biography
Korean-Australian soprano Gemma Nha is a soloist at the Volksoper Wien where she performs diverse repertoire ranging from opera to contemporary musical theatre. This past season, she debuted as Maria West Side Story, Pamina Die Zauberflöte, Adele Die Fledermaus, and Wendla Spring Awakening.
Most recently, Gemma returned home to Sydney for the first time in seven years to make her role, company, and house debuts as Gilda Rigoletto with Opera Australia at the Sydney Opera House. This revival of Elijah Moshinsky’s 1990’s production is led by director Kate Gaul and conductor Sesto Quatrini.
Gemma completed her tenure with Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center in the 24/25 season. She made her house debut as the Page Rigoletto, reprised Barbarina Le nozze di Figaro, a role she debuted at Volksoper Wien in 2023, and sang the role of Jess and covered Ashley in Missy Mazzoli’s The Listeners.
Gemma has a Master of Music in Vocal Arts from The Juilliard School where she studied with Darrell Babidge as a Toulmin Scholar and Kovner Fellow, and a Bachelor of Arts Gesang (Honours) from the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna where she was under the tutelage of Peter Edelmann.
As a student, Gemma made role debuts as Ruth Baldwin in John Musto and Mark Campbell’s Later the Same Evening and Flerida in Cavalli’s Erismena, and sang La Conversa I and covered Lauretta in the double bill Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi (Juilliard Opera). She also performed as Zerlina Don Giovanni and Taumännchen Hänsel und Gretel in the Schlosstheater Schönbrunn for the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw).
Further training was undertaken at the Wolf Trap Opera, where Gemma performed as Soeur Constance Dialogues des Carmélites, and Santa Fe Opera.
Also present in the musical theatre scene, Gemma made her professional debut covering and performing Tuptim The King and I at Seefestspiele Mörbisch. She performed as Trix the Aviatrix The Drowsy Chaperone MUSE and Meg in Australian musical 7 Little Australians Opera Carnivale, and performed with Patti Lupone on her 2018 Don’t Monkey with Broadway tour at the Sydney Opera House. Gemma was awarded a discretionary prize at the 2025 Lotte Lenya Competition Finals for Outstanding Performance of a Contemporary Musical Theater Selection.
In concert, Gemma debuted with Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall in their Bach Festival under the baton of Maestro Lionel Meunier, the Albany Symphony at the Troy Saving Banks Music Hall, at Carnegie Hall as a prize winner of the Gerda Lissner Foundation Lieder/Song Competition, and with Grant Park Music Festival in Mahler’s Symphony 8, celebrating the end of Maestro Carlos Kalmar’s tenure as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the festival. She was a soprano soloist in Händel’s Dixit Dominus at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and Messiah with the Fiori Musicali Chamber Choir as well as the Tagkhanic Chorale under the baton of Maestro Jason Tramm.
Gemma has worked in masterclass settings with conductor Speranza Scappucci, Dame Jane Glover, Roger Vignoles, Helmut Deutsch, Julius Drake, Keval Shah, Renee Fleming, and Lisette Oropesa.
Gemma was a National Semifinalist of the 2024 Laffont Metropolitan Opera Competition representing the New England Region and is the first female singer to win First Prize at the 18th Seoul International Music Competition. In 2023, Gemma was the Liederkranz Foundation Second Prize winner of the Gerda Lissner Foundation Lieder/Song Competition and has been awarded Grant and Encouragement Awards at the Gerda Lissner Foundation International Vocal Competition. She has also seen success in the Joan Sutherland & Richard Bonynge Foundation Bel Canto Award, Esther and Myron Wilson Cedar Rapids Voice Competition, the Marcella Sembrich International Voice Competition and The Sydney Eisteddfod, placing first in French Song, Lieder, and Art Song (16-20), as well as Musical Theatre Vocal Duets and Song from a Musical/Musical Theatre (18 & over). Gemma was a 2025 and 2020 finalist of the Lotte Lenya Competition and contributed to the Lotte Lenya Competition Songbook.
A graduate of The McDonald College Performing Arts School with the Principal’s Scholarship and the Young Actors at Strasberg program at The Lee Strasberg Film and Theater Institute in New York, Gemma has pursued performing arts since the age of eleven and began her classical singing journey at seventeen with Dr. Rowena Cowley at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. During her time at the Con, Gemma received The Olive Margaret Stewart Bequest, The Patrick Lucas Music Achievement Scholarship and the Vice Chancellor’s Global Mobility Scholarship to assist with her transition to Vienna. She was seen on televised singing competitions such as The Voice Kids Australia, The Voice Australia and KpopStar Season 4, and performed at Nickelodeon’s Slimefest 2014 as a Voice Kids guest.
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Cavalli Erismena Flerida
Debussy Pelléas et Mélisande Yniold
Händel Atalanta Meleagro
Humperdinck Hänsel und Gretel Gretel
Mazzoli The Listeners Ashley / Jess
Mozart Die Zauberflöte Pamina
Mozart Le nozze di Figaro Susanna
Mozart Don Giovanni Zerlina
Musto Later the Same Evening Ruth Baldwin
Poulenc Soeur Constance Dialogues des Carmélites
Puccini Gianni Schicchi Lauretta
Strauss II Die Fledermaus Adele
Verdi Rigoletto Gilda
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Bach BWV 1083 Tilge, Höchster, meine Sünden
Bach BWV 147 Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben
Beethoven An die ferne Geliebte
Händel Dixit Dominus
Händel Messiah
Liszt 3 Sonetti del Petrarca
Mahler Symphony 8 Mater Gloriosa
Mahler Symphony 4 Wir genießen die himmlischen Freuden
Poulenc Fiançailles pour rire
Schubert Der Hirt auf dem Felsen
Schubert Ellens Gesang I-III
Schumann Frauenliebe und -leben
Strauss Drei Lieder der Ophelia
Strauss Mädchenblumen
Vivaldi Nulla in mundo pax sincera
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Chicago Hunyak
The Drowsy Chaperone Trix the Aviatrix
The King and I Tuptim
Spring Awakening Wendla
West Side Story Maria