Acclaimed as a preeminent interpreter of Baroque, bel canto, and Lieder repertoires, mezzo-soprano Vivica Genaux has been honored with ARIA, International Opera, and International Classical Music Awards, New York City Opera’s Christopher Keene Award, and both Johann-Adolf-Hasse-Stiftung’s Hasse-Preis, given in recognition of her advocacy for Hasse’s music, and the 2017 Stiftung Händel-Haus Händel-Preis. A native of Fairbanks, Alaska, she has appeared not only as a performer but also as an educator and an adjudicator in many of the world’s most prestigious venues, including New York’s Metropolitan Opera, Wiener Staatsoper, and Opernhaus Zürich.

Since her professional début as Isabella in Rossini’s L’italiana in Algeri with Milwaukee’s Florentine Opera, Vivica has garnered praise from critics and audiences for her vibrant portrayals of a wide array of rôles in opera and oratorio, including a panoply of travesti parts ranging from biblical heroes to legendary warriors. The operas of Vivaldi, Händel, and Rossini serve as the cornerstones of her career, her most-performed part being Rosina in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, the rôle of her Metropolitan Opera début in 1997. She has also revitalized music composed for legendary singers including Farinelli, Faustina Bordoni, and Isabella Colbran, and her specially-curated show Vivica & Viardot explores the life of Pauline Viardot via the singer’s correspondence with great artists of her time and the music that she created and inspired.

In recent seasons, Vivica participated in lauded endeavors including the modern-world-première staging of Riccardo Broschi’s Idaspe (a collaboration between Pittsburgh’s Quantum Theatre and Chatham Baroque) and inaugural performances of her concert programmes Capriccio: temi i variazioni and Lucifera: Illuminating the Darkness. She also expanded her repertoire with important rôle débuts in Francesca Caccini’s La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola d’Alcina, Alessandro Scarlatti’s Il Mitridate Eupatore, Vivaldi’s Orlando furioso, and Händel’s Aci, Galatea e Polifemo and Belshazzar. Her first foray into the operas of Giuseppe Verdi, singing Giulietta di Kelbar in Un giorno di regno, reunited her with Europa Galante and Fabio Biondi, with whom she has collaborated frequently throughout her career, both on concert stages and in recording studios.

Vivica’s extensive discography includes complete recordings of Vivaldi’s Atenaide, Bajazet, and Ercole su’l Termodonte, Händel’s Rinaldo (both the 1711 and the 1731 versions), Arminio, Lucio Cornelio Silla, and Serse, Hasse’s Marc’Antonio e Cleopatra, Bertoni’s L’Orfeo, Donizetti’s Alahor in Granata, Bellini’s I Capuleti ed i Montecchi, Meyerbeer’s Emma di Resburgo, and Verdi’s Un giorno di regno. Her recital discs Bel Canto Arias, Arias for Farinelli, A Tribute to Faustina Bordoni, and Rival Queens opposite Simone Kermes are top-selling titles in a body of work that has yielded four GRAMMY® nominations.

Advancing her dedication to sharing her experience and expertise with future generations of artists, Vivica founded V/vox Academy with the aim of introducing young singers to the essential tenets of Baroque and bel canto, a passion also realized in her participation as a jury member for the Cesti Competition of Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik. She both teaches privately and leads much-anticipated masterclasses for venerable institutions including Associazione Musicale Tito Gobbi and Fondazione Paolo Grassi.

Reintroducing today’s audiences to unjustly-neglected music is a cornerstone of Vivica’s career, both on and off the stage. In September 2025, her dedication to performing, recording, and elucidating the ingenuity of Hasse’s vocal works was recognized with honorary membership in Hasse Gesellschaft Bergedorf.

Vivica’s 2025–2026 projects encompass her much-anticipated rôle début as Baba the Turk in Igor Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress with Des Moines Metro Opera, concert appearances with Les Accents (Salle Gaveau, Paris) and Musikàmera Venezia (Teatro La Fenice), teaching and adjudication engagements, recitals, recordings, and international tours.