Melissa Purnell
Melissa Purnell was born in Calgary, Canada and studied at Douglas College and the Vancouver Academy of Music.
In Vancouver she performed the title role in Suor Angelica, Hanna in The Merry Widow by Franz Lehár and the Contessa in Le nozze di Figaro. In 2013 she won the Eva Bene prize and performed at the Orpheum Theatre with conductor Leslie Dala in the Vancouver Academy of Music Showcase.
In 2016 she moved to Italy, where she studied with Fernando Cordeiro Opa. There she performed as a soloist in Bach cantata BWV 79 with the Collegium Musicum Almae Matris choir in Bologna under the direction of Carlo Tenan. In Grans, France, she took part in the Festival Piano Voce, and in Brindisi sang in a Verdi Gala with Fabio Armiliato and Stefano Miceli. In 2023, she performed with the Orchestra Città di Vigevano at their New Year's concert at the Teatro Cagnoni.
She attended masterclasses at the Accademia Lirica Internazionale di Padova with Fernando Cordeiro Opa and Stefano Vizioli, where she performed as Alice in Falstaff in 2018. In September 2018 she appeared as Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte in Rovigo and as Musetta in La Bohème in 2019. She took part in the Corso d'Opera 2020, where she performed under the direction of Hugo de Ana. In November 2021 she made her debut as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni at the Teatro Duse in Bologna and reprised the same role in October 2022 at the Civico Teatro Cagnoni in Vigevano. In 2023 she made her debut as Violetta in La Traviata at the Taranto Opera Festival. She then performed the same role at the Rendano Arena in Cosenza. In September, she made her debut as Mimì in La Bohème at the Teatro Zandonai in Rovreto.
She has appeared in various theatre productions, such as 'Come and Go', in which she appeared as Flo for Geoffrey B. Small's women's fashion catwalk show in Paris. She also appeared as Ms Quickly in an adaptation of Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor and as Titania in an adaptation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream with Teatro Boxer.
Melissa won a special prize at the 1st remio Città di Diano Marina and at the Concorso Lirico Internazionale Salice d'oro Special Edition 2019 of the Fondazione Teatro Coccia di Novara. She was also awarded a prize for 'best role' for Donna Anna in the 1st Concorso Lirico Internazionale 'Città di Vigevano' and a 2nd prize in the lyrical competition 'Rinaldo Pelizzoni'. In 2022, she won 2nd prize at the 1st Concorso Lirico Internazionale Eugenia Burzio and a special prize at the 3rd Concorso Internazionale Ottavio Garaventa.