Biography

Maria Schellenberg is a London-based mezzo-soprano, presenter and creator of interdisciplinary musical experiences. Recognised for her distinctive timbre, elegant phrasing and emotionally vivid stage presence, she performs a wide-ranging repertoire spanning Baroque opera, Rossini, French lyric repertoire, concert works and twentieth-century music, with a particular affinity for psychologically complex characters.

Recent and forthcoming engagements include appearances with the Royal Ballet and Opera, Opera2Day, Chelsea Opera Group, Dorset Opera Festival, the Danish National Orchestra and the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra. She has collaborated with conductors including Sir Antonio Pappano, Fabio Luisi and Vladimir Jurowski, and has performed at venues including the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Usher Hall.

A graduate of the Royal College of Music and a prizewinner of the London Handel Competition, Maria has developed an international career distinguished by artistic versatility and curiosity. Alongside her work on the operatic stage, she is passionate about bringing classical music to new audiences. From 2019 to 2021 she created and presented InterMezzo, a weekly programme on Russia's national classical music station, Radio Orpheus, for which she received the Golden Microphone award.

Increasingly, Maria's work extends beyond the traditional recital format. Inspired by her lived experience of synesthesia, she creates original projects that combine music, storytelling and audience participation. Her recent project, The Great Experiment, invites audiences into the multisensory world of synesthesia through an entirely a cappella performance, while another project, Synesthesia Studio, expands this concept into an interactive collaboration between music and visual art.

Shaped by a life lived between cultures, Maria's artistic interests increasingly explore memory, identity, exile and the ways in which music can deepen our understanding of ourselves and one another. Whether performing on the operatic stage or creating new interdisciplinary experiences, she believes that music is at its most powerful when it invites audiences not only to listen, but to participate, imagine and connect.