LAUREATES’ CONCERT 2025 with Anija Lombard, soprano

Piano: Jonathan Ware, Hanns Eisler School of Music, Berlin

14 August 2026, 8 pm, venue to be announced

Each year, the best participant of all masterclasses is selected by an expert jury of Academia Vocalis and receives the Academia Vocalis Prize – the award for the best singer of all masterclasses of the year. This year the prize was awarded to soprano Anija Lombard from Vorarlberg. She is currently a permanent ensemble member of the Hungarian State Opera in Budapest, where she appears regularly. Her vocal volume is remarkable, as are the precision of her performances and the powerful richness of her voice – equally impressive in the upper register as in the lower range. On stage she commands the space with a captivating presence.

(Photo by Kíra Barbara Varsányi)

Anija Lombard is a soprano born in Vorarlberg with South African roots.

She is currently completing her Master’s degree in Vocal Performance at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna in the class of her preferred professor Karlheinz Hanser, and is a member of the Eva Marton International Opera Studio at the Hungarian State Opera. She has also been part of the MM Academy at the opera house La Monnaie/De Munt and has participated several times in masterclasses of Academia Vocalis. She completed her Bachelor’s degree at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel with Lena Lootens; her artistic development has also been shaped by her long-standing collaboration with Anna Vittek.

At the Hungarian State Opera she appears in numerous productions, including Barbarina (Le nozze di Figaro), Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi), Papagena (Die Zauberflöte), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Contessa Ceprano (Rigoletto), Flower Maiden (Parsifal), Second Apparition (Macbeth), as well as Kate Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly).

In January, Anija made her debut at the Mozart Week in Salzburg at the Salzburg Marionette Theatre as Franzi (Der alte Baum).

Upcoming engagements include a tour of Japan as Papagena (Die Zauberflöte), as well as further role debuts such as Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Chickadee (Leander and Lilly of the Valley) and Florestine (Figaro³) at the Hungarian State Opera. In the coming season she will also reprise several roles she has already performed there.