in the Vancouver Academy of Music Showcase. That same year she also performed in Mexico at Tec de Monterrey in Guanajuato and at the Festival de Música de Cámara Dolores Hidalgo.
Alongside her operatic career, Melissa has also appeared in several theatre productions. She performed Flo in Come and Go for Geoffrey B. Small’s women’s fashion runway show in Paris, and appeared as Mrs. Quickly in an adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor and Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Teatro Boxer.
Melissa has received numerous awards, including a Premio Speciale at the 1° Premio Città di Diano Marina, a Premio Ruolo for Donna Anna at the 1° Concorso Lirico Internazionale Città di Vigevano, a 2° Premio at the Rinaldo Pelizzonicompetition, a 2° Premio at the 1° Concorso Lirico Internazionale Eugenia Burzio (2022), and a Premio Speciale at the 3° Concorso Internazionale Ottavio Garaventa. She also received a Premio Ruolo at the Concorso Lirico Internazionale Salice d’Oro – Special Edition 2019 organized by the Fondazione Teatro Coccia di Novara.