Imogen Thirlwall
Imogen Thirlwall is a lyric coloratura soprano from Aotearoa New Zealand working full-time as an opera singer in Germany.
In her career to date, she has performed in 65 professional opera, operette and musical theater productions.
bubbling with a mix of infectious energy and insouciance which made her a force to be reckoned with beneath the girlishness.
/ MIDDLE c, DESPINIA IN COSI FAN TUTTE /
Imogen has performed in concert halls and theatres across Germany and Austria, including the Berliner Philharmonie Kammermusiksaal, Staatsoper Stuttgart and Staatstheater Meiningen. In summer 2025, Imogen joins the opera chorus of the renowned Bayreuther Festspiele. Founded by Richard Wagner in 1876, the festival is one of the most prestigious institutions in the operatic world, marking a major milestone in Imogen’s career to date.
Since 2022, Imogen has been a second soprano in the award-winning Staatsopernchor at Staatsoper Stuttgart, appearing already in over 25 productions and in 10 concerts at Liederhalle Stuttgart, Schlosspark Ludwigsburg and Schlossfestival Bruchsal.
From 2017 to 2022, she held a fest chorus position with soloist commitments at Staatstheater Meiningen in Thüringen, performing in more than 180 shows across opera, operetta, musical theatre, and concert, including appearances at Landestheater Eisenach, Stadttheater Fürth, Schlosstheater Fulda, Stadttheater Ingolstadt and Wartburg Castle.
In 2021, she returned home to Aotearoa as the Freemasons Foundation Guest Artist with New Zealand Opera, singing Barbarina and covering Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro. Imogen was a 2017 Freemasons Foundation Resident Artist with New Zealand Opera and also performed in the opera chorus for five years.
Imogen has a strong interest in art song and contemporary vocal music, having studied at the Franz Schubert Institut in Austria and participated in the Berlin Art Song Festival. She also presented two professional song recitals at Meininger Staatstheater.
Imogen holds a Master of Music (with a full academic scholarship) and has presented her research—on performance practice, embodiment, and feminist musicology— for annual National Musicological Society Conferences in both Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. She also presented a paper on Cultivating Stage Presence at the Southeast Asian Music Academy Online Conference in 2022.
Beyond the stage, Imogen is the author and illustrator of the children’s book Butterfly & Snail Chase the Sun, a project that raised funds for Shakti Community Council to support ethnic women and children affected by domestic violence during the COVID-19 pandemic.
She also enjoys jazz trumpet, dancing, reading poetry and non-fiction, and hiking.