Chasing the dream in Europe
Imogen relocated to Europe to pursue a full-time career as an opera singer. Since 2018, she has performed in theaters across Germany and in Austria, developing her craft through a wide range of repertoire and stage work.
Based in Stuttgart, she is a member of the award-winning Staatsopernchor and joins the opera chorus of the Bayreuther Festspiele in 2025 — a milestone in her ongoing journey as a professional singer.
Berlin
Imogen made her European debut in January 2018 at the Kammermusiksaal of the Berliner Philharmonie, performing as part of the Soul of Berlin Jazz Orchestra and Singers—an ensemble led by Donna Brown—presenting excerpts from Wynton Marsalis’s The Abyssinian Mass. While based in Berlin, she also sang Musetta in Puccini’s La bohème with Berlin Italian Opera at Theater Morgenstern and was a Masterclass Artist for the Berlin Art Song Festival. Imogen was honoured to sing at an ANZAC Day Commemorative Service for the Australian and New Zealand Embassies at the Commonwealth War Graves in Grunewald.
Meiningen
From May 2018 to February 2022, Imogen was a fest chorus soprano with soloist commitments at Meininger Staatstheater in Thüringen, Germany, performing over 180 shows across opera, operetta, and musical theatre at venues including Staatstheater Meiningen, Landestheater Eisenach, Schlosstheater Fulda, Stadttheater Fürth, Stadttheater Ingolstadt, and the Wartburg Castle in Eisenach. Her roles included Yvette and un cantore in Puccini’s La Rondine, and Helferin I in the scenic premiere of the new version of Schoeck’s Das Schloss Dürande (Venzago/Micieli).
In the 2019/20 season, she stepped in as the soprano soloist in concert for Meininger Staatstheater’s Weihnachtskonzert. Her engagement as a soprano soloist for Bachfest Leipzig 2020 and her scheduled cover of Sophie in Werther for the 2020/21 season were both cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
An accomplished recitalist, in 2019, Imogen collaborated with Dr. Fangfei Chen and soprano Dorothea Gerber to present Träumereien: Lieder und Geschichten zur Nacht at Meininger Staatstheater. Her final performance before Germany's COVID-19 lockdown was a special International Women’s Day concert in March 2020, celebrating 330 years of music by twelve female composers alongside pianist Tamara Lorenzo Gabeiras, soprano Dorothea Gerber, and moderator Savina Kationi. A planned recital Mädchenblumen, a solo programme with Lorenzo Gabeiras, was unfortunately cancelled due to 2020 theatre closures.
Baden bei Wien
Imogen is particularly passionate about art song, especially German Lied. Performed cycles include Schoenberg’s Das Buch der hängenden Gärten, Korngold’s Abschiedslieder, Berg’s Sieben frühe Lieder, Strauss’s Drei Lieder der Ophelia, Wolf’s Reinick-Lieder, and Grosz’s Kinderlieder.
Imogen is an alumna of the prestigious Kunst der Interpretation: Das Lied von Beethoven bis Berg programme at the Franz Schubert Institut in Austria, where she worked intensively with renowned tutors including Birgid Steinberger, Julius Drake, Roger Vignoles, Wolfram Rieger, Helmut Deutsch, Gabriele Fontana, Andreas Schmidt, Robert Holl, and Richard Stokes. Together with pianist Dr. Fangfei Chen, Imogen took part in 18 masterclasses during the five-week programme.
Stuttgart
Following her return to Aotearoa to cover Susanna and sing Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro with New Zealand Opera as the Freemasons Foundation Guest Artist, Imogen joined the second sopranos of the award-winning Staatsopernchor at Staatsoper Stuttgart, voted "Opera Chorus of the Year" thirteen times by Opernwelt.
As the largest three-division house (opera, ballet, and drama) in Europe, Imogen has since performed in over 25 opera productions with Staatsoper Stuttgart since March 2022 and sung in concert alongside the Staatsorchester Stuttgart.
Solo roles include 1. Bridesmaid in Le nozze di Figaro, the comic role of 3. Brautjungfer in Der Freischütz, and Imogen will sing as a chorsoloist in Turandot next season.
Imogen sung on an album recording for Latin-Jazz Sinfonica & GermanPops Orchestra, joining a small ensemble formed for the project comprised of singers from Staatsoper Stuttgart and SWR Vokalensemble.
Bayreuth
In summer 2025, Imogen is honoured to join the opera chorus of the renowned Bayreuther Festspiele to perform in the Wagner masterpieces: Parsifal, Lohengrin and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. Founded by Richard Wagner in 1876, the festival is one of the most prestigious institutions in the operatic world, dedicated exclusively to staging his works in the theater he envisioned—the Bayreuth Festspielhaus.
Known for its rich tradition, artistic excellence, and international acclaim, this festival marks a major milestone in Imogen’s career and deepens her engagement with the German Romantic repertoire.