Anna Nekhames

Moscow-born soprano Anna Nekhames combines technical brilliance with multifaceted stage presence, particularly in roles that unite expressive depth with virtuosic demands.
As a member of the ensemble at Oper Frankfurt she celebrated great success in the title role of Reimann’s Melusine in the past season, for which she was named “Young Artist of the Year”, among other distinctions, by Opernwelt magazine.
In the 2025/26 season she can be heard, among others, as Xenia (Boris Godunov), Frasquita (Carmen), Sophie (Werther) and as the Niece in Peter Grimes. Her affinity for contemporary repertoire is showcased in her debut at the Komische Oper Berlin, where she sings the roles of Sasha/Chastity in the German premiere of Olga Neuwirth’s Orlando.

© Barbara Aumüller

Anna Nekhames received her first musical training in the children’s chorus of the Bolshoi Theatre. She initially studied voice at the Galina Vishnevskaya Music Theatre College, followed by vocal studies at the renowned Gnessin Russian Academy of Music in Moscow and a Master’s degree (solo voice and Lied/oratorio) at the MUK (Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna).
She gained important international inspiration in masterclasses with Michael Kraus, Linda Watson, Daniela Fally, Adrian Eröd, Bo Skovhus, Angelika Kirchschlager, Ian Bostridge, Graham Johnson, Helmut Deutsch and Brigitte Fassbaender.
She subsequently joined the Opera Studio of the Vienna State Opera, where she attracted attention in roles such as Vertraute (Elektra), Flower Maiden (Parsifal), Konstanze (Entführung ins Zauberreich), Juliette (Die tote Stadt), the Milliner (Der Rosenkavalier) and the Morning Bird in the Austrian premiere of Leyla and Medjnun (Detlev Glanert). Guest engagements have taken Anna Nekhames, among others, to the Tiroler Festspiele Erl, where she made her debut in the title role of Mercadante’s Francesca da Rimini. She was subsequently engaged by Brigitte Fassbaender for her Ringproduction as the Woodbird and Woglinde. Her repertoire also includes roles such as the Queen of the Night, which she has sung at Oper Frankfurt, the Vienna Volksoper and the Staatstheater Wiesbaden, as well as Musetta (La bohème), Olympia (Les contes d’Hoffmann), Madame Herz (Der Schauspieldirektor), Giannetta (L’elisir d’amore), Gilda (Rigoletto), Schopfhenne/The Landlady (Das schlaue Füchslein), Mizi (Der ferne Klang), Beauté (Guercœur), An Italian Singer (Capriccio), Fiakermilli (Arabella), Leonore (Doktor und Apotheker) and Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare in Egitto).
In the 2024/25 season Anna Nekhames set important artistic accents at Oper Frankfurt: she impressed as Aksinja in Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, as the Fifteen-year-old in Lulu, as Polja in Tchaikovsky’s Die Zauberin, and in the title role of Aribert Reimann’s Melusine, which she embodied in a highly acclaimed new production. Previously she had attracted attention, among others, as Venus/Chief of the Gepopo in Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre, as Fauno in Mozart’s Ascanio in Alba and as Belisa’s Mother in Wolfgang Fortner’s In seinem Garten liebt Don Perlimplìn Belisa.
As a concert singer she made her debut at the Rheingau Music Festival with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano under Emmanuel Tjeknavorian in Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana.
Anna Nekhames is the winner of numerous competitions, including the 11th International Hilde Zadek Voice Competition and the 3rd International Haydn Competition.