New Zealand-born mezzo-soprano Bianca Andrew has been a member of the Ensemble at Oper Frankfurt since 2019, where this season she gives her role debuts as Mère Marie de l’Incarnation in Dialogues des Carmélites and Katerina in the Frankfurt premiere production of Martinů’s The Greek Passion, as well as reprising the roles of Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel and the Page in Salome. Bianca began the 2026/27 season at Oper Köln, where she gave her critically acclaimed role debut as Octavian in Marie-Ève Signeyrole’s production of Der Rosenkavalier.
New Zealand-born mezzo-soprano Bianca Andrew has been a member of the Ensemble at Oper Frankfurt since 2019, where this season she gives her role debuts as Mère Marie de l’Incarnation in Dialogues des Carmélites and Katerina in the Frankfurt premiere production of Martinů’s The Greek Passion, as well as reprising the roles of Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel and the Page in Salome. Bianca began the 2026/27 season at Oper Köln, where she gave her critically acclaimed role debut as Octavian in Marie-Ève Signeyrole’s production of Der Rosenkavalier.
Renowned for her ‘fascinatingly believable character portraits, crowned by a breathtakingly perfect vocal technique’ (Der Opernfreund), Bianca has made numerous important debuts at Oper Frankfurt, including the title role in Barrie Kosky’s production of Carmen, and Charlotte in Werther, Sesto in Nadja Loschky’s production of Giulio Cesare in Egitto and Aurelia in Vito Žuraj’s opera Blühen (Opernwelt Uraufführung des Jahres 2023), directed by Brigitte Fassbaender.
Bianca has portrayed many notable roles at Oper Frankfurt since she joined the Ensemble in 2019, including La Cenerentola, Xerxes and Hänsel und Gretel, as well as Adalgisa Norma, Bonté Guercoeur, the Tsarina Christmas Eve, Preziosilla La forza del Destino, Suzuki Madama Butterfly, Enrichetta di Francia I Puritani, Tebaldo Don Carlos and Gymnasiast Lulu.
Bianca’s engagements outside Frankfurt include roles such as the Page in Salome, under the baton of Christian Măcelaru with the WDR Sinfonieorchester at the Philharmonie Köln and in Bucharest at the Enescu Festival; Angelina in La Cenerentola and Suzuki in Madama Butterfly for Staatstheater Stuttgart, Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro with New Zealand Opera, Flamel in Offenbach’s Fantasio for Garsington Opera, and Bernardo in Beatrice Cenci for the Bregenzer Festspiele.
Described by the Frankfurter Rundschau as ‘One of the most vivacious and passionate perfectionists imaginable on the operatic stage’, Bianca is also a keen recitalist and recently presented a Liederabend titled ‘Ages of Woman’ for Oper Frankfurt together with pianist Anne Larlee. In her home country of New Zealand, Bianca toured with the contemporary music ensemble STROMA and writer Alex Ross (author of The Rest is Noise) with a programme of 20th-century chamber compositions, including Berio’s Folksongs, a work which she subsequently recorded in 2020 for Oper Frankfurt.
Bianca began her operatic career as an Emerging Artist with New Zealand Opera and in undergraduate vocal studies at the New Zealand School of Music with Margaret Medlyn. She later received a scholarship to study at London’s prestigious Guildhall School of Music & Drama under the tutelage of Yvonne Kenny, where her roles included Händel’s Radamisto and Philomène in Martinu’s Alexandre bis. Bianca was the winner of the Song Prize in the 2016 Kathleen Ferrier Awards in London, the Garsington Opera Leonard Ingrams Award, and the 2021 Anny Schlemm Prize in Frankfurt. Throughout her studies and career, Bianca has been generously supported and mentored by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation.