Vera Talerko

Latvian soprano Vera Talerko combines Mozart and Italian lyric opera with contemporary repertoire. As Susanna, she has appeared in both Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro in Prague and the Swedish premiere of Elena Langer’s Figaro Gets a Divorce at the Royal Swedish Opera in early 2026. In June that year, she sang Nedda in a concert performance of Pagliacci with the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra.

Ms. Talerko created Fama in Salvatore Sciarrino’s Venere e Adone at the world premiere at Hamburg State Opera under Kent Nagano and later sang the role at Teatro La Fenice. Alongside these new works, Micaëla in Carmen has brought engagements at both the Royal Swedish Opera and Gothenburg Opera.

Prague remains another centre of her stage work. At the State Opera and Estates Theatre, her Mozart repertoire includes Pamina and Zerlina as well as Susanna, while Musetta in La bohème and Adina in L’elisir d’amore reflect her work in Italian lyric opera. This repertoire is complemented by Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier, Marzelline in Fidelio and Bubikopf in Ullmann’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis.

Italian roles featured in her work with Norwegian National Opera’s Young Artist Program from 2016 to 2017. Her roles with the company included Musetta, Marzelline and Amore in Orfeo ed Euridice; she later returned as Clorinda in La Cenerentola. At Rossini in Wildbad, she sang Berenice in L’occasione fa il ladro in 2017 and won First Prize at the International Bel Canto competition.

Ms. Talerko’s concert work extends from Bach and Mozart to Romantic sacred music and French song. Her repertoire includes Bach’s Mass in B minor, Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor, Dvořák’s Stabat Mater, Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle and Ravel’s Shéhérazade. She has appeared with the Belgrade Philharmonic, Lithuanian National Philharmonic Orchestra, Slovenian Symphony Orchestra and Oslo University Choir.

She received First Prize and the Audience Prize at the Wilhelm Stenhammar International Music Competition in 2022, following its Mozart Prize in 2018. Her earlier distinctions include First Prize at the Zaunienė Competition in Vilnius in 2016. After training in Latvia, she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees with Asta Krikščiūnaitė at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre.