Julia Portela Piñón

Julia Portela Piñón is a Spanish-born mezzosoprano. In September 2018 she began her Masters at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where she studies with Caitlin Hulcup and Yvonne Howard, and she is currently joining the Preparatory Opera Course 2019-2020. In July 2018 she graduated from the same institution with a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance.

In 2017, Julia performed her first staged opera as part of the chorus of the Royal Academy Opera’s production of Offenbach’s Orphée aux enfers at the Hackney Empire. The same year, she was commended in the Marjorie Thomas Award and also became a member of the Josephine Baker Trust. She is also a member of the Philharmonia Chorus and the Royal Academy of Music Bach Cantata Series. 

Julia's operatic performances include scenes from Rossini's La Cenerentola/Cenerentola, Verdi's Falstaff/Meg, Mozart's Idomeneo/Idamante, and Strauss' Die Fledermaus/Prince Orlofsky. 

Julia’s solo appearances include Elgar’s Sea Pictures with the City of Cambridge Symphony Orchestra and Falla’s The Three Cornered Hat with the Anstieg Symphony Orchestra at the West Road Concert Hall; Haydn’s Missa Cellensis at the St Michael and All Angels Church of London; Bach’s Cantatas Nº 24, 44 & 134 at the Duke’s Hall of the Royal Academy of Music; Mozart’s Requiem at the St Thomas’ Church of Lymington; Bach’s St John Passion at the Leith Hill Musical Festival in Dorking Halls; and Bruckner's Requiem at the St Paul's Church, Covent Garden.

Julia has worked with remarkable musicians such as Alberto Zedda, who was teaching a masterclass in A Coruña; Semyon Bychkov, who was conducting the Royal Academy Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in a performance of Mahler’s 2nd Symphony at the Royal Festival Hall; and Esa-Pekka Salonen, who was conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus in a performance of Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder at the Basilique de Saint Denis in Paris and at the RFH in London.