Julia Tobiska (mezzo-soprano) has been hailed by the Denver Post as having “a bright future ahead of her” as a “mature, technically secure singer with an instinctive feel for acting.” This season, Ms. Tobiska is excited to join Opera Colorado as a Young Artist for 2009-2010.  With Opera Colorado she will perform the roles of Rosina in the student matinee performance of Rossini's Il Barbiere de Siviglia and play the role of the Music Muse in Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann while in the touring program she will sing the roles of The Wife in Wargo's The Music Shop, and Stephano in a student production of Gonoud's Romeo et Juliette.

Most recently she returned from her third season as a Singer in Residence at the Virginia Arts Festival's John Duffy Composer's Institute where she performed an array of new works by up-and-coming composers.  In February of 2009 she portrayed Tisbe in Rossini’s La Cenerentola with The Opera Company of North Carolina.  In the fall of 2008, as part of the Mary Ragland Young Artists Program, she was seen with Nashville Opera as Princess Stephanie in Romberg’s The Student Prince and The Mother in Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors.

A native of Washington State, Ms. Tobiska received her undergraduate degree from Western Washington University and her Masters Degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Colorado at Boulder. During her graduate studies she had the wonderful opportunity of portraying Sister Helen Prejean in the educational and Rocky Mountain Regional premiere of Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking. She was also seen as Prince Orlofsky in Strauss’ Die Fledermaus, Orfeo in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, Dritte Dame in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, and the Somewhere Soloist in Bernstein’s West Side Story. Musical theatre credits include such roles as The Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd, Hedy LaRue in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Petra in A Little Night Music, Bloody Mary in South Pacific and Antonia in Man of La Mancha.