Tanya Roberts
A2Y Artist

Hailed as a  “standout performer” by the Victor Herbert Society, Canadian soprano Tanya Roberts enjoys a reputation as a versatile and exciting young artist.  A recent graduate of McGill University’s Master of Music program, Ms. Roberts has since been contracted with every opera company in the metropolitan Detroit area.  Recent engagements in include the title role in Katinka, Kitty in Orange Blossoms, and chorus in The Charlatan with the Comic Opera Guild, Ida in Die Fledermaus with Arbor Opera Theater, chorus in Nabucco with the Michigan Opera Theatre, and Lady Ella in the University of Michigan Gilbert & Sullivan Society’s production of Patience.  Upcoming performances include a return to the Arbor Opera Theater stage as Belinda in Dido and Aeneas.     

As a member of Opera McGill, Tanya graced the stage as Vénus in Thésée, the title role in Alcina, Despina in Così fan tutte, Harry in Albert Herring, Baroness in La vie parisienne, Princesse in L’Enfant et les sortilèges, and as Paquette in Candide.  Equally at home on the operatic and concert stage, additional performances include Jacquet de la Guerre’s Le Sommeil d’Ulisse and excerpts of Bach’s Easter Oratorio with the McGill Early Music Ensembles.  Tanya is the recipient of numerous awards from McGill, including the June Rittmeyer Scholarship, Outstanding Achievement in Voice, E.M. Wirth Scholarship in Music, and the Duncan L. Campbell Memorial Scholarship.

A native of Toronto, Ms. Roberts fell in love with the stage during elementary school, where she debuted as Christopher Columbus in the musical Three Ships.  Though she was successful as a man, Tanya longed to play the stage’s great heroines.  Ms. Roberts joined the talent at Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts and performed as Marian in The Music Man and Mrs. Roosevelt in Annie.  During her secondary school education, Tanya also sang with Royal Opera Canada’s chorus in productions of La traviata, Tosca, and Aïda.  Ms. Roberts made her solo operatic debut as Mozart’s First Lady in The Magic Flute with the Summer Opera Lyric Theatre in 2005, returning in 2007 as Despina in Così fan tutte.  In the summer of 2008, Tanya reprised the role of First Lady with Opera NUOVA. 

Ms. Roberts currently resides in Ann Arbor, Michigan with her husband, bass Edward Hanlon.  She studies with Dr. Caroline Helton.