{Praised for her “big, beautifully projected voice with an attractive edge and sparkle” (Arts Knoxville) soprano Adia Evans is quickly establishing herself as an up-and-coming talent in the opera and concert world. A recent participant of the Merola Opera Program in San Francisco, Evans was featured as First Lady in their production of Die Zauberflöte, as a solo Niña in scenes from Golijov’s Ainadamar, and as a soloist in the American Song Concert. Her performance in the Merola Grand Finale was praised as “vivid, beautiful, and sweeping” (Opera Tattler). Evans just finished her tenure as a Hattie Mae Lesley Resident Artist with Fort Worth Opera; Evans will spend the summer as an Apprentice Artist with Santa Fe Opera, where she will cover the Foreign Princess in Rusalka and the titular role of Tosca.

A frequent recitalist and concert soloist, Evans has recently performed her first Handel’s Messiah and covered the solos of Damien Geter’s An African American Requiem with Fort Worth Opera. This winter, she performed in an alumni recital featuring black composers at the University of Maryland College Park. In past seasons, Evans was featured on the PBS Special “Knox Opera for All!” with Knoxville Opera and was a guest soloist in Tulsa Opera’s MLK Day Parade, performing a short recital of repertoire by Black composers. Evans has performed the soprano solos in Haydn’s Kleine Orgelmesse, Mozart’s Vesperae solennes de confessore, Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, and Fauré’s Requiem.

Evans is also an avid competitor. So far this year, Evans won the Tulsa District and Third Place in the Midwest Region of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, First Place in the Dallas Opera Guild Lone Star Vocal Competition, and Third Place in the Washington International Competition. She also received the prestigious Richard F. Gold Career Grant Award awarded by the Shoshana Foundation and a Career Grant in the Pasadena Vocal Competition. In 2022, Evans was awarded a William M. Sullivan Foundation Award, an Encouragement Award from the Tennessee District of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, 2nd Place in the Lewisville Lake Vocal Competition, and 1st Place and Audience Choice in the James Toland Vocal Competition. In previous seasons, she won both Fourth place and Audience Choice in the 2021 Opera Columbus Cooper-Bing Vocal Competition, and both Second Place and the Audience Choice Award in the 2020 Harlem Opera Theater Vocal Competition.

Evans holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Maryland College Park and a Master of Music degree from the University of Tennessee Knoxville as part of the Knoxville Opera Studio. She is also a proud alumna of the Baltimore School for the Arts.