Biography

Victoria Songwei Li is a London-based Singapore soprano.

A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, she trained with Yvonne Kenny and Jennifer Dakin.

Victoria made her operatic debut at the age of 17 as Giannetta with New Opera Singapore in L’elisir d’amore (Donizetti). Since then, opera roles have included Rusalka (Dvorak), Elle in La Voix Humaine (Poulenc), Tytania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Britten), Blanche in Dialogues des Carmélites (Poulenc), Poppea in L’incoronazione di Poppea (Monteverdi), Cupidon in Orpheus in the Underworld (Offenbach), Pepik, Woodpecker and Cricket in The Cunning Little Vixen (Janacek) and First Singing Apple in The Little Green Swallow (Jonathan Dove).

For the English National Opera, she has sung the roles of Second Niece in Peter Grimes (Britten), Mrs Delgado in It’s A Wonderful Life (Jake Heggie), Pepik and Woodpecker in The Cunning Little Vixen (Janacek) and A Handmaid in The Handmaid’s Tale (Poul Ruders).

Opera aside, Victoria is a keen song performer, and has performed song recitals in the Barbican Hall, Wigmore Hall, LSO St. Luke’s, amongst others. She was also a part of the Royal Academy of Music/Kohn Foundation Bach Cantata during her time at the RAM.

In 2020, Victoria was the winner of the Opera Class in the David Clover Festival of Singing (UK) and the recipient of the Cyril Greaves Bursary.

In 2019, she was awarded First Prize and the Osaka Governor Award at the 20th International Osaka Music Competition in Japan.

Orchestral work include soloist engagements with the alps Angeles Philharmonic under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel in the 2018 European tour, and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. She also performed with the Guildhall Cantata Ensemble as a soprano soloist in Handel in Buxtehude Cantatas at the London Handel Festival conducted by James Johnstone.

Victoria has been generously supported by The Leverhulme Trust, the Guildhall Trust, William Hanz Scholarship, Hamish Dyer Young Musicians’ Scholarship, and the Countess of Munster Music Trust Derek Butler Award.

Victoria Songwei Li